Scripture Verse

He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistening. Luke 9:28–29

Introduction

Words: Jean B. de San­teüil, in the Clu­ni­ac Bre­vi­ary, 1686 (Coe­les­tis aul­ae prin­ci­pes). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Ri­chard E. Ro­berts in The Eng­lish Hym­nal (Lon­don: Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 233.

Music: Vom Him­mel hoch from Geist­liche Lied­er, by Val­en­tin Schu­mann (Leip­zig, Ger­ma­ny: 1539). Har­mo­ny by Jo­hann S. Bach (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Ro­berts (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Johann Bach (1685–1750)

Lyrics

illustration
The Transfiguration
William Brassey Hole (1846–1917)

An im­age of that hea­ven­ly light,
The goal the Church keeps ay in sight,
Christ on the ho­ly mount dis­plays
Where He out­shines the sun’s bright rays.

Let ev­ery age pro­claim­er be
How, on this day, the chos­en three
With Mo­ses and Eli­as heard
The Lord speak ma­ny a gra­cious word.

As wit­ness­es to grace are nigh
Those twain, the Law and Pro­phe­cy;
And to the Son, from out the cloud,
The Fa­ther’s re­cord thun­ders loud.

With gar­ments whit­er than the snows,
And shin­ing face, Lord Je­sus shows
What glo­ry for those saints shall be
Who joy in God with pi­ety.

The vi­sion and the mys­te­ry
Make faith­ful hearts beat quick and high,
So on this so­lemn day of days
The cry goes up of pray­er and praise.

O God the Fa­ther, God the Son,
And Ho­ly Spir­it, Three in One,
Vouchsafe to bring us, by Thy grace,
To see Thy glo­ry face to face.