Tantum Ergo

The Eucharistic Devotion of St. Thomas Aquinas

After becoming Catholic in 2008, following a long journey from atheism, I became a parishioner at a small church (practically a mission) in northern Georgia, which at the time only had a hundred or so members. Though I greatly admired the priest who catechized, baptized and confirmed my father and I, and who has now passed to his eternal reward, the church itself and its liturgy were (stereo)typically Novus Ordo: the tabernacle in a back room, the priest’s chair at the center of the sanctuary behind the table altar, no Latin, no chant, etc. But for me, whose only previous experience with Christian services had been in an aunt’s Anabaptist church and my mother’s evangelical megachurch, the experience of a liturgy was wholly new (even so, my first Mass was at a nearby, larger church, a “teen” Mass whose rock music and dancing almost dissuaded me from returning). Expressing the Faith and experiencing its mysteries sacramentally and doing so in an ordered, participatory way as a congregation felt like being transported to another time and world – which of course is true.

A couple years later, our priest (who was a canon lawyer) was recalled to the diocesan cathedral. Our new priest, who was much younger and more traditional, made many changes which at first seemed inexplicable and jarring: he moved the priest’s chair to the side, moved the tabernacle to the center of the sanctuary, began incorporating Gregorian chant (some later in Latin) into parts of the liturgy, and added statues and crucifixes throughout the church. One of the biggest changes he made, however, involved my first experience of traditional Gregorian chant in Latin: he introduced Benediction prior to Mass and sung the Tantum Ergo for it. My father and I began arriving early, usually the only other people in the church, to participate in it with him. In many ways, this was the first experience which opened my eyes to traditional Catholicism and has since motivated me to rediscover and reclaim this great heritage of which most Catholics today are deprived.

The title for this sacred hymn comes from the incipit of the final two verses of the Pange Lingua which was composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. As one would expect from the Angelic Doctor, who was not only the greatest philosopher and theologian in history but also a true genius in liturgical poetry and hymnography, it is truly angelic both in its themes and beauty, one of the most profound expressions of Eucharistic devotion in history. For this reason, it has been set to music by many composers over the centuries, using plainchant, polyphony and other styles. It centers on three great themes: reverence for the divine presence of Christ in the Eucharist, its connection to and fulfillment of the Temple sacrifices of the Old Covenant, and the equality and inseparability of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity in its confection, highlighting the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Ghost from both the Father and the Son as contained in the filioque of the Nicene Creed. As in all the traditional prayers of the Church, it is thus pregnant with meaning which is not obscured by its exceptional artistic beauty.

Tantum ergo sacramentum

Veneremur cernui,

et antiquum documentum

novo cedat ritui.

Præstet fides supplementum

sensuum defectui.

Genitori genitoque

laus et jubilatio,

Salus, honor, virtus quoque

sit et benedictio!

Procedenti ab utroque

compar sit laudatio!

Amen.

(literal translation)

Therefore, so great a Sacrament

Let us venerate with heads bowed

And let the old practice

Give way to the new rite;

Let faith provide a supplement

For the failure of the senses.

To the Begetter and the Begotten,

Be praise and jubilation,

Hail, honour, virtue also,

And blessing too:

To the One proceeding from Both

Let there be equal praise.

Amen.