Born: Ap­ril 30, 1640, Rou­en, France.

Died: No­vem­ber 28, 1686, Vill­iers sur Fere, Sois­sons, France.

Born to poor par­ents, le Tour­neaux dis­played un­com­mon abil­i­ty at an ear­ly age, and at­tract­ed the no­tice of M. du Fosset, Maître des Comptes at Rouen, who sent him to the Jes­u­it col­lege at Par­is, where he made re­mark­a­ble prog­ress in his stu­dies. He then moved to Tour­aine, where he spent some time with a pi­ous ec­cles­i­as­tic in the prac­tice of pray­er and pen­i­ten­tial ex­er­cises. His friend, ob­serv­ing that le Tourneaux had a gift for preach­ing, ad­vised him to re­turn to Rouen. This he did, and adopt­ed the cler­ic­al pro­fes­sion, and was in 1662 ad­mit­ted to the priests’ or­ders by spe­cial dis­pen­sa­tion, though still under ca­non­ic­al age. He sub­se­quent­ly moved to Par­is, where he em­ployed his time in stu­dy, and in 1675 won a prize from the French Acad­e­my for prose com­po­si­tion. He was ap­point­ed to a can­on­ry at Sainte-Cha­pelle, and lat­er be­came pri­or of Vil­liers sur Fere, in the di­o­cese of Sois­sons. He wrote sev­er­al the­o­log­ic­al and re­li­gious works, as well as some hymns which were in­sert­ed into the Par­is Breviary of 1680, and the Cluniac Breviary of 1686 (in the lat­ter, his sig­na­ture was “N.T.P.R.”

Hymns

1. Adeste, Coelitum chori
   • Angels, Come on Joyous Pinion
   • Angels to Our Jubilee
   • Come, Thou Blest Angelic Throng
   • Come, Ye Heavenly Choirs Descending
   • Descend from Heaven, Ye Angel Choirs
   • Heavenly Choirs with Anthems Sweet
2. Aurora Lucis dom novae
   • Morn’s Roseate Hues Have Decked the Sky
   • New Morn Hath Risen, The
   • O Come, and with the Early Morn
   • Orient Beams of Easter Morn, The
3. Clamantis ecce vox sonans
   • Hark, in the Wilderness
   • Herald’s Cry with Thrilling Sounds, The
   • Judea’s Desert Heard a Sound
   • Lo, the Voice of One that Crieth
   • Voice of Him Who Cries Aloud, the
   • Voice of One That Cries Aloud, The
4. Emergit undis et Deo
   • Emerging, Lo! from Jordan’s Flood
   • From the Stream Emerging, Lo
   • From the Wave Behold Him Rise
   • He Rises from the Wave, and Now
   • Lord Comes Forth from Jordan’s Stream, The
   • Now Jesus Lifts His Pray­er on High
   • Son of Man from Jordan Rose, The
5. Jussu tyranni pro fide
   • An Exile for the Faith
   • For Jesu’s Sake, to Lonely Lands
   • John, by a Tyrant’s Stern Command
6. Non abluunt lymphae Deum
   • God Needeth Not the Cleansing Wave
   • It Is Not That the Wave Can Wash Our God
   • Since the Heavenly Lamb Hath Stood
   • Waters Cleanse Not Thee, The