Adóro te devóte, latens Déitas, Quæ sub his figúris vere látitas: Tibi se cor meum totum súbjicit, Quia te contémplans totum déficit.
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fállitur, Sed audítu solo tuto créditur: Credo quidquid dixit Dei Fílius: Nil hoc verbo veritátis vérius.
In cruce latébat sola Déitas, At hic latet simul et humánitas: Ambo tamen credens atque cónfitens, Peto quod petívit latro pænitens.
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intúeor: Deum tamen meum te confíteor: Fac me tibi semper magis crédere, In te spem habére, te dilígere.
O memoriále mortis Dómini, Panis vivus vitam præstans hómini: Præsta meæ menti de te vívere, Et te illi semper dulce sápere.
Pie pellicáne, Jesu Dómine, Me immúndum munda tuo sánguine: Cujus una stilla salvum fácere Totum mundum quit ab omni scélere.
Jesu, quem velátum nunc aspício, Oro fiat illud quod tam sítio: Ut te reveláta cernens fácie, Visu sim beátus tuæ glóriæ. Amen.
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.
The Adoro Te Devote is St. Thomas Aquinas's most personal Eucharistic hymn — not a public processional like the Pange Lingua, but a prayer for the soul kneeling before the hidden God. It begins with the whole matter of Eucharistic faith: "Adóro te devóte, latens Déitas" — "I devoutly adore Thee, O hidden Godhead, truly hiding beneath these appearances." What the eye sees is bread; what faith adores is God.
Across seven stanzas the Angelic Doctor lays out the logic of belief. The senses — sight, touch, taste — are all deceived by the Sacrament; only hearing is safe, because it receives the word of Christ: "Credo quidquid dixit Dei Fílius; nil hoc verbo veritátis vérius" — "I believe whatever the Son of God has said; nothing is truer than this word of Truth." On the Cross only His Godhead was veiled while His manhood was seen; in the Eucharist both are hidden, and so St. Thomas prays with the good thief, "Peto quod petívit latro pænitens." Where the Apostle Thomas needed to touch the wounds, the poet-saint confesses without seeing.
The closing stanzas turn from argument to longing. The Eucharist is the memoriále mortis Dómini, the memorial of the Lord's death and the living Bread; Christ is invoked under the ancient image of the pie pellicáne — the loving pelican, believed to feed her young with her own blood, a figure of the Savior whose single drop of Blood could cleanse the whole world. The hymn ends reaching past the veil altogether: "Ut te reveláta cernens fácie, visu sim beátus tuæ glóriæ" — that one day, the veil removed, the soul may be blessed with the unveiled sight of His glory. The beloved English rendering here is that of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.
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.
Adóro te devóte, latens Déitas,
Quæ sub his figúris vere látitas:
Tibi se cor meum totum súbjicit,
Quia te contémplans totum déficit.
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fállitur,
Sed audítu solo tuto créditur:
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Fílius:
Nil hoc verbo veritátis vérius.
In cruce latébat sola Déitas,
At hic latet simul et humánitas:
Ambo tamen credens atque cónfitens,
Peto quod petívit latro pænitens.
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intúeor:
Deum tamen meum te confíteor:
Fac me tibi semper magis crédere,
In te spem habére, te dilígere.
O memoriále mortis Dómini,
Panis vivus vitam præstans hómini:
Præsta meæ menti de te vívere,
Et te illi semper dulce sápere.
Pie pellicáne, Jesu Dómine,
Me immúndum munda tuo sánguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum fácere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scélere.
Jesu, quem velátum nunc aspício,
Oro fiat illud quod tam sítio:
Ut te reveláta cernens fácie,
Visu sim beátus tuæ glóriæ. Amen.
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.