Portas vestras aeternälès This is the beginning of one of the few Ascension hymns which we have in the Latin language. "Nothing is poorer," says Trench, "throughout the whole Christian Church than the hymnology of the Ascension. Even the German Protestant hymnbook, so incomparably rich in Passion and Resurrection and Pentecost hymns, is singularly ill furnished with these... The Latin forms no exception; it does not possess a single first-rate hymn on the Ascension." This hymn, which strangely enough has never found its way into any of the more modern collections of Latin hymns, runs thus:
"Portas vestras asternales, Triummphales, principales, Angeli, attollite. Eja, tollite actutum, Venit Dominuis virntum, Rex aeternae gloria."
An English translation is given by Benedict in The Hymn of Hildebert, etc., p. 81 (N. Y. 1867); for the original copy, see Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, p. 172 sq.
The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature was edited by John McClintock and James Strong. It contains nearly 50,000 articles pertaining to Biblical and other religious literature, people, creeds, etc. It is a fantastic research tool for broad Christian study.
John McClintock was born October 27, 1814 in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants, John and Martha McClintock. He began as a clerk in his father's store, and then became a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in New York. Here he converted to Methodism and considered joining the ministry. McClintock entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1832 and graduated with high honors three years later. Subsequently, he was awarded a doctorate of divinity degree from the same institution in 1848.WikipediaRead More