Sung as the clock strikes 5 a.m. by Magdalen choir on the
summit of Wolsey's Tower (Oxford) on May morning to greet the rising
sun. Some say the custom dates from the reign of Henry VIII.; if this
overshoots the mark, no one knows for certainty a more exact period.
Te Deum Patrem collmus,
Te laudibus prosequimur;
Qui corpus ciboriflcis,
Coelesti mentem gratia.
Hymnus Eucharisticus.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
