Sancte Dei, pretiose

De S. Stephano.

For the Feast of St. Stephan, First Martyr
Whose feast day is December 26
See: Hymns to St Stephen

Compare: Sancte dei pretiose - Mone
and Sancte Dei pretiose - Daniel

Words: Anonymous, Sarum Breviary
Translation by Rev. John Mason Neale, Saint Of God, Elect And Precious
Translation by Rev. W. J. Blew, Saint of God, Beloved Stephen

Music: St. Thomas
Melody from S. Webbe's 'Motetts or Antiphons,' 1792
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF / XML
Meter: 87 87 87

Source: Rev. John Mason Neale and Rev. Thomas Helmore, eds., Hymnal Noted, Part I. (London: Novello & Co., 1852), Part II (London: Novello & Co., 1856), #15, p. 42. "From the York Hymnal"

Also found in J. H. Hopkins, ed., Great Hymns of the Church Compiled by the Late Right Reverend John Freeman Young (New York: James Pott & Company, 1887), #75, p. 117.

1. Sancte Dei, pretiose,
Protomartyr Stephane,
Qui virtute caritatis
Circumfulsus undique,
Dominum pro inimico
Exorasti populo : * * * *

2. Et coronae qua nitescis
Almus sacri nominis,
Nos, qui tibi famulamur,
Fac consortes fieri :
Et expertes dirae mortis
In die Judicii.

3. Gloria et honor Deo
Qui te flora roseo
Coronavit et locavit
In throno sidereo :
Salvet reos, solvens eos
A mortis aculeo. Amen.

Rev. John Mason Neale and Rev. Thomas Helmore, eds., Hymnal Noted, Part I. (London: Novello & Co., 1852), Part II (London: Novello & Co., 1856), #15, p. 42.

Sheet Music from Thomas Helmore, Accompanying Harmonies to the Hymnal Noted. Part I (London: Novello, Ewer and Co., and Masters and Son, 1852), Part II (London: Novello and Co., Joseph Masters and J. T. Hayes, 1858), #15, citing the Sarum Breviary for the text.

Sheet Music from J. H. Hopkins, ed., Great Hymns of the Church Compiled by the Late Right Reverend John Freeman Young (New York: James Pott & Company, 1887), #75, p. 117.

Hopkins gives the source as "Hymnal Noted."
"Proper Sarum Melody, reduced.
Harmonized by H. R. Schroeder."
"Hypo-Dorian"

The following note is from John Julian, The Dictionary of Hymnology (1892), p. 992.

Sancte Dei pretiose, protomartyr Stephane. [St. Stephen.] The original form of this hymn is in 3 stanzas of 3 lines (ii. "Funde preces," iii. "Gloria et honor").

This form is in two MSS. of the 11th cent, in the British Museum (Vesp. D.xii., f. 36 ; Harl. 2961, f. 229); and in the Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church., 1851, is printed from an 11th cent. MS. at Durham. (B. iii. 32, f. 14.) Also in the Sarum, Hereford, York, Aberdeen, and other Breviaries. Sometimes used for the Invention of St. Stephen. The original form is also printed by Mone, No. 1158, from an 11th cent. MS. at Stuttgart, &c. The text in Daniel, i., No. 221, contains six additional stanzas, probably of North German origin, and of much later date. [J. M.]

Translations in Common Usage:-

1. Saint Of God, Elect And Precious. By J. M. Neale, of the 3 stanzas form of the text, in the Hymnal Noted, 1852 ; the Hymner, 1882, &c.

2. Saint of God, Beloved Stephen. By W. J. Blew, in his Church Hymn & Tune Book, 1852-55, Christmas, No. 18, and in Rice's Selections from the same, 1870, No. 12. This, in 6 stanzas of 6 lines, is from the text of Daniel abridged.

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