Verbum Supernum Prodiens (including O Salutaris Hostia)

From Catholic Culture:

For the Lauds of Corpus Christi, St Thomas Aquinas wrote the hymn Verbum Supernum Prodiens (The Divine Word coming forth). The last stanza preceding the customary conclusion in praise of the Trinity has become a favorite song and prayer in itself:

O salutaris hostia,
Quae caeli pandis ostium,
Bella praemunt hostilia:
Da robur, fer auxilium.


O saving host, O bread of life,
Thou goal of rest from pain and strife,
Embattled are we, poor and weak:
Grant us the strength and help we seek

Sequence Lauda Sion

The sequence of the Mass for Corpus Christi, Lauda Sion Salvatorem (Sion, praise thy Lord and Saviour). Saint Thomas Acquinas enumerates in unmistakable words the main truths of Christ's revelation and the Church's teaching about the Holy Eucharist.

Sion, lift thy voice and sing:

Praise thy Savior and thy King;

Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true:

Dare thy most to praise Him well;

For He doth all praise excel;

None can ever reach His due.

Special theme of praise is thine,

That true living Bread divine,

That life-giving flesh adored,

Which the brethren twelve received,

As most faithfully believed,

At the Supper of the Lord.

Let the chant be loud and high;

Sweet and tranquil be the joy

Felt to-day in every breast;

On this festival divine

Which recounts the origin

Of the glorious Eucharist.

At this table of the King,

Our new Paschal offering

Brings to end the olden rite;

Here, for empty shadows fled,

Is reality instead;

Here, instead of darkness, light.

His own act, at supper seated,

Christ ordained to be repeated,

In His memory divine;

Wherefore now, with adoration,

We the Host of our salvation

Consecrate from bread and wine.

Hear what holy Church maintaineth,

That the bread its substance changeth

Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.

Doth it pass thy comprehending?

Faith, the law of sight transcending,

Leaps to things not understood.

Here in outward signs are hidden

Priceless things, to sense forbidden;

Signs, not things, are all we see:-

Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine;

Yet is Christ, in either sign,

All entire confessed to be.

They too who of Him partake

Sever not, nor rend, nor break,

But entire their Lord receive.

Whether one or thousands eat,

All receive the selfsame meat,

Nor the less for others leave.

Both the wicked and the good

Eat of this celestial Food;

But with ends how opposite!

Here 'tis life; and there 'tis death;

The same, yet issuing to each

In a difference infinite.

Nor a single doubt retain,

When they break the Host in twain,

But that in each part remains

What was in the whole before;

Since the simple sign alone

Suffers change in state or form,

The Signified remaining One

And the Same forevermore

Lo! upon the Altar lies,

Hidden deep from human eyes,

Angels' Bread from Paradise

Made the food of mortal man:

Children's meat to dogs denied;

In old types foresignified;

In the manna from the skies,

In Isaac, and the Paschal Lamb.

Jesu! Shepherd of the sheep!

Thy true flock in safety keep.

Living Bread! Thy life supply;

Strengthen us, or else we die;

Fill us with celestial grace:

Thou, who feedest us below!

Source of all we have or know!

Grant that with Thy Saints above,

Sitting at the Feast of Love,

We may see Thee face to face. Amen

Adoro te devote

One of the five beautiful hymns St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) composed in honor of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at Pope Urban IV's (1261-1264) request when the Pope first established the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. The hymn is found in the Roman Missal as a prayer of thanksgiving after Mass. A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who devoutly recite this hymn.

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quae sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subiicit,
Quia te contemplans, totum deficit.

Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur;
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius,
Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius.

In Cruce latebat sola Deitas.
At hic latet simul et humanitas:
Ambo tamen credens, atque confitens,
Peto quod petivit latro paenitens.

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor,
Deum tamen meum te confiteor:
Fac me tibi semper magis credere,
In te spem habere, te diligere.

O memoriale mortis Domini,
Panis vivus vitam praestans homini:
Praesta meae menti de te vivere,
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie pellicane Iesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo Sanguine:
Cuius una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

Iesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud, quod tam sitio,
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae.
Amen.

Hidden God, devoutly I adore Thee,
Truly present underneath these veils:
All my heart subdues itself before Thee,
Since it all before Thee faints and fails.

Not to sight, or taste, or touch be credit,
Hearing only do we trust secure;
I believe, for God the Son has said it
Word of Truth that ever shall endure.

On the Cross was veiled Thy Godhead's splendor,
Here Thy Manhood lieth hidden too;
Unto both alike my faith I render,
And, as sued the contrite thief, I sue.

Though I look not on Thy wounds with Thomas,
Thee, my Lord, and Thee, my God, I call:
Make me more and more believe Thy promise,
Hope in Thee, and love Thee over all.

O Memorial of My Savior dying,
Living Bread, that givest life to man;
May my soul, its life from Thee supplying,
Taste Thy sweetness, as on earth it can.

Deign, O Jesus, Pelican of heaven,
Me, a sinner, in Thy Blood to lave,
To a single drop of which is given
All the world from all its sin to save.

Contemplating, Lord, Thy hidden presence,
Grant me what I thirst for and implore,
In the revelation of Thy essence
To behold Thy glory evermore.
Amen.

Pange Lingua

Written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), this is one of the great seven hymns of the Church. This hymn is also used on the Feast of Corpus Christi. The last two stanzas make up the "Tantum Ergo" (Down in Adoration Falling) that is used at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. 

Of the glorious Body telling,
O my tongue, its mysteries sing,
And the Blood, all price excelling,
Which the world's eternal King,
In a noble womb once dwelling
Shed for the world's ransoming.

Given for us, descending,
Of a Virgin to proceed,
Man with man in converse blending,
Scattered he the Gospel seed,
Till his sojourn drew to ending,
Which he closed in wondrous deed.

At the last great Supper lying
Circled by his brethren's band,
Meekly with the law complying,
First he finished its command
Then, immortal Food supplying,
Gave himself with his own hand.

Word made Flesh, by word he maketh
Very bread his Flesh to be;
Man in wine Christ's Blood partaketh:
And if senses fail to see,
Faith alone the true heart waketh
To behold the mystery.

Therefore we, before him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here;
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
Makes the inward vision clear.

Glory let us give, and blessing
To the Father and the Son;
Honour, might, and praise addressing,
While eternal ages run;
Ever too his love confessing,
Who, from both, with both is one. Amen

God in the streets of New York

Sacris Solemniis

From Catholic Culture:

This is one of the five beautiful hymns St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) composed in honor of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at specific request of Pope Urban IV (1261-1264) when the Pope first established the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. Today Sacris Solemniis is used as a hymn for the Office of the Readings for Corpus Christi. The last two stanzas are the text for the hymn Panis Angelicus. Latin from the Liturgia Horarum. English translation is a cento based upon a translation by John David Chambers (1805-1893).

At this our solemn feast
let holy joys abound,
and from the inmost breast
let songs of praise resound;
let ancient rites depart,
and all be new around,
in every act, and voice, and heart.

Remember we that eve,
when, the Last Supper spread,
Christ, as we all believe,
the Lamb, with leavenless bread,
among His brethren shared,
and thus the Law obeyed,
of all unto their sire declared.

The typic Lamb consumed,
the legal Feast complete,
the Lord unto the Twelve
His Body gave to eat;
the whole to all, no less
the whole to each did mete
with His own hands, as we confess.

He gave them, weak and frail,
His Flesh, their Food to be;
on them, downcast and sad,
His Blood bestowed He:
and thus to them He spake,
"Receive this Cup from Me,
and all of you of this partake."

So He this Sacrifice
to institute did will,
and charged His priests alone
that office to fulfill:
to them He did confide:
to whom it pertains still
to take, and the rest divide.

Thus Angels' Bread is made
the Bread of man today:
the Living Bread from heaven
with figures dost away:
O wondrous gift indeed!
the poor and lowly may
upon their Lord and Master feed.

Thee, therefore, we implore,
o Godhead, One in Three,
so may Thou visit us
as we now worship Thee;
and lead us on Thy way,
That we at last may see
the light wherein Thou dwellest aye.

Panis Angelicus - John McCormack