O Christ our joy, to whom is given

O Christ our joy, to whom is given. Laurence Housman* (1865-1959). This is a translation of an early Latin hymn ‘Tu Christe nostrum gaudium’*, itself the second part, for use at Lauds, of the hymn beginning ‘Aeterne Rex altissime’* (other translations of ‘Aeterne Rex altissime’ include that by James Russell Woodford* (‘Christ, above all glory seated’*) and J.M. Neale*'s ‘Eternal Monarch, King most high’*). The hymn celebrates the Ascension, asking for help in this present life, and looking forward to the Second Coming. Housman’s translation appeared in EH, to be sung to plainsong or to DEUS TUORUM MILITUM (1906), later to GONFALON ROYAL (1933). A version by David Thomas Morgan* of the same...