Читать книгу Best Loved Hymns and Readings - Martin Manser - Страница 9

The words for this famous hymn were based upon lines written by St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). Legend has it that the first four verses were inspired by the saint’s experiences after spending forty nights in a rat-infested hut at San Damiano. The fifth verse supposedly resulted from a quarrel between the church and civil authorities of Assisi, while the sixth stanza was written as the saint endured great suffering on his deathbed.

William Henry Draper, rector of a parish in Yorkshire, subsequently produced his celebrated translation of St Francis’s words for a Whitsuntide festival for school children in Leeds. The music was the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who based it upon a seventeenth-century tune from Cologne.

All creatures of our God and King,

Lift up your voice and with us sing,

Alleluia, alleluia!

Thou burning sun with golden beam,

Thou silver moon with softer gleam:

0 praise Him, 0 praise Him,Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Thou rushing wind that art so strong,

Ye clouds that sail in heaven along,

O praise Him, alleluia!

Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice;

Ye lights of evening, find a voice:

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,

Make music for thy Lord to hear,

Alleluia, alleluia!

Thou fire, so masterful and bright,

That givest us both warmth and light:

Dear mother earth, who day by day

Unfoldest blessings on our way,

O praise Him, alleluia!

The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,

Let them His glory also show:

And ye that are of tender heart,

Forgiving others, take your part,

O sing ye, alleluia!

Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,

Praise God, and on Him cast your care:

And thou, most kind and gentle death,

Waiting to hush our latest breath,

O praise Him, alleluia!

Thou leadest home the child of God,

And Christ our Lord the way has trod:

Let all things their creator bless,

And worship Him in humbleness;

O praise Him, alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

And praise the Spirit, Three in One:

William Henry Draper (1855-1933)