The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas
-- Francesco Traini (c. 1349)
Jeudi Saint:Pange Lingua -- Choeur Gregorien de Paris
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Pange lingua gloriosi
Corporis mysterium,
Sanguinis que pretiosi,
Quem in mundi pretium
Fructus ventris generosi,
Rex effudit gentium.
Sing, my tongue, the Savior's glory,
of His Flesh the mystery sing;
Of the Blood, all price exceeding,
shed by our immortal King,
Destined, for the world's redemption,
from a noble womb to spring.
Nobis datus, nobis natus
Ex intacta Virgine
Et in mundo conversatus,
Sparso verbi semine,
Sui moras incolatus
Miro clausit ordine.
Of a pure and spotless Virgin
born for us on earth below,
He, as Man, with man conversing,
stayed, the seeds of truth to sow;
then He closed in solemn order
wondrously, His life of woe.
In supremae nocte coenae
Recumbens cum fratribus,
Observata lege plene
Cibis in legalibus,
Cibum turbae duodenae
Se dat suis manibus
On the night of that Last Supper
seated with His chosen band,
He, the Paschal Victim eating,
first fulfills the Law's command:
Then as Food to all His brethren,
gives Himself with His own hand.
Verbum caro, panem verum
Verbo carnem efficit:
Fitque sanguis Christi merum,
Et si sensus deficit,
Ad firmandum cor sincerum
Sola fides sufficit.
Word made Flesh, the bread of nature,
by His word to Flesh He turns;
Wine into His Blood He changes:
what though sense no change discerns?
Only be the heart in earnest,
faith her lesson quickly learns.
Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble senses fail.
Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et iubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.
To the everlasting Father,
and the Son Who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from each eternally,
be salvation, honor, blessing,
might, and endless majesty.
Amen
7 comments:
Funny, I went to Mass the other day, and, waiting for it to start, I opened the missal to find this hymn, which I read very carefully. Tommy A. was not only a great theologian, but he wasn't a bad poet either.
Hi Liam,
He did have a way with a phrase... My older kids often grumble about how I gang-press them into serving Benediction and Stations of the Cross for the deacon on Fridays during Lent, but they do think it's kind of cool that Tommy A wrote the lyrics for the Tantum ergo
Nice, Jeff!
I like Tantum ergo too. And ....
ADORO TE DEVOTE
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.
On the cross thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.
I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.
O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.
Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what thy bosom ran---
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with thy glory's sight. Amen.
(translation of Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.)
Thanks for Tantum Ergo. It was part of Station of the Cross during Lent as a boy and more recently as part of our Eucharistic adoration at Secular Franciscan gatherings. ;-) Don
Thanks Crystal. That was beautiful. It looks like it goes in the same cadence as the Pange Lingua too. Did he write it originally in Latin?
In the patois in which my kids would put it, "Manley Hopkins rocks."
Hi Don.
I'm glad to hear that the Secular Franciscan adoration gatherings use it.
Yes, at our parish we still sing O' Salutaris Hostia and the Tantum Ergo during Benediction which is done in combination with the Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent, and we sing the Pange Lingua on Holy Thursday with a candlight procession as the Sacrament is put into the Altar of Repose.
Jeff, it was written in Latin by Aquinas, then translated by Hopkins, I guess.I saw it here - link
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