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: