Scripture Verse

Praise ye Him, sun and moon: praise Him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Psalm 148:3

Introduction

portrait
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)

Words: Fran­cis of As­si­si, cir­ca 1225 (Can­ti­co di fra­tre so­le, Song of Bro­ther Sun). He wrote this hymn short­ly be­fore his death, but it was not pub­lished for al­most 400 years. Trans­lat­ed by Will­iam H. Dra­per for a child­ren’s Whit­sun­tide fes­ti­val in Leeds, Eng­land; first ap­peared in the Pub­lic School Hymn Book, 1919.

Music: Lasst uns er­freu­en Aus­ser­le­se­ne ca­thol­ische geist­liche Kirch­en­ge­säng (Co­logne, Ger­ma­ny: Pe­ter von Bra­chel, 1623). Har­mo­nized by Ralph Vaugh­an Will­iams in The Engl­ish Hym­nal (Lon­don: Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 519 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Francis of Assisi (1182–1226)

Lyrics

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!

Refrain

O praise Him! O 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 moon, in praise re­joice,
Ye lights of ev­en­ing, find a voice!

Refrain

Thou flow­ing water, pure and clear,
Make mu­sic for thy Lord to hear,
O praise Him! Al­le­luia!
Thou fire so mas­ter­ful and bright,
That giv­est man both warmth and light.

Refrain

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.

Refrain

And all ye men 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!

Refrain

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 hath trod.

Refrain

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!

Refrain