Happy Feast of Corpus Christi 2023

Today, the second Sunday after Pentecost, is the Solemnity of Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, or in Latin, Corpus Christi. As I posted a few years ago, Saint Thomas Aquinas had a particular devotion to Jesus Christ really present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, and when he was present in the papal court when it was in residence in Orvieto in 1263, a miracle occurred in the nearby town of Bolsena, which was brought to the attention of the Pope Urban IV.

After investigating and determining the authenticity of the miracle, the pope commissioned Friar Thomas to compose the liturgy for today’s feast of Corpus Christi ,which Urban established a year later. The liturgy contains several moving reflections on the meaning, importance and value of how Jesus fulfills his promise “I am with you even to the end of the age” in Matthew 28:20. The liturgy also contains five Latin hymns composed by Saint Thomas that are among the most beautiful and lyrical, and are still used for Eucharistic Adoration, as for example on Holy Thursday as the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession to the Altar of Repose where it remains for the rest of the Easter Triduum. That Saint Thomas wrote such moving poetry from his very deep personal devotion gives the lie to the contention that he was a heartless and abstracted intellectual.

Here are two of my favorite Eucharistic hymns of his.

Adoro te devote (Devoutly I Adore Thee)

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 lies 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 gives life to man; make 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.

Here is nice video of the hymn, sung solemnly, with the text in Latin:

Interestingly (and probably sacrilegiously), Adoro te can also be sung to the tune of The Yellow Rose of Texas (link to it being sung badly)

Pange lingua (the last two stanzas of which are often sung as Tantum ergo Sacramentum)

PANGE, lingua, gloriosi Corporis mysterium, Sanguinisque pretiosi, quem in mundi pretium fructus ventris generosi Rex effudit Gentium. Nobis datus, nobis natus ex intacta Virgine, et in mundo conversatus, sparso verbi semine, sui moras incolatus miro clausit ordine. In supremae nocte cenae recumbens cum fratribus observata lege plene cibis in legalibus, cibum turbae duodenae se dat suis manibus. Verbum caro, panem verum verbo carnem efficit: fitque sanguis Christi merum, et si sensus deficit, ad firmandum cor sincerum sola fides sufficit. Tantum ergo Sacramentum veneremur cernui: et antiquum documentum novo cedat ritui: praestet fides supplementum sensuum defectui. Genitori, Genitoque laus et iubilatio, salus, honor, virtus quoque sit et benedictio: procedenti ab utroque compar sit laudatio. Amen. Alleluia.

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. 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. On the night of that Last Supper, seated with His chosen band, He the Pascal victim eating, first fulfills the Law’s command; then as Food to His Apostles gives Himself with His own hand. 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. 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 sense fail. 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. Alleluia.

Here is nice video of this hymn:

Again, interestingly (and probably sacrilegiously), Pange lingua/Tantum ergo can be sung to Oh My Darling Clementine. I apologize that I cannot find, and have not made, a recording of the Latin hymn sung to that tune. Mea culpa.