The Cyber Hymnal ‎#5851

5851. Royal Day That Chaseth Gloom

1. Royal day that chasest gloom!
Day by gladness speeded!
Thou beheld’st from Mary’s womb
How the King proceeded;
Whom, true Man, with praise our choir
Hails, and love, and heart’s desire,
Joy and admiration;
Who, true God, enthroned in light,
Passeth wonder, passeth sight,
Passeth cogitation.

2. On the virgin as He hung,
God, the world’s Creator,
Like a rose from lily sprung—
Stood astounded nature:
That a maiden’s arms enfold
Him that make the world of old,
Him that ever liveth:
That a maiden’s spotless breast
To the King eternal rest,
Warmth and nurture, giveth!

3. As the sunbeam through the glass
Passeth, but not staineth,
Thus the virgin, as she was,
Virgin still remaineth:
Blessèd mother, in whose womb
Lay the light that exiles gloom,
God, the Lord of ages;
Blessèd maid! from whom the Lord,
Her own Infant, God adored,
Hunger’s pains assuages.

Text Information

• First Line: Royal day that chasest gloom
• Title: Royal Day That Chaseth Gloom
• German Title: Dies est lætitiæ
• Translator (from Latin): John M. Neale
• Meter: 76.76.776.776.
• Language: English; Latin
• Source: Unknown author, probably from 14th Century Germany; Translation in Mediaeval Hymns, 1851
• Copyright: Public Domain

Tune Information

• Name: DIES EST LÆTITIÆ
• Composer: Herman Rudolph Schroeder (1887)
• Meter: 76.76.776.776.
• Incipit: 11272 21226 71111
• Key: G Major
• Source: Great Hymns of the Church Compiled by the Late Right Reverend John Freeman Young, edited by John H. Hopkins, Jr. (New York: James Pott & Company, 1887)
• Copyright: Public Domain