The Te Deum is one of Christianity’s oldest hymns of praise, written around the 4th or 5th century and prayed at moments of thanksgiving and victory. Today, you might pray it when a burden lifts, when grace breaks through, or simply to join the angels in their unending song.
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 proclaims what the entire Church believes: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reigns in glory, worshiped by angels and saints. Tradition holds it was composed spontaneously by Saints Ambrose and Augustine at Augustine’s baptism in 387, though historians trace it to earlier Latin hymnody. The prayer names the entire communion of saints, apostles to martyrs, all crying holy before the throne.
Pray it slowly when something good happens, when you wake grateful, when a project succeeds or a fear dissolves. Let each line gather you into the chorus: you are not praising alone. The angels already sing it. The martyrs already know it. You’re joining them.
Read it aloud if you can. The Te Deum was written to be sung.
