Maria Parkinson was one of a group of giggling teenage convent schoolgirls who took part in a school liturgy day at the St Thomas More Centre in Manor House in the mid 1970s. This particular group were given the task of writing a hymn or song, and "As I kneel before you" is what they came up with in the course of an afternoon. The song was sung in a prayer service at the end of the day, and subsequently found its way into the first volume of Songs of the Spirit (Mayhew), published in 1978.
At the time, the wording of the refrain received some suggestions for easing the hacking around of the Latin, but the group seems to have taken no notice. I would say that the birth date of 1956 is not correct. These girls were 15-16 in the mid-1970s, giving a birth date of around 1960-61.
She is married and no longer goes by "Parkinson".
Not a "one-hit-wonder"; she also composed "Come, let us go up to the Lord, to the temple of our God" which I use for the Entrance Hymn every 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A.
Link:https://www.ssg.org.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1983