Sing we triumphant hymns of praise

Sing we triumphant hymns of praise. Bede* (673/4-735), translated by Benjamin Webb* (1819-1885). The Latin text, ‘Hymnum canamus gloriae’* is found in 11th-century manuscripts, and is customarily ascribed to Bede. Webb’s translation, entitled ‘Morning Hymn for Ascension Day’, appeared in the Hymnal Noted Part II (1854). It had a quotation from John 3: 13: ‘No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven’, although it relies more obviously on the narrative of Acts 1: 9-14. EH printed all Webb’s seven stanzas, with the last two altered, and losing Bede’s vision of Christ above the stars (‘Qui scandis supra sidera’): Hymnal...