Sounding Childhood Main Menu Part 1: Children's Hymns Part 2: Songs for School and Play Part 3: Animal Welfare (Bands of Mercy) Songs Part 4: Christmas Carols Part 5: Folk Songs Part 6: Patriotic Songs Part 7: Early 20th-Century Hymns About the Author Works Cited

"Old Rugged Cross"

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Both the words and music to "The Old Rugged Cross" (1913) were written by George Bennard, an itinerate minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Salvation Army around the turn of last century, ministering around the Midwest of the US (Ohio and Indiana).  He wrote this hymn a little at a time; friends were so moved to hear it that they helped to publish it (Morgan 275).  It became a very popular hymn, especially within Baptist circles (according to my father, the Rev. Jon M. Clapp, a United Methodist minister who grew up Baptist and loved this hymn).

An original member of the Community Choristers (2024), Hannah Mooney selected this hymn which is beloved by her and which she sang a cappella at our Evensong Concert, June 2025. 

This page has paths:

  1. Part 7: Early 20th-Century Hymns Alisa Clapp-Itnyre

Contents of this path:

  1. Hannah sings Old Rugged Cross
  2. Old Rugged Cross score