Caswall’s fa­ther was Ro­bert Clarke Cas­wall (Per­pe­tu­al cur­ate of Yate­ley, and lat­er Vi­car of West Lav­ing­ton, Wilt­shire). His mo­ther was a niece of Tho­mas Bur­gess, Bi­shop of St. Da­vid and lat­er of Sal­is­bury.

Caswall at­tend­ed Chig­well Gram­mar School in Es­sex, Marl­bo­rough School, and Brase­nose Coll­ege, Ox­ford, where he grad­u­at­ed with hon­ors in 1836. Be­fore leav­ing Ox­ford, he pub­lished, un­der the pseu­do­nym of Scrib­ler­us Red­i­vi­vus, The Art of Pluck, in imi­ta­tion of Aris­to­tle, a sa­tire on the ways of the care­less col­lege stu­dent.

In 1838, Cas­wall was or­dained a dea­con, and 1839 an An­gli­can priest. In 1840 he be­came Per­pe­tu­al cur­ate at Strat­ford-sub-Cas­tle near Sal­is­bury. By 1847, though, he had switched to Ro­man Ca­thol­i­cism and went to the Or­a­tory of St. Phil­ip Ne­ri at Edg­bas­ton, where he did most of his hymn work. Cas­wall is best re­mem­bered as a trans­lat­or of an­cient hymns, though he al­so wrote orig­in­al ly­rics. His works in­clude:

• Sketches of Young La­dies
• Morals from the Church Yard, 1838
• Sermons on the Seen and the Un­seen, 1846
• The Child’s Man­u­al
• Lyra Ca­thol­i­ca, 1849
• Hours at the Al­tar, 1855
• Verba Ver­bi; or, The Words of Je­sus, 1855
• The Masque of Ma­ry, and Other Po­ems, 1858
• Confraternity Man­u­al of the Most Pre­cious Blood, 1861
• Love for the Ho­ly Church, 1862
• A May Pa­geant and Other Po­ems, 1865
• The Ca­tho­lic’s La­tin In­struct­or in the Prin­ci­pal Church Of­fic­es and De­vo­tions

1. Days and Mo­ments Quick­ly Fly­ing
2. Gently Falls the Win­ter Snow
3. Holy An­them, The
4. If There Be Any Spe­cial Thing
   • O Je­su Christ, if Aught There Be
5. See Amid the Win­ter’s Snow
6. Sleep, Ho­ly Babe

1. Above the Star­ry Spheres
2. All Ye Who Seek a Cer­tain Cure
3. An Ex­ile for the Faith
4. At the Cross, Her Sta­tion Keep­ing
5. Bethlehem, of No­blest Ci­ties
   • Earth Has Ma­ny a No­ble Ci­ty
6. Come Hith­er, Ye Faith­ful
7. Come, O Cre­at­or Spir­it Blest
8. Come, Thou Ho­ly Spir­it, Come
9. Dawn Is Sprink­ling in the East, The
10. Glory Be to Je­sus
11. Hark! A Thrill­ing Voice Is Sound­ing
12. He Who Once in Right­eous Ven­geance
13. Holy Spir­it, Lord of Light
14. I Met the Good Shep­herd
15. Jesu, Thy Mer­cies Are Un­told
16. Jesus, Bright­ness of the Fa­ther
17. Jesus, the Ve­ry Thought of Thee
18. Let Al­ver­na’s Ho­ly Moun­tain
19. Life Which God’s In­car­nate Word, The
20. My God, I Love Thee
21. Now, My Tongue, the Mys­tery Tell­ing
22. Now with the Ris­ing Gold­en Dawn
23. O Hope of Ev­ery Con­trite Heart
24. O Je­su, Thou the Beau­ty Art
25. O Je­sus, King Most Won­der­ful
26. O Sav­ing Vic­tim, Open Wide
27. O Zi­on, Open Wide Thy Gates
28. O’erwhelmed in Depths of Woe
29. Sing, My Tongue, the Sav­ior’s Glo­ry
30. Son of the High­est, Deign to Cast
31. Sun Is Sink­ing Fast, The
32. To Christ, the Prince of Peace
33. When Morn­ing Gilds the Skies