for satb choir a cappella
One of the five hymns St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) composed for Pope Urban IV (1261-1264) when he first established the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. The hymn is found in the Roman Missal as a prayer of thanksgiving.
ADORO te devote, latens Deitas,
quae sub his figuris vere latitas:
tibi se cor meum totum subiicit,
quia te contemplans totum deficit.
Iesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
oro fiat illud quod tam sitio;
ut te revelata cernens facie,
visu sim beatus tuae gloriae.
Amen.
-St. Thomas Aquinas
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.
Contemplating, God, Thy hidden presence,
grant me what I thirst for and implore,
in the revelation of Thy essence
to behold Thy glory evermore.
Amen.
-Translation by John O’Hagan (1822-1890)
Justin Merritt 