Captains of the saintly band

Captains of the saintly band. Jean-Baptiste de Santeuil* (1630-1697), translated by Sir Henry Williams Baker* (1821-1877). This is a free translation of de Santeuil’s Latin hymn, ‘Caelestis (sometimes 'Coelestis') aulae principes’ ('leaders of the heavenly courts'), found in the Cluniac Breviary of 1686, in de Santeuil’s Hymni Sacri et Novi (1689). It became known in Britain in the 19th century through translation as ‘Hail! Princes of the host of heaven’ in John Chandler*’s Hymns of the Primitive Church (1837). The Latin text is found in John Henry Newman*’s Hymni Ecclesiae (Oxford, 1838). Baker’s translation was included in the First Edition of A&M (1861), in six stanzas: Captains of...