This poem by an unknown German author is a versification of a portion of the “Te Deum laudamus” (We Praise Thee, O God), an anonymous, unmetrical Latin hymn that may date to the fourth century. The text can be found in the Hymnal 1940 and other hymnbooks. It was published in the Katholisches Gesangbuch (Catholic Hymnbook), Vienna, 1744, at the request of the Austrian empress, Maria Theresa. Walworth’s translation was included in the Catholic Psalmist, Dublin, 1858.

Clarence Augustus Walworth was born May 30, 1820, at Plattsburg, New York. He graduated from Union college and for a time practiced law in Canandaigua and Albany. At first a Presbyterian, he studied for the Episcopalian ministry but joined the Oxford movement and became a Catholic Priest in 1845. He was one of the founders of the Paulist Order in the United States, and from 1866 to his death on September 19, 1900, was rector of St. Mary’s Church, Albany, New York. He wrote a number of hymn translations and paraphrases and several books, including The Oxford Movement in America, 1895.

The tune GROSSER GOTH (Great God), by an unknown composer, gets its name from the first words of the original German text printed in Katholisches Gesangbuch. There it had a slightly different melody and was in a 6/8 time with a folk song quality. The abbreviated English form of the tune is known as HURSLEY (see SDAH 502, “Son of My Soul.”). Note that the melody proceeds by successive notes of the scale by single steps, with the exception of four uses of the interval of the 3rd.