Jesu! the very thought of Thee

Jesu! the very thought of Thee. Latin, probably 12th century, translated by Edward Caswall* (1814-1878). This is a translation of the Latin text beginning ‘Iesu dulcis memoria’*. The translation was published in Caswall’s Lyra Catholica (1849). It is from a selection of verses used in the Roman Breviary (Caswall later translated the whole hymn, publishing it in The Masque of Mary, and Other Poems in 1858). There have been many other translations of the whole hymn, sometimes known as ‘Iubilis rhythmicus de Nomine Iesu’ (‘The joyful poem on the Name of Jesus’), and of verses from it (see JJ, pp. 587-9). The best known are those by John Mason Neale* beginning ‘Jesu, the very thought is...