Lead, Kindly Light

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"Lead, Kindly Light" is a hymn with words written in 1833 by John Henry Newman and 4th verse by Edward H. Bickersteth, Jr.. The tune was written by John B. Dykes in 1865.

As a young priest, John Newman became sick while in Italy and was unable to travel for almost three weeks. In his own words:

Before starting from my inn, I sat down on my bed and began to sob bitterly. My servant, who had acted as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could only answer, "I have a work to do in England." I was aching to get home, yet for want of a vessel I was kept at Palermo for three weeks. I began to visit the churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. At last I got off in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed for whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, Lead, Kindly Light, which have since become so well known.

This song was reportedly sung on the Titanic by Marion Wright before it sank in a service led by Reverend Ernest Courtenay Carter.

The first verse of this hymn is as follows:

  "Lead, Kindly Light, amidst the tumult and gloom,
      Lead Thou me on,
   The night is dark, and I am far from home,
      Lead Thou me on."

It was also sung by Betsie ten Boom on her way to a German concentration camp in WWII.^{[citation needed]}