The words of “All Creatures of Our God and King” were initially written by St Francis of Assisi in 1225 in the Canticle of the Sun poem, which was based on Psalm 148. The words were translated into English by William Draper, who at the time was rector of a Church of England parish church at Adel near Leeds.
St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d’Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco (“the Frenchman”) by his father, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares. Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.
St. Francis of Assisi
The son of a wealthy merchant, he was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps but rebelled against the pursuit of money. As a young man, he experienced a vision that persuaded him to renounce wealth so that he might live a life of poverty and service.
St. Francis is famous for many things, including love of animals. Pictures of him usually have birds flying nearby and small animals at his feet. A popular story tells of him stopping to preach a sermon to a flock of birds. He reminded them that God had blessed them with beautiful clothing even though they had never learned to spin or weave— and that God had blessed them with food even thought they had never learned to sow or reap. Then he called them to sing their songs as praises to God.
The hymn, “All Creatures of Our God and King,” is an outgrowth of that sentiment. It is a call for “All creatures of our God and King” to “lift up (their voices) and with us sing, Alleluia!”
St. Francis wrote this hymn near the end of his life. Sick and suffering bouts of blindness, he was going home to die when he stopped to visit friends at the St. Damien monastery. While there, he felt the inspiration to compose this joyful hymn. It calls all God’s creatures —sun and moon —wind and water—fruits and flowers—and all who are of tender heart—to sing, “Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!” to honor our God.
William Draper
Draper paraphrased the words of the Canticle and set them to music. It is not known when Draper first wrote the hymn but it was between 1899 and 1919. Draper wrote it for his church’s children’s Whitsun festival celebrations and it was later published in 1919 in the Public School Hymn Book. The hymn is currently used in 179 different hymn books. The words written by St Francis are some of the oldest used in hymns after “Father We Praise Thee”, written in 580 AD.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://hymnary.org