﻿ Aquinas (St), Thomas, Hymns of - Biblical Cyclopedia

Aquinas (St), Thomas, Hymns of

Aquinas (St.), Thomas, Hymns of Thomas wrote not only in prose, but also in poetry,. and the produce of his muse he dedicated, above all things, to the glorification of the Virgin Mary and the eucharist. He composed a Psalterium Maria, and a poem (Omni die die Marice laude,: mea anima) known :under the title of Soliloquium S uoliloquiorum S. Thomce. When: pope Urban IV, in 1261, brought about the general observance of the Feast of Corpus Christi, Aquinas, at the instance of that pope, prepared the officiun, or order of worship, for that feast, into which the following hymns, still in use in the Romish Church, were introduced by Aquinas:

1. "Adoro te devote latens veritas;" 2. "Lauda.Sion Salvatorem;" 3. "Pauge lingua glot'iosi corporis;"

4. "'Sacris solehmniis juncta sint gaudia;" "Verbum superuntul prodiens." These hymns are not only translated into English, but also into German. The first, by Caswall, in Hymns and Poems (Loud. 1873), p. 161, commences thus:

"O.Godhead hid, devoutly I adore thee, Who truly art within the forms before me; To, thee my heart I bow with bended knee, As failing quite in contemplating thee."

Dr. Neale, who renders the same lines thus- "Humbly I adore thee, hidden Deity, Which beneath these figures art conceal'd from me; Wholly in submission thee my spirit hails; Fir in contemplating thee it wholly fails," remarks on this hymn, "It is worthy of notice how the' Angelic Doctor, as if afraid to employ any pomp of words 'on approaching so tremendous a mystery, has used the very simplest expression throughout." No. 2 is also translated by Caswall, loc. cit.:

"Sion, lift thy voice, and sing;"

and in another rendering is found in Lyra Eucharistica, p. 125:'

"Laud, O Sion, thy Salvation;"

and a third in Hymns for Christian Worship, No. 394; .

"Sing, my tongue, the Saviour's glory."

For No. 3 SEE PANGE LINGUA; and for No. 4A the art. SEE SACRIS SOLEMNIS. No. 5 is given by Caswall, loc. cit., p. 65:

"The Word, descending from above;"

and in Hymns Ancient and Modern:

"The heavenly word proceeding forth." It is remarkable that Dr. Trench, in his Sacred Latin Poetry, does not mention any of Aquinas's hymns. (B. P.)


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