Friday, 4 April 2014

Te Deum. Hymn of Praise And Thanksgiving.


Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

When was the last time you heard the Te Deum sung in your Church ?

Why not ask your Parish Priest or Pastor to arrange it ?


File:Te Deum window by Whall .jpg

The Te Deum Window,
by Christopher Whall,
Church of Saint Mary the Virgin,
Ware, Hertfordshire,
England.
Author: Barking Tigs.
(Wikimedia Commons)


File:Francisco de Zurbarán 032.jpg

English: Saint Ambrose.
One of the traditionally-ascribed authors of the 
Te Deum, together with Saint Augustine.
Deutsch: hl. Ambrosius.
Artist: Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664).
Date: 1626-1627.
Current location: Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, Seville, Spain.
Note: Deutsch: Urspr. für den Konvent San Pablo in Sevilla, Auftraggeber:
Prior Diego de Bordas. Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project:
10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002.
ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH.
Permission: [1].
(Wikimedia Commons)


The Te Deum (also known as "The Ambrosian Hymn" or "A Song of the Church") is an Early-Christian Hymn of Praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, "Te Deum laudamus", rendered as "Thee, O God, we praise".

The Hymn remains in regular use in the Catholic Church, in the Office of Readings, found in the Liturgy of the Hours, and in thanksgiving to God for a special Blessing, such as the Election of a Pope, the Consecration of a Bishop, the Canonisation of a Saint, a Religious Profession, the publication of a Treaty of Peace, a Royal Coronation, etc. It is sung either after Mass or the Divine Office, or as a separate Religious Ceremony. The Hymn also remains in use in the Anglican Communion and some Lutheran Churches in similar settings.

In the Traditional Office, the Te Deum is sung at the end of Matins, on all days when the Gloria is said at Mass; those days are all Sundays, outside Advent, Septuagesima, Lent, and Passiontide; on all Feasts (except the Triduum) and on all Ferias during Eastertide.

A Plenary Indulgence is granted, under the usual conditions, to those who recite it in public on New Year's Eve.



Te Deum.
Sung by the Benedictine Monks of the 
Abbey of Saint Maurice and Saint Maur, 
Clervaux. Luxembourg.
The Te Deum is attributed to two Fathers and Doctors of the Church, 
Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine, and is one the most majestic 
Chants in the Liturgy of the Church. 
It is sung in Traditional Seminaries and Monastic Houses at the Divine Office and
for Double Feasts of the First Class, The Nativity, Easter, Corpus Christi, Epiphany,
Pentecost and those which have an Octave.
The Solemn Te Deum is sung on all occasions of public Church rejoicing.
Available on YouTube at


Authorship is traditionally ascribed to Saints Ambrose and Augustine, on the occasion of the latter's Baptism by the former in 387 A.D. It has also been ascribed to Saint Hilary, but Catholic-Forum.com says "it is now accredited to Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana (4th-Century)".

The Petitions at the end of the Hymn (beginning "Salvum fac populum tuum") are a selection of Verses from the Book of Psalms, appended subsequently to the original Hymn.

The Hymn follows the outline of the Apostles' Creed, mixing a poetic vision of the Heavenly Liturgy with its declaration of Faith. Calling on the name of God, immediately, the Hymn proceeds to name all those who praise and venerate God; from the hierarchy of Heavenly Creatures, to those Christian Faithful already in Heaven, to the Church spread throughout the world.

The Hymn then returns to its Credal formula, naming Christ and recalling His Birth, Suffering and Death, His Resurrection and Glorification. At this point, the Hymn turns to the subjects declaiming the praise, both the Universal Church and the singer, in particular, asking for mercy on past sins, protection from future sin, and the hoped-for reunification with The Elect.


Te Deum Laudamus:
te Dominum confitemur.
Te aeternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur.

Tibi omnes Angeli;
tibi caeli et universae Potestates;
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim
incessabili voce proclamant:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra
maiestatis gloriae tuae.

File:Francisco de Zurbarán 032.jpg

Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus,
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Te per orbem terrarum 
sancta confitetur Ecclesia,

Patrem immensae maiestatis:
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe.

Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.
Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem,
non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Tu, devicto mortis aculeo,
aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.

File:Francisco de Zurbarán 032.jpg

Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris.
Iudex crederis esse venturus.
Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni:
quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.
Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.

[added later, 
mainly from Psalm Verses:]

Salvum fac populum tuum,
Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae.
Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in aeternum.
Per singulos dies benedicimus te;
Et laudamus Nomen tuum in saeculum, et in saeculum saeculi.

Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire.
Miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri.
Fiat misericordia tua, 
Domine, super nos, 

quemadmodum speravimus in te.
In te, Domine, speravi:
non confundar in aeternum.

File:Francisco de Zurbarán 032.jpg

Translation from The Book of Common Prayer.

We praise thee, O God :
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee :
the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud :
the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim :
continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy :
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.

File:Francisco de Zurbarán 032.jpg

The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world :
doth acknowledge thee;

The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.

Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :
thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

File:Francisco de Zurbarán 032.jpg

Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting.

[added later, mainly from Psalm verses:]

O Lord, save thy people :
and bless thine heritage.
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
Day by day : we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :
as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted :
let me never be confounded.


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