Adoro Te Devote
O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,
Who truly art within the forms before me;
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in contemplating Thee.
Jesu, eternal Shepherd! hear our cry;
Increase the faith of all whose souls on Thee rely.
Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceived;
The ear alone most safely is believed:
I believe all the Son of God has spoken,
Than truth’s own word there is no truer token.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
God only on the cross lay hid from view;
But here lies hid at once the manhood too;
And I, in both professing my belief,
Make the same prayer as the repentant thief.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see;
Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be;
Make me believe Thee evermore and more;
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
O Thou memorial of our Lord’s own dying!
O living bread, to mortals life supplying!
Make Thou my soul henceforth on Thee to live,
Ever a taste of heavenly sweetness give.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
O loving Pelican! O Jesus Lord!
Unclean I am, but cleanse me in Thy Blood!
Of which a single drop, for sinners split,
Can purge the entire world from all its guilt.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
Jesus, whom, for the present, veil’d I see,
What I so thirst for, oh! vouchsafe to me;
That I may see Thy contenance unfolding,
And may be blest Thy glory in beholding.
Ave Jesu, Pastor Fidélium;
Adáuge fidem ómnium in te credéntium.
–St. Thomas Aquinas