Charles Coffin

Charles Coffin (pron. sharl co-fenh; 4 October 1676 Buzancy, now in the department of Ardennes - 20 June 1749 Paris) was a French teacher, writer and Jansenist who was Rector of the University of Paris. Among his writings are a number of hymns which have been translated into English. Life Charles Coffin was born 4 October 1676 at Buzancy, Ardennes in the Duchy of Rheim and educated at College du Plessis. In 1701, he was appointed chief assistant to Charles Rollin, principal of the Collège de Beauvais. He succeeded Rollin as principal in 1712. That same year he was entrusted with the funeral oration for Louis, Duke of Burgundy, the father of Louis XV. In 1718. he became rector of the University of Paris, a post which he held until his death. Hymns Coffin published in 1727 some of his Latin poems, for which he was already noted, and in 1736 the bulk of his hymns appeared in the Paris Breviary of that year, an edition of which was published in 1838 at Oxford by John Henry Newman. 1736 also saw the publication of Coffin's Hymni Sacri Auctore Carolo Coffin, and in 1755 a complete edition of his Works was issued in 2 vols. The Hymni Sacri included a poem adapted from the original chant, Jordanis oras prævia, which Rev. John Chandler later translated to the hymn On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry set to the tune Winchester New for use at Matins during Advent. Chandler also translated Coffin's The Advent of Our King.