Fidei Defensor

From fathers’ blood his kingship came;
now, reft of it, he speeds
to one whose kingship’s royal name
from his own Blood proceeds.

Not sinless, prizing overmuch
the kingship of this earth,
prideful, he suffers deep for such
in his new glorious birth.

His earthly crown, corruptible
—corrupt, we well may deem—
he lays aside; how this is well,
corruption cannot dream.

Now crowned in kingdoms of the day,
in holier sovereignty,
Defender of the Faith, I pray
defend thy faith in me.

First published (without the second stanza) in SKCM News, the newsletter of the Society of King Charles the Martyr: American Region, an Anglo-Catholic devotional society.