Scripture Verse

I saw a star fall from Heaven, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit…the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon. Revelation 9:1,11

Introduction

illustration
Angel with the Key to the Bottomless Pit
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)

Words: Rha­ba­nus Mau­rus (776–856) (Tibi Chris­te, splen­dor Pa­tris). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale, Med­iæ­val Hymns, 1851.

Music: Un­ser Herr­scher Jo­ach­im Ne­an­der, 1680 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Rhabanus Maurus
776–856

Lyrics

Thee, O Christ, the Fa­ther’s splendor,
Life and virtue of the heart,
In the presence of the angels
Sing we now with tuneful art,
Meetly in alternate chorus,
Bearing our responsive part.

Thus we praise with veneration
All the armies of the sky;
Chiefly him, the warrior primate,
Of celestial chivalry,
Michael, who in princely virtue
Cast Abaddon from on high.

By whose watchful care repelling—
King of ev­er­last­ing grace—
Every ghostly adversary,
All things evil, all things base,
Grant us of Thine only goodness,
In Thy paradise a place.

Laud and honor to the Fa­ther,
Laud and honor to the Son,
Laud and honor to the Spi­rit,
Ever Three, and ever One,
Consubstantial, co-eter­nal,
While unending ages run.