Looking for hymns for Ascension Day (which is May 18 this year), I came across “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing.” Originally written in Latin, it is attributed to the Venerable Bede (673–735), a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Monkwearmouth and one of the most important scholars of the Early Middle Ages.
“Hymnum canamus gloriæ” circulated throughout medieval Europe in various versions, with the earliest known surviving example appearing in the mid-eleventh century in Beinecke MS 481.36, fols. 2r–2v.
Below is the fairly standardized seven-stanza version that appears in the Hymnale Secundum Usum Insignis Ac Praeclarae Ecclesiae Sarisburiensis (London, 1850), pages 163–64, which in turn is taken from the Psalterium cum Hymnis ad usum insignis Ecclesiae Sarum et Eboracensis, a quarto edition printed in Paris by Byrkman in 1516. The English translation on the right, from the 1852 edition of the Hymnal Noted, is by Benjamin Webb.
Hymnum canamus gloriæ, Hymni novi nunc personent, Christus novo cum tramite Ad Patris ascendit thronum. Apostoli tunc mystico In monte stantes chrismatis Cum matre clara virgine, Iesu videbant gloriam. Quos alloquentes angeli, Quid astra stantes cernitis? Salvator hic est, inquiunt, Iesus triumpho nobili; Sicque venturum asserunt, Quemadmodum hunc viderunt, Summa polorum culmina Scandere Iesum splendida. Da nobis illuc sedula Devotione tendere, Quo te sedere cum Patre In arce regni credimus. Tu esto nostrum gaudium, Qui es futurus præmium, Sit nostra in te gloria, Per cuncta semper sæcula. Gloria tibi, Domine, Qui scandis supra sidera, Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu In sempiterna sæcula.
Sing we triumphant hymns of praise, New hymns to heav’n exulting raise; Christ, by a road before untrod, Ascendeth to the throne of God. The holy apostolic band Upon the Mount of Olives stand, And with the Virgin Mother see Jesu’s resplendent majesty. To whom the angels, drawing nigh, “Why stand and gaze upon the sky? This is the Savior,” thus they say; “This is his noble triumph day.” “Again shall ye behold him so As ye today have seen him go, In glorious pomp ascending high, Up to the portals of the sky.” O grant us thitherward to tend, And with unwearied hearts ascend Unto thy kingdom’s throne, where thou, As is our faith, art seated now. Be thou our joy, and thou our guard, Who art to be our great reward: Our glory and our boast in thee For ever and for ever be! All glory, Lord, to thee we pay, Ascending o’er the stars today; All glory, as is ever meet, To Father and to Paraclete.
Numerous layers of translation and revision have marked the transmission of this hymn text. Two other nineteenth-century English translations are by
- John David Chambers, from Lauda Syon, Ancient Latin Hymns of the English and Other Churches, Translated into corresponding Metres (London, 1857), 198–99
- Elizabeth Rundle Charles, from The Voice of the Christian Life in Song; or Hymns and Hymn Writers of Many Lands and Ages (London, 1858), 165–66
O grant us thitherward to tend and, with unwearied hearts, ascend unto thy kingdom’s throne, where thou, as is our faith, art seated now.
Bede, trans. Benjamin Webb
The version used in most twentieth-century English-language hymnals appears to be a mashup of Charles (from whom comes the title and first line “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing”) and Webb, with additional editorial alterations. For example, here’s what’s in Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal (1993), which is credited as a composite translation:
A hymn of glory let us sing!
New songs throughout the world shall ring:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ, by a road before untrod,
ascends unto the throne of God.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!The holy apostolic band
upon the Mount of Olives stand.
Alleluia, alleluia!
And with his followers they see
their Lord ascend in majesty.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!To them the shining angels cry,
“Why stand and gaze upon the sky?”
Alleluia, alleluia!
“This is the Savior,” thus they say.
“This is his glorious triumph day.”
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!“You see him now, ascending high
up to the portals of the sky.”
Alleluia, alleluia!
“Hereafter Jesus you shall see
returning in great majesty.”
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!Be now our joy on earth, O Lord,
and be our future great reward.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Then, throned with you forever, we
shall praise your name eternally.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!O risen Christ, ascended Lord,
all praise to you let earth accord.
Alleluia, alleluia!
You are, while endless ages run,
with Father and with Spirit one.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Christian Worship pairs the text with LASST UNS ERFREUEN, a seventeenth-century tune from Germany that is most commonly associated with “All Creatures of Our God and King.” It works really well! Below you can listen to an abridgement of this version of “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing” (verses 1, 5, and 6), plus a different version featuring a new, custom melody.
>> Tune: LASST UNS ERFREUEN, 1623 | Performed by the Good Shepherd Collective, 2023: The musicians who make up the Good Shepherd Collective are masters of their craft. Each week I tune in to the musical portion of the Good Shepherd New York virtual worship service for inspiration and nourishment, and to see what they’ve been up to. I always love their arrangements and the breadth encompassed by their selections. I’ve cued up their premiere performance of “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing” from the GSNY April 30 service, located at 1:49–4:57. The lead vocalists are Jonathan Seale and Jayne Sugg.
>> Music by Steven Brooks, 2020 | Performed by Andrew Shubin, 2020: Dr. Steven D. Brooks is a pastor, author, professor of music and worship at Azusa Pacific University, and the founding director of Worship Quest Ministries, which serves as a resource for worship renewal and spiritual formation in the global church. A former student of Brooks’s, Andrew Shubin is a singer, guitarist, and actor living in Los Angeles. He has done session singing, appeared on TV, starred in musical theater productions, and written original songs. In this video he sings a retuned version of “A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing” by Brooks, which uses the three-verse translation from the United Church of Christ’s New Century Hymnal (1995) but adds a new refrain. For permission to use this song, email resources@worshipquest.net.
A hymn of glory let us sing!
New songs throughout the world shall ring:
Christ, by a road before untrod,
ascends unto the throne of God.Refrain:
Alleluia!
Arise and let your praises ring.
Alleluia!
Arise and sing to Christ the King.You are a present joy, O Christ,
triumphant love once sacrificed,
and great the light in you we see
to guide us to eternity. [Refrain]O risen Christ, ascended now,
to your blessed name all knees shall bow;
you are, while endless ages run,
in Triune Godhead ever One. [Refrain]
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