Te Deum on Dec. 31?

Did you hear a Te Deum yesterday?

There is a tradition of singing the Te Deum on the last day of the year; I don't know why. The Church even provides a plenary indulgence for praying it publicly on December 31.

Here's what we did: I discussed with the music director how best to do it; it's a hymn, so ideally it should be sung. He could not, however, find a sung version of the English prayer. The best he could find was a lengthy version of "Holy God We Praise Thy Name," which is a free rendering of the Te Deum. I consulted with the archbishop, and he agreed it was not a proper translation of the prayer.

The music director recommended he sing the Latin chant; we ran off copies of the prayer, in English, and placed them in the pews. He sang it at the beginning of communion, then followed with "Angels we have heard on high."

So I explained during the homily the indulgence, and that our music director would sing it, but that we could follow along with the text. I didn't mention that he'd do it in Latin, and that might have been helpful to say.

After Mass, a fellow said to me, "you know, when we use Latin, could you have something in English to follow along?" So, sometimes people don't listen very well...

We could have simply recited it (and we did at 7 am with no musical accompaniment). What do you think?

Also, does this apply to a vigil Mass for Sunday, on December 30?

Any opinions? Did anyone else hear a Te Deum or even, "Holy God, we praise thy name?"