Lauda Sion Salvatórem, Lauda ducem et pastórem In hymnis et cánticis.
Quantum potes, tantum aude: Quia major omni laude, Nec laudáre súfficis.
Laudis thema speciális, Panis vivus et vitális Hódie propónitur.
Dogma datur Christiánis, Quod in carnem transit panis, Et vinum in sánguinem.
Quod non capis, quod non vides, Animósa firmat fides, Præter rerum órdinem.
Sub divérsis speciébus, Signis tantum, et non rebus, Latent res exímiæ.
Caro cibus, sanguis potus: Manet tamen Christus totus Sub utráque spécie.
Ecce panis Angelórum, Factus cibus viatórum: Vere panis filiórum, Non mitténdus cánibus.
In figúris præsignátur, Cum Isaac immolátur, Agnus paschæ deputátur, Datur manna pátribus.
Bone pastor, panis vere, Jesu, nostri miserére: Tu nos pasce, nos tuére, Tu nos bona fac vidére In terra vivéntium.
Tu qui cuncta scis et vales, Qui nos pascis hic mortáles: Tuos ibi commensáles, Cohærédes et sodáles Fac sanctórum cívium. Amen. Allelúja.
Sion, lift thy voice and sing: Praise thy Savior and thy King; Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true.
Dare thy utmost praise to bring; For his praise no measured string, Nor thy loftiest song, will do.
A special theme of praise is read, A living and life-giving Bread Is now before us set today.
This the truth to Christians given — Bread becomes his Flesh from heaven, Wine becomes his holy Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending? Faith, the law of sight transcending, Leaps to things not understood.
Here beneath these 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.
Lo! the Angels' food is given To the pilgrim who has striven; See the children's Bread from heaven, Which on dogs may not be spent.
Truth the ancient types fulfilling, Isaac bound, a victim willing, Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling, Manna to the fathers sent.
Very Bread, good Shepherd, tend us, Jesu, of thy love befriend us, Thou refresh us, thou defend us, Thine eternal goodness send us In the land of life to see.
Thou who all things canst and knowest, Who on earth such food bestowest, Grant us with thy saints, though lowest, Where the heavenly feast thou showest, Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.
The Lauda Sion Salvatórem is the Sequence of the Mass of Corpus Christi — the great hymn sung after the Alleluia and before the Gospel on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. When Pope Urban IV instituted the feast in 1264, he entrusted its whole liturgy to St. Thomas Aquinas, and this is the Angelic Doctor's crown for the Mass itself: a hymn that is at once a song of praise and a compact treatise on the Holy Eucharist.
The opening summons Sion — the Church — to praise her Savior with all her powers, confessing at once that He is "greater than all praise" (major omni laude). But St. Thomas quickly turns from praise to doctrine. In three unforgettable lines he states the Church's faith in the change of the Eucharist: "Dogma datur Christiánis, quod in carnem transit panis, et vinum in sánguinem" — "This the truth to Christians given: that bread passes into Flesh, and wine into Blood." What the senses cannot grasp, "a living faith affirms, beyond the order of nature." He teaches that Christ is whole and entire under each species, and that the breaking of the Host divides only the sign, never the Lord.
The closing stanzas — from "Ecce panis Angelórum," "Behold the Bread of Angels" — gather up the Old Testament figures fulfilled in the Sacrament: Isaac bound for sacrifice, the Paschal lamb, the manna given to the fathers. The hymn ends as a prayer to the Good Shepherd to feed His people now and to make them one day fellow-guests, co-heirs, and companions of the citizens of heaven. (The complete Sequence runs to twenty-four stanzas; presented here are its principal strophes, including the shorter form beginning "Ecce panis Angelórum" that may be used liturgically.)
Sion, lift thy voice and sing:
Praise thy Savior and thy King;
Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true.
Dare thy utmost praise to bring;
For his praise no measured string,
Nor thy loftiest song, will do.
A special theme of praise is read,
A living and life-giving Bread
Is now before us set today.
This the truth to Christians given —
Bread becomes his Flesh from heaven,
Wine becomes his holy Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending,
Leaps to things not understood.
Here beneath these 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.
Lo! the Angels' food is given
To the pilgrim who has striven;
See the children's Bread from heaven,
Which on dogs may not be spent.
Truth the ancient types fulfilling,
Isaac bound, a victim willing,
Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,
Manna to the fathers sent.
Very Bread, good Shepherd, tend us,
Jesu, of thy love befriend us,
Thou refresh us, thou defend us,
Thine eternal goodness send us
In the land of life to see.
Thou who all things canst and knowest,
Who on earth such food bestowest,
Grant us with thy saints, though lowest,
Where the heavenly feast thou showest,
Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.
Lauda Sion Salvatórem,
Lauda ducem et pastórem
In hymnis et cánticis.
Quantum potes, tantum aude:
Quia major omni laude,
Nec laudáre súfficis.
Laudis thema speciális,
Panis vivus et vitális
Hódie propónitur.
Dogma datur Christiánis,
Quod in carnem transit panis,
Et vinum in sánguinem.
Quod non capis, quod non vides,
Animósa firmat fides,
Præter rerum órdinem.
Sub divérsis speciébus,
Signis tantum, et non rebus,
Latent res exímiæ.
Caro cibus, sanguis potus:
Manet tamen Christus totus
Sub utráque spécie.
Ecce panis Angelórum,
Factus cibus viatórum:
Vere panis filiórum,
Non mitténdus cánibus.
In figúris præsignátur,
Cum Isaac immolátur,
Agnus paschæ deputátur,
Datur manna pátribus.
Bone pastor, panis vere,
Jesu, nostri miserére:
Tu nos pasce, nos tuére,
Tu nos bona fac vidére
In terra vivéntium.
Tu qui cuncta scis et vales,
Qui nos pascis hic mortáles:
Tuos ibi commensáles,
Cohærédes et sodáles
Fac sanctórum cívium. Amen. Allelúja.
Sion, lift thy voice and sing:
Praise thy Savior and thy King;
Praise with hymns thy Shepherd true.
Dare thy utmost praise to bring;
For his praise no measured string,
Nor thy loftiest song, will do.
A special theme of praise is read,
A living and life-giving Bread
Is now before us set today.
This the truth to Christians given —
Bread becomes his Flesh from heaven,
Wine becomes his holy Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending,
Leaps to things not understood.
Here beneath these 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.
Lo! the Angels' food is given
To the pilgrim who has striven;
See the children's Bread from heaven,
Which on dogs may not be spent.
Truth the ancient types fulfilling,
Isaac bound, a victim willing,
Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,
Manna to the fathers sent.
Very Bread, good Shepherd, tend us,
Jesu, of thy love befriend us,
Thou refresh us, thou defend us,
Thine eternal goodness send us
In the land of life to see.
Thou who all things canst and knowest,
Who on earth such food bestowest,
Grant us with thy saints, though lowest,
Where the heavenly feast thou showest,
Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.