Domine salvum fac regem

Domine, salvum fac regem (Lord, save the King) is a motet which was sung as a de facto royal anthem in France during the Ancien Régime.

Roof of the Royal Chapel at the Palace of Versailles

The text is taken from the Vulgate translation of Psalm 19, and while its use already existed in mediaeval France, the motet was composed by Jean Mouton for the coronation of King François I at 1515. It was put to music as a grand motet by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marin Marais, François Couperin, Henry Desmarest, Michel-Richard Delalande, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault and was made customary at the end of every Mass at the Chapel of Versailles. Marc-Antoine Charpentier has composed 24 Domine salvum fac regem (H 281 to H 305). Following the conquest of Quebec, the Catholic population began to sing the prayer for the British monarch and from there it spread to Catholics in England where it was sung at the end of Sunday Mass until the liturgical reforms of 1969.

Lyrics

The original lyrics were written in Latin.

Domine salvum fac regem
et exaudi nos in die qua invocaverimus te.
Gloria Patri et Filio,
et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio
et nunc et semper et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

Lord, save our King
and hear us in the day in which we shall call upon Thee.
Glory to the Father and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning
and it is now, and it shall be, for ever without end.
Amen.

See also
  • God save the Queen, one of the songs inspired by the anthem.
  • The Prayer of Russians, for an anthem-prayer for the Tsar of Russia.
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