Panis angelicus

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

The last two stanzas of the hymn Sacris solemniis, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for Matins of Corpus Christi and of the Votive Office of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The rhythmic stanza imitates the classical measures found in Horace and in several hymns of the Roman Breviary; but for whatever excellence the hymn lacks in respect of classical prosody it compensates in the interesting and intricate rhymic scheme.

Several references are made to the hymn by Hincmar of Reims, one of the most interesting being his objection to the theology of the last stanza (Te trina Deitas). Hincmar admits that he knew not the author of the hymn which "some people end with the chant or rather blasphemy [a quibusdam cantatur vel potius blasphematur] Te trina deitas." The phrase objected to was nevertheless sung in the doxology of the hymn down to the revision of pope Urban VIII.

Delaporte (Les Hymnes du bréviaire romain in the Rassegna Gregoriana, Nov.-Dec., 1907, col. 501) remarks that, when the edition of 1602 of the Roman Breviary was in preparation, Cardinal Gesualdo in 1588 wrote to various nuncios to get suggestions for emendations. The nuncio at Paris consulted alcuni principali della Sorbona, with some curious results, one of which was the criticism demanding a change in the doxology of the Sacris solemniis from "Te trina Deitas" to "Te summa Deitas", for the reason that "it is impious to call the Deity, or the essence of God, threefold".

Musical settings at CPDL

Giuseppe Baini Claudio Casciolini SATB ATB Hermes Coelho Adrian Cuello SSAA Solo Soprano Christoph Dalitz Théodore Dubois Tenor solo with org, harp & VC César Franck Tenor solo with org, harp & VC

Panis Angelicus II (Mariano Garau) Francesco Gasparini Nobuaki Izawa SATB Louis Lambillotte SATB? Santiago Lichius Gonçalo Lourenço Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina TTBB Camille Saint-Saëns SATB & organ Oscar Santos Gaspar van Weerbeke SAAT

Other settings possibly not included in the manual list above

• Marc-Antoine Charpentier — Panis Angelicus
• Lorenzo Donati — Panis angelicus
• Carlotta Ferrari — Panis angelicus
• César Franck — Messe à trois voix, FWV 61
• Mariano Garau — Panis Angelicus 2021
• Óscar Manuel Paredes Grau — Panis angelicus
• Antonio Grimaldi — Panis Angelicus
• Oliver Hayes — Panis angelicus
• Józef Kocięda — Panis Angelicus
• Paolo Pandolfo — Panis angelicus
• Ignaz Reimann — Sacris solemniis
• Douglas Walter Scott — Three Aquinas Motets
• Matthew J C Ward — Panis Angelicus

Text and translations

Latin text Panis angelicus Fit panis hominum; Dat panis coelicus Figuris terminum: O res mirabilis! Manducat Dominum Pauper, servus et humilis. Te trina Deitas, Unaque poscimus, Sic nos tu visita, Sicut te colimus; Per tuas semitas Duc nos quo tendimus, Ad lucem quam inhabitas.

English translation The bread of the angels becomes the bread of mortals; the bread of heaven puts an end to prefigurations. O wondrous thing! the poor, the slave and the humble feed on their Lord. Of you, threefold and one God, we ask: Come to visit us as we worship you; lead us on your paths to where we want to go: to the light in which you dwell.

French translation Le pain des anges Devient le pain des hommes. Le pain du ciel met Un terme aux symboles. Ô chose admirable ! Il mange son Seigneur Le pauvre, le serviteur, le petit. Dieu Trinité Et Un, nous te le demandons, Daigne par ta visite Répondre à nos hommages. Par tes voies, conduis-nous Au but où nous tendons, À la lumière où tu demeures.

Dutch translation Het brood der engelen wordt het brood der mensen. Dit hemelse brood maakt een einde aan de schaduwen. O wonderbaar gebeuren! Arme, dienstknecht en geringe: gedenkt uw Heer!

External links

• Panis angelicus on Wikipedia