God save the Queen!

In two weeks’ time, Her Majesty the Queen will become the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of service, and various celebrations are planned across the land to celebrate Her Majesty’s historic reign. The Bishops of England and Wales have approved special prayers for the Queen over the weekend of the 4-5^th June, Pentecost Sunday. A suitable bidding prayer may be composed and used on the occasion and the National Anthem may be sung at the conclusion of the Mass. Click here for the prayer to be used at the end of Mass, the Domine salvum fac. The prayer Domine, salvum fac reginam (‘Lord, save the Queen’), based on Ps. 19 from the Vulgate, was sung as the royal anthem in France during the Ancien Régime. Until the liturgical reforms of 1969, it was sung at the end of High Mass: Domine salvum fac reginam et exaudi nos in die qua invocaverimus te. Gloria Patri .. (‘Lord, save our Queen and hear us on the day we call upon You. Glory be to the Father …’). Click here to hear it sung.