Note: This is a part of an ongoing series, the Mexico Mission Hymns Project.

Hymn Text:

Padre Nuestro en el Cielo by Manrique González was one of the earliest-published Spanish hymns in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was published in the 1907 Mexican Mission Himnario Mormón (p. 57, see Figure 1) and in the 1912 editions of the Himnos de Sion (p.44).  It was cut from subsequent editions of the hymnbook (1927 onwards).  Textual changes between the two editions it was included in are minor, consisting solely of punctuation alterations (see Table 1).  According to the 1912 edition, the hymn was to be sung to the tune of hymn 37 in the English-language Songs of Zion, which was “We are Sowing” by H. A. Tucket (8.7.8.7 D).  Oddly, the hymn tune fits two verses of the hymn at a time, but there are 5 verses of the hymn, which doesn’t work out math-wise.  In addition, the syllables do not completely align with the music as written.  As a result, I wonder if there was a typo in the 1912 edition where it indicated which tune to sing the song to.

 

Figure 1. The text of “Padre Nuestro en el Cielo” in the 1907 Himnario Mormón.

The author, Manrique González (1880 – 1976), was initially from Nadores, Coahuila, Mexico.  He left home when he was 14 years old, living first with an uncle in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico and later in San Pedro.  While working for railroad contractors from the United States, he became acquainted with Latter-day Saints and was impressed with them.  After completing his work on the railroad, he moved to the Latter-day Saint settlement of Colonia Juarez, where he would live through most of the remainder of his life.  He was baptized on September 2, 1899 by John C. Harper and confirmed the following day by Anthony W. Ivins.  He later noted that it was “the happiest day of my life.  I was no longer alone, I had brothers and sisters who cared for me and were interested in my welfare.  I felt bound to the community in every way.”  He attended school, graduating from the Sarah Clayson’s Primary Department in 1903, and was offered a position as a Spanish teacher at the Juarez Academy that same year.  He continued his education at Juarez Academy while teaching there, becoming the first Mexican citizen to graduate from the Academy in 1910.  Due to the Mexican Revolution, he fled the colony in 1912, settling in Logan, Utah.  There, he studied at the Agricultural College (now Utah State University) and earned the credentials to head an experimental agricultural station.  He worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Mexico for a few years (where he developed the New Mexico Pinto Bean) before returning to Colonia Juarez, where he applied his skills in raising the standards in farming.^[2]  It is likely that he wrote “Padre Nuestro en el Cielo” during his time in Colonia Juarez sometime before 1907.

 

Figure 2. Manrique González in his later years.

 

Table 1. Textual variations for “Padre nuestro en el cielo” across hymnal editions

 

1907	1912
Padre Nuestro en el cielo Con amor, con gratitud, Te pedimos que en el suelo Nos concedes la salud.	Padre Nuestro en el cielo, Con amor, con gratitud, Te pedimos que en el suelo, Nos concedes la salud.
Ya tenemos los tesoros Que inspiran la juventud, Y que andemos, Te pedimos Por las vías de rectitud.	Ya tenemos los tesoros Que inspiran la juventud, Y que andemos, Te pedimos, Por las vías de rectitud.
Tu Evangelio tan glorioso, Y Tu Espíritu de amor; Nuestras almas llenan de gozo. Oh Dios nuestro Señor.	Tu Evangelio tan glorioso, Y tu Espíritu de amor, Nuestras almas llenan de gozo; ¡Oh Dios nuestro Señor!
A José nuestro Profeta, El Señor lo reveló Y que fuera por el mundo Moroni se lo exhortó.	A José nuestro Profeta, El Señor lo reveló; Y que fuera por el mundo, Moroni se lo exhortó.
Tu Evangelio que por siglos En el mundo no existía, Ya lo envías con Tus siervos, Los profetas de este día.	Tu Evangelio que por siglos, En el mundo no existía, Ya lo envías con tus siervos, Los profetas de este día.

 

I based my translation on the 1912 edition (see Table 2)

Table 2. Translation of the text of “Padre nuestro en el cielo”

 

Spanish Text	English Prose Translation	English Poetic Translation
Padre Nuestro en el cielo, Con amor, con gratitud, Te pedimos que en el suelo, Nos concedes la salud.	Our Father in heaven, With love, with gratitude, We ask that on this earth, You grant us health.	Oh our Father in the Heavens, With our love and gratitude We do ask that on this earth, here, You give us good health renewed.
Ya tenemos los tesoros Que inspiran la juventud, Y que andemos, Te pedimos, Por las vías de rectitud.	We already have the treasures that inspire youth, And we ask you that we walk, Along the paths of righteousness.	We already have the treasures That inspire the worldly youth, And we ask for help to travel In the ways of right and truth.
Tu Evangelio tan glorioso, Y tu Espíritu de amor, Nuestras almas llenan de gozo; ¡Oh Dios nuestro Señor!	Your Gospel that is so glorious, And your Spirit of love, Fill our souls with joy; O God our Lord!	Your sublime and wondrous Gospel And your Spirit of great love Fill our souls with joy and gladness; Oh thou God, our Lord above!
A José nuestro Profeta, El Señor lo reveló; Y que fuera por el mundo, Moroni se lo exhortó.	To Joseph our Prophet, The Lord revealed it; And that it was for the world, Moroni exhorted him.	God revealed the Gospel fulness To our Prophet Joseph Smith, And the angel named Moroni Told him: Share with all forthwith.
Tu Evangelio que por siglos, En el mundo no existía, Ya lo envías con tus siervos, Los profetas de este día.	Your Gospel that for centuries, Did not exist in the world, You already send it with your servants, The prophets of this day.	Your great Gospel that for ages In the world did not exist, Is now sent out by Your servants, E’en the prophets in our midst.

 

Music:

As indicated above, I’m not entirely convinced that “We are Sowing” was the actual tune that this hymn was sung to because it doesn’t fit the music very well.  Regardless, I’ve attempted to make it fit the music and reused the second verse at the end to take the full space.  As such, this is the best I can figure as to what the hymn might have looked like if published with music in 1912:

My English translation of the hymn is as follows:

New Music:

I wrote the music to match the length of the verses (so half the length of the “We are Sowing” tune).  The Spanish text still has some inconsistencies in meter, but it works well enough.

And here is the music with the English translation:

 

Footnotes:

^[1] Ignacio M. García, Chicano While Mormon: Activism, War, and Keeping the Faith (Lanham, Maryland: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2015), 197.

^[2] Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, “Manrique Gonzalez,” Los Colonias – the Mormon Colonies in Mexico, 13 May 2014, http://www.lascolonias.org/2014/05/13/manrique-gonzalez/. Originally from Nelle Spilsbury Hatch and B. Carmon Hardy, Stalwarts South of the Boarder (1985), 212.

 

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