Myn Mair.

MYN MAIR / O MARY (for English scroll down)

Fy hatling offrymaf dros enaid dan glo,
Fy nghanwyll offrymaf yn eglwys y fro,
'R offeren weddïaf saith seithwaith yn daer
Er cadw ei enaid anfarwol.
Myn Mair, Myn Mair.

Sant Pawl a Sant Peder, holl seintiau y nef,
A Mair, Mam y Duwdod, eiriolwch yn gref
Dros iddo gael heddwch a gwerthfawr ryddhad,
Paradwys agored, a breichiau ei Dad.
Myn Mair, Myn Mair.

Mam Iesu'r brydferthaf o ferched y byd,
Morwynig Frenhines y nefoedd i gyd,
Dlos lili y dyffryn, gwiw rosyn y nef,
Eiriola dros enaid fy nghyfaill yn gref.
Myn Mair, Myn Mair!

My penn'orth I'll offer for a soul in prison,
My candle I'll offer in the church in the vale,
The Mass I'll pray earnestly, seven times seven,
To save his immortal soul.
O Mary, O Mary.

St. Paul and St. Peter, all the saints of heaven,
And Mary, God's Mother, plead strongly,
That he may have peace and dear liberty,
Paradise open, and the arms of his Father.
O Mary, O Mary.

Mother of Jesus, the fairest of earth's women,
Maidenly Queen of all of the heavens,
Lovely lily of the valley, worthy rose of heaven,
Intercede in fervour for the soul of my friend.
O Mary, O Mary.

Believed to date back to the 16th century or even earlier this Catholic hymn for the dead was collected in the Newquay area of Cardiganshire in the 1800s. The text in Welsh is the full version as usually sung. The translation, dating from March 1999, is my own.

The singer on this video is the highly gifted soprano from Wales, Elin Manahan

Thomas: www.elinmanahanthomas.org/biography
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The following additional comment has been received from Anthony Packer, Penarth, Cardiff:

"ACCORDING TO Meredydd Evans the hymn was kept secret in one family for all the generations between the deformation and the 1880s - taught only on the understanding that it was not to be sung outside the family circle."