All creatures of our God and King

All creatures of our God and King. William Henry Draper* (1855-1933).

This is a free versification of the ‘Cantico di frate sole’* of St Francis. It was written for a children’s Whitsuntide Festival at Adel, Leeds, when Draper was the incumbent at Adel, between 1899 and 1919. Draper could not remember the exact year in which he wrote the translation, but it was published in the Public School Hymn Book (1919), so it was known before that book was compiled. It was written to be sung to the tune LASST UNS ERFREUEN, the arrangement by Ralph Vaughan Williams* of a German tune from the Cologne Geistliche Kirchengesänge (Köln, 1623). It was set in EH to ‘Ye watchers and ye holy ones’* by Athelstan Riley*, and the fine match of tune and words may have given Draper the inspiration to write his own words to the tune. The text in NEH is as follows:

All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing
      Alleluya, alleluya!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam:
      O praise him, O praise him,
       Alleluya, Alleluya, Alleluya!

Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
Ye clouds that sail in heaven along,
       O praise him, Alleluya!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
Ye lights of evening, find a voice:

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for thy Lord to hear,
      Alleluya, Alleluya!
Thou fire, so masterful and bright,
That givest man both warmth and light:

Dear mother earth, who day by day
Unfoldest blessings on our way,
      O praise him, Alleluya!
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,
Let them his glory also show:

And all ye men of tender heart,
Forgiving others, take your part,
      O sing ye, Alleluya!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God, and on him cast your care:

And thou, most kind and gentle death,
Waiting to hush our latest breath,
      O praise him, Alleluya!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
And Christ our Lord the way hath trod:

Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship him in humbleness,
      O praise him, Alleluya!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, three in One:    

Stanzas 5 and 6 are marked with an asterisk, indicated that they may be omitted. They certainly do not fit with the first four stanzas, which describe the created world so beautifully; but they are comforting to those in difficult circumstances, and those facing death. Tune and words have become closely associated, and have appeared together in many subsequent books. The hymn is found in books of all denominations in Britain and Australia, and in the USA and Canada, where it has become very widely used in recent years. It is found in translation in Oramos Cantando/ We Pray in Song (Chicago, 2013) and in Santo, Santo, Santo/ Holy, Holy, Holy (Chicago, 2019), beginning ‘Oh, Criaturas del Señor’.

JRW