Let the round world with songs rejoice (St. Matthew the Apostle)

Today, September 21st, is the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.

Matthew the Apostle, was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. According to Christian tradition, he was also one of the four Evangelists and thus is also known as Matthew the Evangelist.

The New Testament records that as a disciple, he followed Jesus, and was one of the witnesses of the Ascension of Jesus. Later Church fathers such as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria claim that Matthew preached the Gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, before going to other countries.

According to the Gospels, Matthew was a 1st-century Galilean. As a tax collector, he would have been literate in Aramaic and Greek. His fellow Jews would have despised him for what was seen as collaborating with the Roman occupation force. After his call, Matthew invited Jesus home for a feast. On seeing this, the Scribes and the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. This prompted Jesus to answer, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

The well-known melody, "Deus tuorum militum" is from the "Grenoble Antiphoner." It is the proper Office Hymn for the Feast of an Apostle, so, if you were singing this at Matins (Morning Prayer) or Evensong, you'd sing it after the opening responses, before the psalms.

The beautiful text is probably 10th century Latin, and the translation is by Richard Mant (1776-1848).

I've done "nothing with this," other than to observe punctuation and play in a manner that would encourage singing.

This set still has the Peterborough Hill at the old "sharp pitch," so, this hymn, which goes up to "top space E" is going to feel VERY high! :-)

The score is attached below, as well as Vincenzo Campi's painting of St. Matthew and the Angel.

The full text is given in the First Comment.