When morning gilds the skies

[ancientandmodern]

A real pick'n'mix hymn: it has far too many verses even for an obsessive like me to consider singing all of them, so one is compelled to choose. Here are the whole lot of them:

When morning gilds the skies
my heart awaking cries:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer,
to Jesus I repair:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

When you begin the day,
O never fail to say,
may Jesus Christ be praised!
And at your work rejoice,
to sing with heart and voice,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Whene'er the sweet church bell
peals over hill and dell,
may Jesus Christ be praised!
O hark to what it sings,
as joyously it rings,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

My tongue shall never tire
of chanting with the choir,
may Jesus Christ be praised!
This song of sacred joy,
it never seems to cloy,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Does sadness fill my mind?
A solace here I find,
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Or fades my earthly bliss?
My comfort still is this,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

To God, the Word, on high,
the host of angels cry,
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Let mortals, too, upraise
their voice in hymns of praise,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this at meals your grace,
in every time and place;
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this, when day is past,
of all your thoughts the last
may Jesus Christ be praised!

When mirth for music longs,
this is my song of songs:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
When evening shadows fall,
this rings my curfew call,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

When sleep her balm denies,
my silent spirit sighs,
may Jesus Christ be praised!
When evil thoughts molest,
with this I shield my breast,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

The night becomes as day
when from the heart we say:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
The powers of darkness fear
when this sweet chant they hear:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

No lovelier antiphon
in all high heaven is known
than, Jesus Christ be praised!
There to the eternal Word
the eternal psalm is heard:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Let all the earth around
ring joyous with the sound:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
In heaven's eternal bliss
the loveliest strain is this:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Sing, suns and stars of space,
sing, ye that see his face,
sing, Jesus Christ be praised!
God's whole creation o'er,
for aye and evermore
shall Jesus Christ be praised!

In heaven's eternal bliss
the loveliest strain is this,
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Let earth, and sea and sky
from depth to height reply,
may Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this, while life is mine,
my canticle divine:
may Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing this eternal song
through all the ages long:
may Jesus Christ be praised!

(The hymn itself starts about two minutes in.)

It's almost like the Jesus prayer, this, having the refrain 'May Jesus Christ be praised' running through each verse. It is what each verse is built on and what each verse is moving towards. The very interchangeability of the verses is a clue to this: the context does not matter. Like St Patrick binding to himself the name of the Trinity, the singer has a comfort, a refuge, a guide for every situation in the name of Jesus. At all times and in all places, in good times and bad, with the bells, with the choir, with the angels and with the entire created world, may Jesus Christ be praised!

The words were translated from the German (of the Katholisches Gesangbuch of 1744) by Edward Caswall, another convert to Roman Catholicism. He was, in fact, responsible for translating many of our best-loved hymns for use in the English-speaking Churches - Jesu, the very thought of thee, for example, and Glory be to Jesus; while he also wrote his own poetry, it has not survived nearly so well.

Here's a more modern interpretation:

And here's the tune, Sir Joseph Barnby's Laudes Domini, on handbells:

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

I... had no idea this hymn was so long.