(See also "The Sarum Ascension Office.")
The Feast of the Ascension, which this year is celebrated on May 1, occurs forty days (there's that number again!) after Easter Day; that is, it occurs within Eastertide, on the Thursday after the sixth Sunday of Easter. (The period after Ascension Day is also called "Ascentiontide.") The feast commemorates Jesus' bodily Ascension into heaven; the description of this event can be found in Mark 16:14-19, in Luke 24:50-51, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
Here is an mp3 of "a Hymn for First Vespers of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord", from the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood. This hymn in English is "O Eternal Monarch"; in Latin, it's Eterne Rex altissime. You can find the Latin words to this hymn, and some interesting facts about it, on page 157 of Britt's Hymns of the Breviary and Missal (a large PDF file), and the English ones on page 43 of The Hymner: Containing Translations of the Hymns from the Sarum Breviary, at Google Books. This was originally, apparently, a Matins hymn.
Here is an mp3 of "a Hymn for Morning Prayer of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord", also from the LLPB. This hymn in English is "O Christ Thou Art Our Joy Alone"; in Latin: Tu, Christe, Nostrum Gaudium. Here's a page from a site called "A MIDI Collection of Traditional Catholic Hymns" that includes the words in Latin and English (a J.M Neale translation), and gives the source of this hymn as "Anon. 5th Cent." (The tune there is listed as "a Grenoble church melody"; it's the same tune as the one in #448 in the 1982 Hymnal, "O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High." listed there as "Deus tuorum militum, from Antiphoner, 1753.") The words in English can be found on on page 43 of The Hymner: Containing Translations of the Hymns from the Sarum Breviary, at Google Books.
Here's a chant score of this hymn from my sources, one that uses a different set of words:
Here is an mp3 of "a Hymn for Second Vespers of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord," also from LLPB. This hymn in English is "A Hymn of Glory"; in Latin, it's Hymnum canamus glorie; here's a page at CCEL with the words from the Lutheran hymnal, which are used on the mp3. The author is given as "The Venerable Bede, 735" on that page.
The LLPB also includes "a Versicle for Exaudi, the Sunday after Ascension": The text, from Psalm 47, is: "God is gone up with a shout, alleluia. The Lord with the sound of the trumpet, alleluia."
Here is the Ascensio Domini page at Medieval Music Database. And here's a bonus sound file: the Introit for this mass, Viri Galilaei ("O men of Galilee"), sung by the "Schola of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle." This chant is a particular favorite of mine.
The text comes from Acts 1:11 and Psalm 47:1, and these are the Latin words, followed by the English:
Here is a page of images of the Ascension, from Textweek. Here's a pretty interesting one, by Pietro Perugino, 1496-98, from the Web Gallery of Art:
But I always really like the ones where Jesus' feet stick out below heaven, like this one from Master Thomas de Coloswar, 1427, also at the Web Gallery of Art:
And here's a lovely Orthodox Ascension Icon:
The Feast of the Ascension, which this year is celebrated on May 1, occurs forty days (there's that number again!) after Easter Day; that is, it occurs within Eastertide, on the Thursday after the sixth Sunday of Easter. (The period after Ascension Day is also called "Ascentiontide.") The feast commemorates Jesus' bodily Ascension into heaven; the description of this event can be found in Mark 16:14-19, in Luke 24:50-51, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
Here is an mp3 of "a Hymn for First Vespers of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord", from the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood. This hymn in English is "O Eternal Monarch"; in Latin, it's Eterne Rex altissime. You can find the Latin words to this hymn, and some interesting facts about it, on page 157 of Britt's Hymns of the Breviary and Missal (a large PDF file), and the English ones on page 43 of The Hymner: Containing Translations of the Hymns from the Sarum Breviary, at Google Books. This was originally, apparently, a Matins hymn.
Here is an mp3 of "a Hymn for Morning Prayer of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord", also from the LLPB. This hymn in English is "O Christ Thou Art Our Joy Alone"; in Latin: Tu, Christe, Nostrum Gaudium. Here's a page from a site called "A MIDI Collection of Traditional Catholic Hymns" that includes the words in Latin and English (a J.M Neale translation), and gives the source of this hymn as "Anon. 5th Cent." (The tune there is listed as "a Grenoble church melody"; it's the same tune as the one in #448 in the 1982 Hymnal, "O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High." listed there as "Deus tuorum militum, from Antiphoner, 1753.") The words in English can be found on on page 43 of The Hymner: Containing Translations of the Hymns from the Sarum Breviary, at Google Books.
Here's a chant score of this hymn from my sources, one that uses a different set of words:
Here is an mp3 of "a Hymn for Second Vespers of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord," also from LLPB. This hymn in English is "A Hymn of Glory"; in Latin, it's Hymnum canamus glorie; here's a page at CCEL with the words from the Lutheran hymnal, which are used on the mp3. The author is given as "The Venerable Bede, 735" on that page.
The LLPB also includes "a Versicle for Exaudi, the Sunday after Ascension": The text, from Psalm 47, is: "God is gone up with a shout, alleluia. The Lord with the sound of the trumpet, alleluia."
Here is the Ascensio Domini page at Medieval Music Database. And here's a bonus sound file: the Introit for this mass, Viri Galilaei ("O men of Galilee"), sung by the "Schola of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle." This chant is a particular favorite of mine.
The text comes from Acts 1:11 and Psalm 47:1, and these are the Latin words, followed by the English:
Viri Galilaei, quid admiramini aspicientes in caelum?
Alleluia: quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum,
ita veniet, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Omnes gentes plaudite manibus:
iubilate Deo in voce exsultationis.
Ye men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven? alleluia. He shall so come as you have seen Him going up into heaven, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
O clap your hands, all ye nations; shout unto God, with the voice of exultation.
Here is a page of images of the Ascension, from Textweek. Here's a pretty interesting one, by Pietro Perugino, 1496-98, from the Web Gallery of Art:
But I always really like the ones where Jesus' feet stick out below heaven, like this one from Master Thomas de Coloswar, 1427, also at the Web Gallery of Art:
And here's a lovely Orthodox Ascension Icon:
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