You are God; we praise you,
you are the Lord; we acclaim you.
You are the eternal Father;
all creation worships you.
To you all the angles, all the powers of heaven,
cherubim and seraphim sing in endless praise;
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of the apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of the prophets praise you.
The white robed army of the martyrs praise you.
Throughout the whole world the holy Church acclaims you.
Father, of majesty unbounded;
your true and only Son,
Worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You Christ are the King of Glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free,
You did not spurn the virgin’s womb.
You overcame the sting of death,
And opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come and be our judge.
Come then. Lord, and help your people,
Bought with the price of your own blood,
And bring us with your saints to glory everlasting.
4th Century Prayer, found in the Book of Common Prayer
May 4, 2008 at 11:14 am
[...] Te Duem [...]
September 29, 2009 at 9:36 pm
please correct your latin it is ‘Te Deum’ duem is not a word! This is the problem when uneducated people try to write sacred music. Gregorian Chant and Polyphony- all are written already, nothing else is needed! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!
September 29, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Dear Matthew,
I in no way claim to be a Latin scholar, but – since I was not alive in the 4th century when this ancient prayer was written – I have to disagree with your comment. Also, I am not sure why you choose to come to a blog with such a combative attitude. This is meant to be a forum where people can come in brotherly love and discuss the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in Christian worship. If you wish to make comments, please keep this in mind.
As to the “fake” Te Deum, I must simply suggest you Google the phrase. I just did. The first five entries I came up with: A Wikipedia entry (which some people don’t like; fair’s fair); links to two pieces of music by the same title (one by acclaimed church music composer, John Rutter); an entry in a Catholic dictionary; and an entry in a collection of Latin prayers. I could also refer you to the Book of Common Prayer, where it’s been printed like that for decades (centuries?). Thanks for suggesting I wrote it; I wish I’d written such excellent words to glorify my God and Savior!