Of the glorious body telling

Of the glorious body telling. Thomas Aquinas* (ca. 1224/5-1274), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866). The Latin text, beginning ‘Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis mysterium’*, was written ca. 1264 by St Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi, and is found in many of the later medieval breviaries. Its first line was an imitation of the great hymn by Venantius Fortunatus*, ‘Pange lingua gloriosi proelium certaminis’* (‘Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle’*), and the metre is the same as that of Fortunatus. In the present hymn, attention is given, appropriately, to the body of Christ (on the feast of Corpus Christ), and to the narrative of the last supper. The last two stanzas,...