This is a text by the Benedictine Nuns of St Mary’s Abbey in West Maling.
I have it in RitualSong, and other GIA hymnals, as a chant (TE LUCIS ANTE TERMINUM) for night prayer. In CWB it is set to a French tune, AUCTORITATE SAECULI.
I’m not sure what to make of this stirring – nay triumphant – hymn set to an Italian tradition melody NOI VOGLIAM DIO, the tune for the anthem of the Papal States. This in turn was a co-opting of a French hymn tune, Nous voulons Dieu.
The text is by J.P. Daly with a final verse added by John O’Brien the pen name of Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan an Australian poet.
This is a translation by Louis Blenkner OSB of the C4 text Te Deum laudamus by St Nicetas.
Blenkner was a scholar who published concerning the Gawain poet. I wrote a very dodgy dissertation on the same poet in the remote past, so I feel some kinship.
Here it is not a chant, but set to MONTANA by Henry Bryan Hays OSB and it is found in Hay’s book, the Swayed Pines Song Book. I can’t find it anywhere else so CWB may have found it there. There are some tricky time shifts lying in wait for the unwary.
This clip has the text, but you have to go to YouTube:
This text takes us through many aspects of liturgy. It is C19 text by William Bullock, reworked by Henry Williams Baker and altered by the editors here presumably to make it both more Catholic and less archaic.
There is a lovely appreciation of the hymn here, which mentions the many variations in the text.
CWB sets it to MARIA JUNG UND ZALT a combination unknown to Hymnary, but perhaps an English usage as CWB got the hymn from Jubilate.
This is the text from Ancient and Modern:
1 We love the place, O God, wherein thine honour dwells; the joy of thine abode all earthly joy excels.
2 We love the house of prayer, wherein thy servants meet; and thou, O Lord, art there thy chosen flock to greet.
3 We love the sacred font; for there the holy Dove to pour is ever wont his blessing from above.
4 We love thine altar, Lord; O what on earth so dear? for there, in faith adored, we find thy presence near.
5 We love the word of life, the word that tells of peace, of comfort in the strife, and joys that never cease.
6 We love to sing below for mercies freely given; but O we long to know the triumph-song of heaven.
7 Lord Jesus, give us grace on earth to love thee more, in heaven to see thy face, and with thy saints adore.
CWB has this version:
1 We love the place, O God, in which your honour dwells: the joy of your abode all earthly joy excels.
2 We love the house of prayer, for where Christ’s people meet; our risen Lord is there to make our joy complete.
3 We love the word of life, the word that tells of peace, of comfort in the strife, and joys that never cease.
4 We love the cleansing sign of life through Christ our Lord, where with the name divine we seal the sons of God.
5 We love the holy feast where nourished with this food, by faith we feed on Christ, his body and his blood.
6 We love to sing below for mercies freely given, but O, we long to know the triumph-song of heaven.
7 Lord Jesus, give us grace on earth to love you more, in heaven to see your face, and with your saints adore.
This is a song for Baptism written by Judith Beatrice O’Neill. She was living in Melbourne when she wrote the text in the 1950s. She went on to write junior fiction.
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
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Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.