Saint Joseph the Hymnographer, “the sweet-voiced nightingale of the Church”
Sicily in the 9th century was ruled by the Byzantine empire based in Constantinople and its inhabitants were largely Orthodox Christian. Arab invaders from North Africa gradually conquered the island and forced many Christians to flee. One of them was a young man who would become known to history as Joseph the Hymnographer (c. 810-881). He joined a monastery in Thessalonica where he impressed his superiors who recommended that he take a post in the capital. After some years, he attempted a trip to Rome to speak to the pope on behalf of the pro-icon party which was being persecuted by the iconoclastic rulers, but was captured by pirates and spent time as a slave on Crete. After escaping (with the help of the ghost of St Nicholas who encouraged him to sing praises to God) he returned to Constantinople where he established a monastery; he again fell foul of the government and was sent into exile on the Crimean peninsula. When he returned he rose high in the ranks of the Orthodox Church.
Joseph is most famous as the composer of hundreds of hymns, some of them still in use today in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches. He is praised in an Orthodox hymn:
Come, let us acclaim the divinely inspired Joseph,
The twelve-stringed instrument of the Word,
The harmonious harp of grace and lute of heavenly virtues,
Who lauded and praised the assembly of the saints.
And now he is glorified with them.