Hail Thee, Festival Day

Representative Text

Refrain:
1 Hail thee, Festival Day!
blest day that art hallowed forever;
day when the Lord from heaven
shone in the world with his grace.

2 Lo! in the likeness of fire,
on those who await his appearing,
he whom the Lord foretold
suddenly, swiftly descends. [Refrain]

3 Forth from the Father he comes
with his sevenfold mystical dowry,
pouring on human souls
infinite riches of God. [Refrain]

4 Hark! in a hundred tongues
Christ's own, his chosen apostles,
preach to a hundred tribes
Christ and his wonderful works. [Refrain]

5 Praise to the Spirit of Life,
all praise to the fount of our being,
light that now lightens all,
life that in all now abides. [Refrain]



Source: Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #581

Author: Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus

Venantius Honorius Clematianus Fortunatus (b. Cenada, near Treviso, Italy, c. 530; d. Poitiers, France, 609) was educated at Ravenna and Milan and was converted to the Christian faith at an early age. Legend has it that while a student at Ravenna he contracted a disease of the eye and became nearly blind. But he was miraculously healed after anointing his eyes with oil from a lamp burning before the altar of St. Martin of Tours. In gratitude Fortunatus made a pilgrimage to that saint's shrine in Tours and spent the rest of his life in Gaul (France), at first traveling and composing love songs. He developed a platonic affection for Queen Rhadegonda, joined her Abbey of St. Croix in Poitiers, and became its bishop in 599. His Hymns far all th… Go to person page >

Translator: Gabriel Gillett

Gillett, George Gabriel Scott, B.A., son of the Rev. E. A. Gillett, was b. Dec. 1, 1873, at Hawley, Hants, where his father was then curate. He was educated at Westminster School and at Keble College, Oxford, B.A. 1896 and ordained D. 1898, P. 1899. While domestic chaplain to Earl Beauchamp at Madresfield he contributed to The English Hymnal, 1906, three translations (58, 172, 030) and "It is finished! Christ hath known" (Good Friday). [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)  Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Lo, in the likeness of fire
Title: Hail Thee, Festival Day
Latin Title: Salve, feste dies
Author: Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus
Translator: Gabriel Gillett
Meter: Irregular
Source: Latin, 14th c.; Trans. The Engish Hymnal, 1906
Language: English
Refrain First Line: Hail thee, festival day
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

SALVE FESTA DIES (Vaughan Williams)

Ralph Vaughan Williams (PHH 316) composed SALVE FESTA DIES as a setting for Venantius H. Fortunatus's (PHH 400) famous text "Hail Thee, Festival Day." The tune, whose title comes from the opening words of that text, was published in The English Hymnal of 1906. Like SINE NOMINE (505), this tune is vi…

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Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 4 of 4)

Christian Worship (1993) #179

TextPage Scan

Church Hymnary (4th ed.) #581

Text

Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #581

Text

The Hymnal 1982 #225

Include 4 pre-1979 instances
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