Mater Dei celebrates Corpus Christi as an external solemnity this Sunday, and the Mater Dei Choir will honor this great feast with a number of Eucharistic motets, two of which are partial renditions of the great Eucharistic hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas:
O Salutaris Hostia (by Josquin des Prez)
– The “O Salutaris Hostia” is actually the last 2 verses of the full hymn, “Verbum Supernum”, penned by St. Thomas Aquinas. Translation can be found in any missal, or in the back of the red booklet missals.
Ecce Panis Angelorum (By Antonio Lotti)
This piece consists of the last 2 verses of the sequence “Lauda Sion” that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote for the feast of Corpus Christi. Translation can be found with the propers of the feast, at the end of the sequence.
We will also sing the following motets that are based on well known Eucharistic chants/hymns:
- Ave Verum Corpus (by Mozart)
- O Sacrum Convivium (by Croce)
During the Eucharistic procession after mass, we will sing the hymns “Pange Lingua”, “Adoro Te Devote”, and then “Te Deum”, the Church’s great hymn of praise and thanksgiving.
May the heart of Jesus, in the most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time, Amen.