O Salutaris Hostia

This is the hymn usually sung at the beginning of the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. It comes from the last two verses of the longer hymn Verbum supernum prodiens by St. Thomas Aquinas.

First verse:

I’m using a text which rearranges the Latin word order to make the English easier to understand. We’ll learn this one first, then move on to the real hymn.

Copy this out on paper until you can copy the Latin and write the English underneath from memory.

O
O
salutaris
saving
Hostia
Victim

quae
who
pandis
openest
ostium
the gate
caeli
of heaven

hostilia
hostile
bella
wars
premunt
sore press us

da
give
robur
strength
fer
bring
auxilium
help

Learn them well. Come back and refresh your memory to help them stick.

Second verse:

Uni
to the One
trinoque
and Trine
Domino
Lord

sit
be
sempiterna
everlasting
gloria
glory

qui
and may
donet
he give
vitam
life
sine
without
termino
end

nobis
to us
in
in
patria
our native home

Trine is an unusual English word for Threeness. You might think of it as meaning Three-ish or Three-y or maybe Three-fold. Trine is a little shorter to write.

You can find O salutaris Hostia on page 83 of A New Book of Old Hymns.

Sing it through bringing to mind what each word means.

Quiz

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