When a knight won his spurs
which came back to me when I saw Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker perform at the Old Cinema Laundrette in Durham
which reminded me of
Yes 
not sure if that was a typo or autocorrect
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Hands together softly so,
Little eyes shut tight.
Father just before we go
Hear our prayers tonight.
We are all your children here,
This is what we pray,
Keep us when the dark is near
and through every day.
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I thought the Sisters of Mercy at my primary school had successfully etched all those bloody hymns into my brain for all of eternity, but try as I might, I can only now remember ‘May is the Month of Mary’ (a hymn so saccharine, that I’m sure even the most devout Christians on SF would want to be spared being reminded of the words).
On the other hand what I considered successful erasures might actually be early symptoms of Alzheimers…
Suddenly wish I could remember all those other hymns, just to be sure…!
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Surely you must remember Stand up for Jesus!
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high his royal banner,
It must not suffer loss.…
Careful though, you may find yourself singing or whistling it tomorrow it’s a bit of an ear worm.
Surely you must remember Stand up for Jesus!
Hmmm, only vaguely, it might be Alzheimers…
The Priory School (Gt Yarmouth) hymn was ‘To be a pilgrim’
I’m inclined to believe that school religious assemblies were the most effective method of immunising children against a personal faith that an atheist could have invented.
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The only song I remember singing, is our school song, Gaudeamus Igitur, all in latin. Probably why I can still remember it.
Sed hodie iuvenes non sumus 
Adeste Fideles, plus every year a carol in either French or Spanish.
So true
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Lots of things, all very badly.
Since schooldays I have always been in a choir, so have hymns and carols in several languages written into my brain.
Which is just as well because after the cerebral aneurysm and open cranial op, I was in so much pain that I found only singing all these, admittedly religious songs, that the vibration somehow helped dull the pain a little. I sang through the day and the night. Luckily, I was in a private room but the Hong Kong nurses thought I had lost my marbles and sent a lovely doctor from the psych department to chat with me.
I still sing when I am afraid or sad.
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The only benefits of Catholicism that I can recall, were that it spared me having to sit through morning assembly at my local GS and I could skip the weekly Relgious Instruction class.
However one useful present day legacy is identifying by their attributes the statues of martyrs in old French churches. My favourites are those of St Roch with his ulcerous leg and his dog.
I do fear for the loss of “cultural Christianity” and the ability of people to recognise Christian references in literature, paintings, plays etc.
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French ecclesiastical architecture is so rich and we’re fortunate in being on the Via Podiensis pilgrimage route from Le-Puy to Santiago de Compostella (aka GR65) so many of the neighbouring villages have very old Romanesque churches and there are also ancient devotional chapels in the surrounding woods.
This one at Grand Vabre dates from around 800CE
And this one, buried deep in the forest is about 1000 years old. During WWII the treasures of the abbey at nearby Conques were hidden here to keep them from the Germans
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Yes, it leaves people open to other influences which are not our heritage.
My Saxon church in Heysham is well over a thousand years old. I remember the millenium and dressing up in saxon clothes and there were the Vikings too. There is a Hogs Back stone in the church which used to be outside in the churchyard.
I never knew that there was a Saxon church in Heysham. Must look it up next time we’re in the NW.