psalm quotes in the Te Deum
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Hi everyone,

    I am doing a bit of research on the origins of the “Te Deum” text, and I was wondering if anyone here knows where the “Dignare, Domine” line originates.

    It appears that everything from “Salvum fac” to the end comes from the psalms, but I can’t find where that one line originates.

    Here is what I have so far:


    Ps. 28:9 - Salvum fac

    Ps. 145:2 - Et laudamus

    ?? - Dignare, Domine

    Ps. 123:3 - Miserere nostri

    Ps. 33:22 - Fiat misericordia

    Ps. 31:2 In te, Domine
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,204
    From my quick searches, the word "dignare" doesn't appear in Latin in the psalms.

    If I may suggest, the whole of the Te Deum seems to be constructed along the following lines:

    Part I: derived from the various forms of the Creed,
    Part II: (beginning with Salvum fac) quoting the psalms, ending with "ever world without end" (et in saeculum saeculi) which is a standard closing formula for recitation of the psalms (part of the Gloria Patri),
    Part III: a series of versicles and responses beginning with Dignare, Domine (which may have some relationship to the psalms, but may be more coincidental than intentional, as these particular psalm verses resemble common prayer formulae as well).

    I'm making no claim to have any basis for any of this, it's just my observation.

    Very interesting! What prompted this little study?
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    David,

    I did a bit more googling (which the librarian-devil on my shoulder presently reminds me does NOT constitute real research...), and apparently the Gloria used to be recited in the Divine Office. It was followed by the versicle/response pattern that actually begins with “Salvum fac”. The Te Deum then replaced the Gloria in the Divine Office when the Gloria entered the Mass. Over time, I guess the versicles/responses got “subsumed” into the body of the prayer.

    Note that the Graduale Simplex offers the option of stopping before “Salvum fac”, presumably for this reason.

    I am starting to conclude that the “Dignare” line is not from the psalms. There are a few of the versicles that are worded uniquely in the Te Deum; i.e. the Latin doesn’t quite match Jerome’s translation. (Maybe it matches a Vetus Latina text....)

    The impetus for this inquiry is that I am conducting the Charpentier Te Deum for our new church’s dedication in November and have been doing off and on research on the text.
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    At Mass this morning for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, I noticed that the propers include two Psalm sources used in the Te Deum.

    The Introit (Dominus fortitudo plebis suae) includes the text: salvum fac populum tuum Domine, et benedic haereditati tuae.
    The Alleluia verse includes the text: In to Domini speravi, non confundar in aeternum.

    I wonder how many other parts of the Te Deum are included in Mass propers? By the way, these propers are used in the post 1969 Missal for the 12th Sunday per annum.
  • Bruce E. Ford
    Posts: 429
    The relationship between the text Te Deum and various Mozrabic and Gallican eucharistic prayers is pronounced, and some have deduced that the Te Deum is, in fact, extracted from a Eucharistic Prayer. See Paul Cagain, "TE DEUM" OU "ILLATIO"? CONTRIBUTION A L'HISTOIRE DE L'EUCHOLOGIE LATINE A PROPOS DES ORIGINES DU "TE DEUM." Solesmes, 1906

    John Boe, citing Cagin's work wrote: "Non-scriptural verbal peculiarities of both the Eucharistic Preface-Sanctus-post-Sanctus formulas of non-Roman Western liturgies, and of Te Deum give evidence for the dependence of Te Deum on the former."--THE ORDINARY IN ENGLISH. Dissertation, Northwestern University, 1969, v. 1, 135.

    Boe cites another study, which I have not read (because I can't read German). It may be of interest to those who do: David Kahler, "Studien zum Te Deum und zur Geschichtedes 24. Psalms in der Alten Kirche," VEROFFENTLICHUNGEN DER EVANGELISCHEN GESELLSCHAFT FUR LITURGIEFORSCHUNG, Heft 10. (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1958).

    Musical evidence also supports the theory that the Te Deum is dependent upon anaphoral formulas. Jean Claire cites some of this evidence in "Deux melodies pour le chant du Canon," RASSEGNA GREGORIANA,, XLII (1964), 91-101.
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