Scripture References:
st. 1 = 1 Cor. 15:55
st. 2 = Matt. 28:1
st. 3 = Matt. 28:2-7
st. 4 = John 20:24-25
st. 5 = John 20:26
st. 6 = John 20:27
st. 7 = John 20:28
st. 8 = John 20:29
This hymn was written in Latin by Franciscan (Minorite) friar Jean Tisserand (b. France, 15th century; d. 1494); it was found in an untitled booklet printed in Paris between 1518 and 1536. Tisserand's text, which began "O filii et filiae, Rex coelestis," was preceded by three "alleluias" and concluded by one. Several additional Latin stanzas were added at a later date. A popular preacher, Tisserand also composed other hymns in French and Latin. In 1492 he founded the Refuge of St. Madeleine, an institution for the rehabilitation of prostitutes.
John M. Neale (PHH 342) translated the text into twelve stanzas, which were published in his Medieval Hymns and Sequences (1851). That translation appeared in an altered form in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) and in various other hymnals. Neale's stanzas 1, 3, 5-7, and 8-10 form the present text.
Like 211, this hymn is a narrative Easter carol; it begins with the Easter gospel from Matthew 28:1-10 (st. 1-3) and concludes with the doubting Thomas story from John 20:19-29 (st. 4-8). This hymn and 394 are the two Easter hymns dealing with Thomas.
Liturgical Use:
Because the narrative covers two Easter season Sundays, the stanzas can be divided as follows: for Easter Sunday morning, stanzas 1-3, 5, and 8; for Easter evening, stanzas 1-4 and 8; for the Sunday after Easter (which usually includes the doubting Thomas story), Stanzas 1 and 4-8. Stanza 8 is appropriate at any time as a sung beatitude.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988
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O filii et filiae, Rex coelestis, Rex gloriae. [Easter.] Neale in his Medieval Hymns, 1851, classes this with others as belonging to the 13th century; but it is more probably not earlier than the 17th and is apparently of French origin. The Latin text, for the Salut on Easter Day, is in the Office de la Semaine Sainte, Paris, 1674, p. 478. Bäumker, i. p. 569, cites a German translation as in the Nord-Sterns Führers zur Seeligkeit, a German Jesuit collection published in 1671. The hymn is introduced by “Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia." It is used in many French dioceses in the Salut, or solemn salutation of the Blessed Sacrament, on the evening of Easter Day. The text will be found in the Paroissiens published for use in the Paris and other dioceses in France. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
Translations in common use:—
1. Ye sons and daughters of the Lord. By E. Caswall, in his Lyra Catholica, 1849, p. 251, and his Hymns & Poems, 1873, p. 152. It is given in some Roman Catholic hymn-hooks in an ab-breviated form.
2. Ye sons and daughters of the King. By J. M. Neale in his Medieval Hymns, 1851, p. Ill, and the Hymnal Noted, 1854, No. 65. In addition to its use in its 1851 form it is also found as:—
(1) 0 sons and daughters, let us sing. This is the Hymns Ancient & Modern text, and is Neale's altered by the Compilers. The Sarum, 1868 is the same text with further alterations.
(2) Children of God, rejoice and sing. For Christ hath risen, &c. This in the Hymnary, 1872, is based upon Dr. Neale and J. D. Chambers,
(3) 0 sons redeemed, this day we sing. In Murray's Hymnal, 1852.
(4) Ye sons and daughters of the Lord. This in Skinner's Daily Service Hymnal, 1864, is a cento from Neale and Caswall.
3. Ye sons and daughters, Christ we sing. By W. J. Blew in his Church Hymn and Tune Book, 1852-55. and in Rice's Selections from the same, 1870.
4. Children of men, rejoice and sing. By J. D. Chambers in his Lauda Syon, 1857, p. 176. It passed into the Salisbury Hymn Book, 1857, and the People's Hymnal, 1867.
Translations not in common use:—
1. Young men and maids, rejoice and sing. In the Evening Office, 1748; the Divine Office, 1763; and 0. Shipley's Annus Sanctus, 1884. In J. R. Beste's Church Hymns, 1849, p. 50, the same translation is given with very slight changes.
2. Let Zion's sons and daughters say. T. C. Porter (1859, revised 1868) in Schaff’s Christ in Song, N.Y., 1869; London, 1870.
3. 0 maids and striplings, hear love's story. C. Kent, in 0. Shipley's Annus Sanctus, 1884.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly temperament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >
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