Dictionary of Hymnology

Hymnology

Florence Catherine Armstrong

A biographical entry on Irish hymn writer Florence Catherine Armstrong.

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Florence Catherine Armstrong was born on March 18, 1843, the daughter of Dr. William Armstrong of Collooney, County Sligo, Ireland.

In 1862, Armstrong wrote her well-known hymn on longing for heaven, "O to be over yonder." The text was published without her consent in the British Herald in February 1865 under the date "Jany., 1865." It quickly achieved widespread popularity across Christian hymnals and devotional collections. Armstrong formally acknowledged her authorship of the hymn when she included it in her volume The King in His Beauty and Other Poems in 1875.

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