Æterne Rex

Æterne Rex altissime,
Redemptor et fidelium,
Cui mors perempta detulit
Summæ triumphum gloriæ.

Ascendis orbes siderum,
Quo te vocabat cœlitus
Collata, non humanitus,
Rerum potestas omnium.

Ut trina rerum machina
Cælestium terrestrium
Et in ferorum condita
Flectat genu jam subdita.

Tremunt videntes Angeli
Versam vicem mortalium
Peccat caro, mundat caro,
Regnat Deus Dei caro

Sis ipse nostrum gaudium
Manens olympo præmium
Mundi Regis qui fabricam
Mundana vincens gaudia

Hinc te precantes quæsimus
Ingnosce culpis omnibus
Et corda sursum subleva
Ad te superna gratia

Ut cum repente cœperis
Clarere nube judicis
Penas repellas debitas
Reddas coronas perditas

Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui victor in cælum redis,
Cum Patre, et almo Spiritu,
In sempiterna sæcula.

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Eternal Monarch, King most High,
Whose Blood hath brought redemption nigh,
By whom the death of Death was wrought,
And conquering grace’s battle fought:

Ascending by the starry road,
This day Thou wentest home to God,
By Heaven to power unending called,
And by no human hand installed.

That so, in nature’s triple frame,
Each heavenly and each earthly name,
And things in hell’s abyss abhorred,
May bend the knee and own Him Lord.

Yes, Angels tremble when they see
How changed is our humanity;
That Flesh hath purged what flesh had stained,
And God, the flesh of God, hath reigned.

Be Thou our joy, O might Lord,
As Thou wilt be our great reward;
Earth’s joys to Thee are nothing worth,
Thou joy and crown of heaven and earth.

To Thee we therefore humbly pray
That Thou wouldst purge our sins away,
And draw our hearts by cords of grace
To Thy celestial dwelling-place.

So when the Judgment day shall come,
And all must rise to meet their doom,
Thou wilt remit the debts we owe,
And our lost crowns again bestow.

All glory, Lord, to Thee we pay,
Ascending o’er the stars to-day;
All glory, as is ever meet;
To Father and to Paraclete.

(Translation by J. M. Neale and others)

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