Send Thy Archangel, Michael to Our Succor

We celebrated the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels in grand style today at our Sunday Eucharist, with full smells, bells, and our own choir singing to the heavens. Here were the words of our opening hymn:

Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels

Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels,
Thou Who hast made us, Thou Who o’er us rulest,
Grant of Thy mercy unto us Thy servants
Steps up to Heaven.

Send Thy archangel, Michael, to our succor;
Peacemaker blessèd, may he banish from us
Striving and hatred, so that for the peaceful
All things may prosper.

Send Thy archangel, Gabriel, the mighty;
Herald of Heaven, may he from us mortals
Spurn the old serpent, watching o’er the temples
Where Thou art worshipped.

Send thy archangel, Raphael, the restorer
Of the misguided ways of men who wander,
Who at Thy bidding strengthens soul and body
With Thine anointing.

Father almighty, Son and Holy Spirit,
God ever blessèd, be Thou our Preserver;
Thine is the glory which the angels worship,
Veiling their faces.

Words: Rhabanus Maurus (776-856) (Christe, sanc­tor­um de­cus An­ge­lor­um); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by J. Athel­stan Ri­ley and Per­cy Dear­mer in The Eng­lish Hymn­al (Lon­don: Ox­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 242. Music: Cœ­li­tes Plau­dant, Rou­en church mel­o­dy (MI­DI, score).

Courtesy, The Cyber Hymnal^™

Also listed in The Hymnal 1982, No. 282