Born: March 22, 1845, “The For­est,” near Rich­mond, Vir­gin­ia.

Died: No­vem­ber 19, 1909, El­li­cott Ci­ty, Mar­y­land.

Buried: Hol­ly­wood Cem­e­tery, Rich­mond, Vir­gin­ia.

Son of a wealthy Vir­ginia fam­i­ly, Tabb gave up most stu­dies at age 14 due to bad eye­sight, and took up the pi­a­no. He served in the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, but be­came a pri­son­er in 1864. While im­pri­soned, he met and be­came friends with po­et Sid­ney La­nier. Af­ter the war, Tabb honed his mu­sic­al skills and taught at St. Paul’s School in Bal­ti­more, Mar­y­land. He lat­er en­tered St. Charles Coll­ege to stu­dy the­o­lo­gy. He was or­dained a Ca­tho­lic priest on Christ­mas 1884. How­ev­er, for the rest of his life he con­tin­ued to teach Eng­lish gram­mar at St. Charles, as well as writ­ing po­e­try and prose.

Hymns

  1. The Light of Bethlehem