176
Adoro Te devote, latens Deitas.
The following hymn of S. Thomas Aquinas to the Holy Eucharist was never in public use in the mediæval Church; but it has been appended, as a private devotion, to most Missals. It is worthy of notice how the Angelic Doctor, as if afraid to employ any pomp of words on approaching so tremendous a Mystery, has used the very simplest expressions throughout.
Humbly I adore Thee, hidden Deity,
Which beneath these figures art concealed from me;
Wholly in submission Thee my spirit hails,
For in contemplating Thee it wholly fails.
Taste and touch and vision in Thee are deceived:
But the hearing only may be well believed:
I believe whatever God's own Son declared;
Nothing can be truer than Truth's very Word.
On the Cross lay hidden but Thy Deity:
