One of the most venerable hymns in the English language is "Come down, O Love divine," with words supplied by Richard F. Littledale's translation of the 15th century text by Bianco da Sena, and complemented perfectly by the hymn tune and harmonization "Down Ampney" by Ralph Vaughsan Williams. Long a staple of English hymnody, it has been widely embraced by English speaking Catholics, as well. It is especially appropriate for Pentecost.

Attached here is the score for my arrangement, which simply adds two descants to the Vaughan Williams harmonization, but not entering until after the first stanza:

Come down, O love divine, seek thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with thine own ardor glowing.
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.

The first descant floats above the music in the second stanza:

O let it freely burn, til earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

Then the second stanza rises up through the music of the third stanza:

Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness become mine inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.

Finally, both descants interweave in joyous embellishment of the fourth stanza:

And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,
Shall far outpass the power of human telling;
For none can guess its grace, till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.

In addition to the PDF score for this arrangement attached herewith, here is a link to an MP3 sound file in which the first and second descants are doubled by an oboe and English horn, respectively: Down Ampney with descants. See also, this page at CPDL.

Additional note: The original version of these descants was sung during the recessional of the first Mass at the Colloquium in 2011.