What the Choir Sings on May Morning
The Choir sings the Hymnus Eucharisticus from the gallery of the Great Hall at all important College occasions as well as on the Great Tower at 6.00 am on May Morning. The ceremony has been depicted frequently in films and television programmes (including, most notably, in Richard Attenborough's film of 1993, Shadowlands) but it is also the subject of a frequently reproduced painting by the Victorian artist William Holman Hunt. The hymn was composed in the 17th century by a Fellow of Magdalen.
You can listen to the first verse of the hymn being sung by the choir.
Te Deum Patrem colimus,
Te Laudibus prosequimus,
qui corpus cibo reficis,
coelesti mentem gratia.
Te adoramus, O Jesu,
Te, Fili unigenite,
Te, qui non dedignatus es
subire claustra Virginis.
Actus in crucem, factus est
irato Deo victima
per te, Salvator unice
vitae spes nobis rediit.
Tibi, aeterne Spiritus
cuius afflatu peperit
infantem Deum Maria,
aeternum benedicimus.
Triune Deus, hominum
salutis auctor optime,
immensum hoc mysterium
orante lingua canimus.