CORPUS CHRISTI
Today is the feast of Corpus Christi, and you would not expect me to let it
pass without some mention of the hymns of Thomas Aquinas.
For years Aquinas must have sung the Office Hymn for Advent, Ambrosian in
style but believed to be of about the 10th century:
Verbum supernum prodiens, High Word of God, who once didst come,
A patre olim exiens, Leaving thy Father and thy home,
Qui natus orbi subvenis, To succour by thy birth our kind,
Cursu declivi temporis. When, towards thine advent, time declined.
I dare say he sang the hymn obediently enough, but perhaps he allowed
himself an interior and spiritual wince at its bad theology, for the Word of
God did not leave his Father or his heavenly home when he became flesh.
When he composed his hymn for Corpus Christi, the Angelic Doctor took the
opportunity to correct the old hymn:
Verbum supernum prodiens, The Word of God, proceeding forth
Nec patris linquens dexteram, Yet leaving not his Father's side,
Ad opus suum exiens, And going to his work on earth,
Venit ad vitae vesperam. Had reached at length life's eventide.
Aquinas has perfected something that was fairly rudimentary in the old hymn,
namely rhyme. Ambrose's hymns did not rhyme, save occasionally and perhaps
by accident: because of the identical inflexions of so many words, it is
hard not to rhyme in Latin. Later hymns sought out rhyme as an occasional
ornament, then as a formal principle, but usually the rhymes were fairly
simple, often involving only the last (unstressed) syllable, as in
subvenis/temporis. Abelard himself had been content with this simple form
of rhyme. But Aquinas uses a full rhyme, and moreover a more sophisticated
rhyme scheme, abab instead of the old aabb. Notice also a pretty neat line
in alliteration: Verbum . . . venit ad vitae vesperam.
All of Aquinas' hymns are theologically exact, but none is more so than the
formidable "Lauda, Sion", his Sequence for the Mass of Corpus Christi. ODCC
comments: "The hymn combines with close philosophical reasoning a severity
of form and economy of expression which give it a grandeur and austerity
lost in most English translations." We know all about that sort of thing on
this list. However the following translation, by several hands, is not bad:
1. Lauda, Sion, salvatorem, Laud, O Sion, thy salvation,
Lauda ducem et pastorem Laud with hymns of exultation
In hymnis et canticis; Christ, thy King and Shepherd true:
Quantum potes, tantum aude, Spend thyself, his honour raising,
Quia maior omni laude, Who surpasseth all thy praising;
Nec laudare sufficis. Never canst thou reach his due.
2. Laudis thema specialis Sing today, the mystery showing
Panis vivus et vitalis Of the living, life-bestowing
Hodie proponitur, Bread from heaven before thee set;
Quem in sacrae mensa cenae E'en the same of old provided,
Turbae fratrum duodenae Where the Twelve, divinely guided,
Datum non ambigitur. At the holy Table met.
3. Sit laus plena, sit sonora, Full and clear ring out thy chanting,
Sit iucunda, sit decora Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting
Mentis iubilatio; To thy heart and soul today;
Dies enim sollemnis agitur, When we gather up the measure
In qua mensae prima recolitur Of that supper and its treasure,
Huius institutio. Keeping feast in glad array.
4. In hac mensa novi regis Lo, the new King's Table gracing,
Novum pascha navae legis This new passover of blessing
Phase vetus terminat; Hath fulfilled the elder rite:
Vetustatem novitas, Now the new the old effaceth,
Umbram fugat veritas, Truth revealed the shadow chaseth,
Noctem lux eliminat. Day is breaking on the night.
5. Quod in cena Christus gessit, What he did at Supper seated,
Faciendum hoc expressit Christ ordained to be repeated,
In sui memoriam; His memorial ne'er to cease:
Docti sacris institutis And, his word for guidance taking,
Panem, vinum in salutis Bread and wine we hallow, making
Consecramus hostiam. Thus our sacrifice of peace.
6. Dogma datur Christianis This the truth to Christians given -
Quod in carnem transit panis Bread becomes his Flesh from heaven,
Et vinum in sanguinem; Wine becomes his holy Blood.
Quod non capis, quod non vides Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Animosa firmat fides Yet by faith, thy sight transcending,
Praeter rerum ordinem. Wondrous things are understood.
7. Sub diversis speciebus, Yea, beneath these signs are hidden
Signis tantum et non rebus, Glorious things to sight forbidden:
Latent rex eximiae; Look not on the outward sign.
Caro cibus, sanguis potus, Wine is poured and bread is broken,
Manet tamen Christus totus But in either sacret token
Sub utraque specie. Christ is here by power divine.
8. A sumente non concisus, Whoso of this Food partaketh,
Non confractus, non divisus, Rendeth not the Lord nor breaketh:
Intiger accipitur; Christ is whole to all that taste.
Sumit unus, sumunt mille, Thousands are, as one, receivers
Quantum isti, tantum ille, One, as thousands of believers,
Nec sumptus sonsumitur. Takes the food that cannot waste.
9. Sumunt boni, sumunt mali, Good and evil men are sharing
sorte tamen inaequali One repast, a doom preparing
vitae vel interitus: Varied as the heart of man;
mors est malis, vita bonis; Doom of life or death awarded,
Vide, paris sumptionis As their days shall be recorded
Quam sit dispar exitus. Which from one beginning ran.
10. Fracto demum sacramento When the Sacrament is broken,
Nec vacilles, sed memento Doubt not in each severed token,
Tantum esse sub fragmento Hallowed by the word once spoken,
Quantum toto tegitur: Resteth all the true content:
Nulla rei fit scissura, Nought the precious gift divideth,
Signi tantum fit fractura, Breaking but the sign betideth,
Qua nec status nec statura He himself the same abideth,
Signati minuitur. Nothing of his fullness spent.
II.
11. Ecce panis angelorum Lo! The Angels' Food is given
Factus cibus viatorum, To the pilgrim who hath striven;
Vere panis filiorum, See the children's bread from heaven,
Non mittendus canibus: Which to dogs may not be cast;
In figuris praesignatur, Truth the ancient types fulfilling,
Cum Isaac immolatur, Isaac bound, a victim willing,
Agnus paschae deputatur, Paschal lamb, its life-blood spilling,
Datur manna patribus. Manna sent in ages past.
III.
12. Bone pastor, panis vere, O true Bread, good Shepherd, tend us,
Iesu, nostri miserere, Jesu, of thy love befriend us,
Tu nos pasce, nos tuere, Thou refresh us, thou defend us,
Tu nos bona fac videre Thine eternal goodness send us
In terra viventium: In the land of life to see;
Tu qui cuncta scis et vales, Thou who all things canst and knowest,
Qui nos pascis hic mortales, Who on earth such Food bestoweth,
Tu nos ibi commensales, Grant us with thy Saints, though lowest,
Coheredes et sodales Where the heavenly Feast thou showest,
Fac sanctorum civium. Fellow-heirs and guests to be.
Raby discusses the sequence in "Christian-Latin Poetry" pp. 405 ff. And I
commend his exposition to list-members. I quote briefly (p. 407):
"The doctrinal exposition follows closely the lines of the Quaestiones in
the Summa. Thus Quaestio lxxv, art. 1, is 'Utrum in hoc Sacramento sit
Corpus Christi secundum veritatem' - is the Body of Christ truly and
actually in this sacrament? The answer is: 'That the true body and blood
of Christ are in this sacrament cannot be apprehended by sense or
intelligence, but by faith alone, which leans upon the divine authority'.
So in the sequence,
dogma datur Christianis [stanza 6] . . .
"The next strophe, likewise, can be understood only by reference to the
Summa . . ."
He concludes, "This is doubtless the supreme dogmatic poem of the Middle
Ages; it never wanders from the correct scholastic terminology, 'res' and
'signa' are used in the sense of the Summa; the thought is hard and closely
woven, but it is a poem as well as a dogmatic exposition. The verses have
an austerity and grandeur which no Latin poet of the Middle Ages ever equalled."
For one who has toiled through the Eucharistic controversies from the ninth
century onwards, it is fascinating to see how Aquinas turns them into
poetry. To give but one example - and one could give many - the supposed
heretic Berengar was at a council in Rome in 1059 made to burn his own books
and also to subscribe to a statement affirming that:
"The bread and wine which are placed on the altar are after consecration not
only a sacrament but also the real body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and that with the senses (sensualiter) not only by way of sacrament but in
reality (non solum in sacramento sed in veritate) these are held and bromen
by the hands of the priests and are crushed by the teeth of the faithful."
One needs to make two comments: First, the word "sacrament" here does not
have its later, scholastic significance. Roughly speaking, before Peter
Lombard the word "sacrament" means no more than "symbol". So we often find,
as here, people concerned to affirm the reality of Christ's presence in the
Eucharist saying things like "It's not just a sacrament - it's the real
thing". A couple of hundred years later, people would be saying, "It's not
just a symbol - it's a Sacrament" (with a big S) and meaning much the same
thing.
Second, it may seem to us that those who forced the statement on Berengar
were overstating their case. Nothing of the reality of Christ's presence
can be perceived 'sensualiter'. The real body of Christ is not broken by
the priest, only the outward species of bread; the same can be said about
what is crushed by the teeth of the faithful. As Eucharistic theology
developed, the Rome statement was explained away as merely affirming the
reality of Christ's presence. Innocent III comments on it in his "De Sacro
Altaris Mysterio": "The body of Christ is not divided into parts or torn by
the teeth, since it is immortal and impassible". Aquinas agreed, and could
say it in verse (stanza 8) as well as prose.
I said I would give only one example. I lied. Note the reference to the
hoary old controversy, to be revived by the Lollards and some protestant
reformers, as to whether or not the wicked truly receive the Body of Christ.
Aquinas gives the orthodox answer in stanza 9.
To those who have read to the end: thank you for your patience and fortitude.
The Supple Doctor.
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