Inaugural Post - What this is, how this will work, and the ancient, Ambrosian hymn: Te Deum

Thank you for coming, and welcome to the inaugural post of "Bearded Musings", aka "Bearded and Lovable" (barbatusetamabilis), staring yours truly, a raving bearded man named JP with a penchant for languages and, basically, the insatiable desire to see the modern world largely undone and remade in the image of the middle ages, but with air conditioning, vaccines, and modern plumbing. I'm going to use some Latin (and French, and Spanish, and Koine Greek, and maybe a bit of Japanese or Russian (depending which I study next...)), but I will do my best to see that anyone even slightly interested can keep up fairly easily. If you have a question, please feel free to leave it in the comments.

For my inaugural post, I think it's appropriate to do something both majestic and exemplary of what I'm shooting for. This will be a place for my various musings, including acting as an outlet for all the Latin I'm always trying to explain to everyone around me. Perhaps this will be a more constructive means of sharing the things I love with others.

With that said, let's move on to methodology. Whenever I post a text or quote, I'll be using the "Z method" for commentary, borrowed from the esteemed Father John Zuhlsdorf at WDTPRS; that is, things in bold will be my emphases, while things in [red] will be my comments. The text may otherwise be assumed to be unaltered, outside of any ellipses which may be used to abbreviate the unnecessary.

As we're going for "majestic" in this first post, I posit that there's no better place to start than...

Te Deum Laudamus - The Ambrosian Hymn

Place yourself in the 12th century, at the Basilica of St. Denis north of Paris. The first Gothic Cathedral in all of Europe and the necropolis of the Bourbon Dynasty is being consecrated by the Eldest Daughter of the Church, France. The monks of the Abbey ring out in song at the beauty and splendor and majesty of God and his Holy Church, and commemorate the occasion with the solemn and ancient hymn: 

From preces-latinae.org:

Te Deum, also sometimes called the Ambrosian Hymn because [o]f its association with St. Ambrose, is a traditional hymn of joy and thanksgiving. First attributed to Sts. Ambrose, Augustine, or Hilary, it is now accredited to Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana (4th century). It is used at the conclusion of the Office of the Readings for the Liturgy of the Hours on Sundays outside Lent, daily during the Octaves of Christmas and Easter, and on Solemnities and Feast Days. The petitions at the end were added at a later time and are optional. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite it in thanksgiving and a plenary indulgence is granted if the hymn is recited publicly on the last day of the year.

It is patently and undeniably beautiful, and I would honestly love to see it used all the more often, considering how powerfully it invokes the majestas of the Holy Trinity. I will always try to maintain the word order as closely as possible when translating to English, to preserve the intent of the author. Given how little importance word order has in Latin, this will from time-to-time need to be less strictly-enforced than I would like, but I'll try to find a happy medium between intelligibility and adherence to the original intent.

Let's begin:

Te Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur.

Thee O Lord we praise: thee [as] Lord we confess.

Te aeternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur.
Thee [as] the eternal Father the whole world venerates.

Tibi omnes Angeli; tibi caeli et universae Potestates;
To thee all the Angels; to thee the heavens and all [their] Powers;

Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant:
To thee the Cherubim and Seraphim with unceasing voice proclaim:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts.

Pleni sunt caeli et terra maiestatis gloriae tuae.
Full are the heavens and the earth of the majesty of thy glory.

Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus,
Thee the glorious chorus of Apostles,

Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,
Thee the praiseworthy number of Prophets,

Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Thee the white-robed army of Martyrs prasies.

Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia,
Thee throughout the globe the holy Church confesses:

Patrem immensae maiestatis:
[the] Father of immense majesty:

Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
thy true and only Son, worthy of being venerated;

Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
and also the Holy Spirit, the paraclete.

Tu Rex gloriae, Christe.
Thou art the King of glory, O Christ.

Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.
Thou art the son of the eternal God.

Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Thou about to undertake the liberation of man, did not shrink from the Virgin's womb.

Tu, devicto mortis aculeo, aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.
Thou, with the sting of death having been overcome, opened for believers the kingdom of the heavens.

Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris.
Thou sitteth at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.

Iudex crederis esse venturus.
Thou art believed to be coming as Judge.

Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni: quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.
Thee therefore we beseech, come to the aid of thy servants: whom thou hast redeemed by thy precious blood.

Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.
Make them numbered with thy saints in eternal glory.

V. Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae.
Make safe thy people, O Lord, and bless thy inheritance. 

R. Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in aeternum.
And rule them, and lift them unto eternity.

V. Per singulos dies benedicimus te.
Day by day we bless thee.

R. Et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum, et in saeculum saeculi.
And we praise thy name unto the ages, and unto the ages of the ages.

V. Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire.
Deign, O Lord, on this day to preserve us without sin.

R. Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us.

V. Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos, quemadmodum speravimus in te.
Let thy mercy, O Lord, [be] upon us, insofar as we have hoped in thee.

R. In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum.

In thee, O Lord, I have hoped: let me not be confounded into eternity.

---

This piece is sung at the consecration of bishops and at other moments of great import, as a solemn hymn of praise to Almighty God.  In my usual self-important way, I had the schola sing this at our (Mrs. Barbatus'--she is not bearded, at all, I am happy to say--and my) tridentine wedding in 2009. The only thing that would've made that better is a good coronation to go along with it.

On that note, if you or your friends know of a group of properly-disposed (read: to whom everything that happened after AD 1517 was rubbish) nobles looking to both help make a throne and then put a good monarch on it, please let me know that I may submit my résumé forthwith. 

Back to the topic at hand: Generally, I would expound a bit on the topic, but in this instance, I think I'll let it speak for its own beauty.