The Te Deum is one of the oldest hymns of the Western Church, sung at moments of triumph and gratitude since the fourth or fifth century. Bishops sing it at ordinations, parishes sing it on New Year’s Day, and the faithful pray it whenever God’s mercy calls for thanks. If you’ve just received good news, if something you feared did not come to pass, if you simply want to step out of yourself and into the company of angels, this is the prayer.
We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory. The glorious company of the apostles praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee. The noble army of martyrs praise thee. The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee, the Father of an infinite majesty, thine honorable, true, and only Son; also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
Anonymous, c. 4th-5th century
How this prayer works
The Te Deum is praise as creed. It names God and then summons witnesses: angels, apostles, prophets, martyrs, the whole Church. You are not praising alone. The prayer moves from the Father to the Son to the Holy Spirit, affirming the Trinity while lifting your voice with every creature that has ever worshiped. Tradition holds that St. Ambrose and St. Augustine sang it spontaneously at Augustine’s baptism in 387, though scholars now date the text slightly later.
Pray it aloud when you want to give thanks without searching for your own words. Pray it after Mass on a Sunday when something in your life has turned toward grace. Pray it at the end of a difficult week that you survived. The Te Deum does not ask for anything; it simply stands in the presence of God and says what is true.
This is the prayer of the day because thanksgiving steadies the soul. Return to it when gratitude is hard to feel.
