Text: St. Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order of Priests (1225-1274)

Music: Sacris Solemnis; Fr. Louis Lambillotte, Jesuit, Society of Jesus (1796-1855)


Commissioned by Pope Urban IV in 1264 to celebrate the doctrine of 
Transubstantiation, this helped establish the feast of Corpus Christi 
("the body of Christ").  Aquinas is considered the preeminent Doctor 
of the Church.

Aquinas' came from the royal Aquino family, first cousins to the Holy 
Roman Emperor (all of Europe).  He became outcast from the family 
when he renounced riches and took a vow of poverty, as a Dominican 
Friar, the top student of Fr. Albert Magnus (Albert the Great).

Jesuit Fr. Louis Lambillotte restored Gregorian Chant via his find of 
the authentic 8th century hymnal by St. Gregory himself.
Click on Song Title to see Lyrics and more historic info!



Panis angelicus
fit panis hominum;
dat panis caelicus
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.  

Thus Angels' Bread is made
the Bread of man today:
the Living Bread from heaven
with figures dost away:
O wondrous gift indeed!
the poor and lowly may
upon their Lord and Master feed.  

Thee, therefore, we implore,
o Godhead, One in Three,
so may Thou visit us
as we now worship Thee;
and lead us on Thy way,
That we at last may see
the light wherein Thou dwellest aye 


Excerpted from: 

http://home.earthlink.net/~thesaurus/thesaurus/Hymni/SacrisSol.html
and

http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/music/panisangelicus.html

Other CD's by Arthur Sulit and Tina Carey are at:

http://www.MuSeeks.com/ArthurSulit

This is one of the five beautiful hymns St. Thomas 
Aquinas (1225-1274) composed in honor of Jesus in the 
Blessed Sacrament at specific request of Pope Urban IV 
(1261-1264) when the Pope first established the Feast 
of Corpus Christi in 1264. Today Sacris Solemniis is 
used as a hymn for the Office of the Readings for 
Corpus Christi. The last two stanzas are the text for 
the hymn Panis Angelicus.

Excerpted from:

http://stthaquinas.8m.com/list_tdrain.htm

Saint Thomas Aquinas was born at the castle Rocca 
Secca in about AD 1225, to a knighted father and a 
Norman mother.  Though born in Italy, his coloring and 
built indicated a more northern European father and 
lineage. Rocca Secca overlooks the small town of 
Aquino.  At age five Thomas was placed in the great 
monastery of St. Benedict, Monte Cassino.  Here he 
stayed for about eight years in studies.  The 
political situation was not favorable there, so Thomas 
went in AD 1239 to the university of Naples where he 
studied the arts and sciences for five years.  Late in 
this education St. Thomas came to know priests from 
the Order of Preachers, and at nineteen he took the 
habit of St. Dominic. 

News of his religious dedication reached home, and it 
suited his mother that Thomas would be a Benedictine.  
However, she was appalled at her some joining a 
Mendicant order, and set out to take him out of the 
Dominicans. The friars hurried Thomas off to the 
monastery at Rome, but undeterred his mother went 
there, too.  He had left with the Master General on a 
trip, and obdurate his mother dispatched her sons in 
Tuscany to find Thomas and take him.  This they did 
and he was brought back to Rocca Secca, and then to 
the castle Monte San Giovanni.  There he learned large 
parts of Scripture, 
studied the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and wrote a 
treatise on the fallacies of Aristotle. 

Two years later his mother relented and he returned to 
the Order.  It was decided to send him to study under 
St. Albert the Great.  There at Cologne were many 
clerics from all parts of Europe, and the reserved 
young saint did not immediately impress anyone, even 
leading to the misplaced nickname 
of  "the dumb Sicilian ox".  In about AD 1252 Thomas 
was sent to teach at Paris, and there he expounded the 
Holy Scriptures, the Liber Sententiarum of Lombard, 
wrote a commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, 
Isaias and the Gospel of Matthew.  In about AD 1256 he 
neared completion of his Doctorate, and began work on 
Summa Contra Gentiles, a five volume work written with 
the Moors/Muslims in mind.  For the next nine years he 
taught, and eventually taught those close to the Papal 
court.  In AD 1266 he began his crown jewel, the Summa 
Theologiae. 

In AD 1269 he was back in Paris.  There St. Louis IX 
consulted him on a regular basis.  In addition, St. 
Thomas' mind and Angelic knowledge of the Faith 
exerted itself.  He was asked to explain whether or 
not in the the Blessed Sacrament, the accidents (ie 
bread) remained really or or only in appearances.  St. 
Thomas was known to have spent whole nights in 
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in contemplation of 
theological matters, and after such prayer he 
completed his decision and laid it upon the Altar of 
God in confirmation.  Thereafter he conferred the 
knowledge that the Blessed 
Sacrament was wholly and completely transubstantiated 
into the Body of Christ, with the accident of bread 
existing only in appearance.  This would be excepted 
not only by the faculty, but soon after the Church 
universal, and would go on to destroy Luther's error 
of consubstantiation some two 
centuries later. 

Some academic trouble arose in AD 1272 and Thomas went 
to Naples, and there he would end his labors.  During 
the feast of St. Nicholas while offering Mass Thomas 
was struck with a profound revelation.  This caused 
the saint to end his dictations and writing, leaving 
the Summa Theologiae unfinished.  He was ill when he 
was called by Pope Gregory X to administer "on the 
Errors of the Greeks" to the General Council of 
Lyons.  He grew much worse, and had to stop at the 
Cistercian abbey of Fossa Nuova.  There on his death 
bed he began to expand on the Canticle of Canticles, 
but did not finish and gave up his ghost on the 
seventh of March, AD 1274.  Saint Thomas was only 50. 


<><><><><><> 

This is one of the five hymns composed by St. Thomas in honor of Our 
Lord present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, for the Feast of Corpus 
Christi which was instituted by Pope Urban IV, in AD 1264.  It is 
highly suitable for recitation at Holy Mass: 

Sacris solemniis iuncta sint gaudia, 
Et ex praecordiis sonent praeconia; 
Recedant vetera, nova sint omnia, 
Corda, voces, et opera. 

Noctis recolitur cena novissima, 
Qua Christus creditur agnum et azyma 
Dedisse fratribus, iuxta legitima 
Priscis indulta patribus. 

Post agnum typicum, expletis epulis, 
Corpus Dominicum datum discipulis, 
Sic totum omnibus, quod totum singulis, 
Eius fatemur manibus. 

Dedit fragilibus corporis ferculum, 
Dedit et tristibus sanguinis poculum, 
Dicens: Accipite quod trado vasculum; 
Omnes ex eo bibite. 

Sic sacrificium istud instituit, 
Cuius officium committi voluit 
Solis presbyteris, quibus sic congruit, 
Ut sumant, et dent ceteris. 

Panis angelicus fit panis hominum; 
Dat panis caelicus 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. Amen. 
------------------------------------------------ 


At this our solemn feast 
Let holy joys abound, 
And from the inmost breast 
Let songs of praise resound; 
Let ancient rites depart, 
And all be new around, 
In every act, and voice, and heart. 


Remember we that eve, 
When, the Last Supper spread, 
Christ, as we all believe, 
The Lamb, with leavenless bread, 
Among His brethren shared, 
And thus the Law obeyed, 
Of all unto their sire declared. 


The typic Lamb consumed, 
The legal Feast complete, 
The Lord unto the Twelve 
His Body gave to eat; 
The whole to all, no less 
The whole to each did mete 
With His own hands, as we confess. 


He gave them, weak and frail, 
His Flesh, their Food to be; 
On them, downcast and sad, 
His Blood bestowed He: 
And thus to them He spake, 
"Receive this Cup from Me, 
And all of you of this partake." 


So He this Sacrifice 
To institute did will, 
And charged His priests alone 
That office to fulfill: 
In them He did confide: 
To whom it pertains still 
To take, and the rest divide. 


Thus Angels' Bread is made 
The Living Bread for us today: 
The Living Bread from heaven 
With figures does away: 
O wondrous gift indeed! 
The poor and lowly may 
Upon their Lord and Master feed. 


You, therefore, we implore, 
O Godhead, One in Three, 
So may You visit us 
Who worship You with glee; 
And lead us on Your way, 
That we at last may see 
Where You dwell in Eternal Day. 
Amen. 

Excerpted by:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08759b.htm


Louis Lambillotte
 

Belgian Jesuit, composer 
and paleographer of Church music; born at La Hamaide, near Charleroi, 
Belgium, 27 March, 1796; died at Paris, 27 February, 1855. His name 
is now chiefly remembered in connection with the restoration of Gregorian music, 
which he inaugurated and greatly promoted by his scientific 
researches and publications. At the age of fifteen, he became 
organist of Charleroi; later he went in a similar capacity to Dinan-
sur-Meuse. In 1820 he was appointed choirmaster and organist of the 
Jesuit College 
of Saint-Acheul, Amiens. While exercising these functions he also 
studied the classics, and at the end of five years, in August, 1825, 
he entered the Society of Jesus. 

The thirty years of his Jesuit life were 
spent successively in the colleges of Saint-Acheul, Fribourg, 
Estavayer, Brugelette and Vaugirard. While occupied in teaching and 
directing music, he gave himself up more entirely to composition, 
with a view to enhance the splendour both of the religious ceremonies 
and the academic entertainments in those newly founded colleges. His 
powers of composition were necessarily checked by the limited ability 
of his performers, his orchestra, like his chorus, being entirely 
recruited from the ranks of the students; nevertheless his facility 
and his fluency were such that he provided new music for almost every 
occasion, producing in the course of time, besides his celebrated 
volumes of cantiques (French hymns or sacred songs), a vast 
number of motets, short oratorios, masses and secular cantatas, 
mostly for four-part chorus and orchestra. This music became very 
popular, especially in educational institutions. 

Late in life 
Lambillotte regretted having published those written improvisations 
without taking time to revise them. After his death a revision of the 
greater part of them was made and published (Paris, 1870) by his 
pupil, Father Camille de la Croix, S.J., and by Louis Dessane, 
organist of St. Sulpice, Paris, and afterwards of St. Francis Xavier New York.  

The irreligious levity of some of Louis Lambillottes church music 
is condemned by his own writings in which he upheld the correct 
principles; that he did not always remember them in practice is owing 
no doubt to the utterly secular style prevalent in his day. He spent 
his best energies in seeking to restore to Gregorian music 
its original sweetness and melodious character. The decadence of the 
liturgical chant had been brought about by its faulty execution, and 
this in turn was due to the corrupt versions that had been in use for 
several centuries. 

As a practical guide towards a radical restoration 
the celebrated Benedictine Abbot Dom Guéranger, in 
his "Institutions Liturgiques", had laid down the principle 
that "when a large number of manuscripts of various epochs and from 
different countries agree in the version of a chant, it may be 
affirmed that those MSS. undoubtedly give us the phrase of St. Gregory." 

Acting upon this principle, Lambillotte for many years gathered and 
compared all the documents that were to be found in the Jesuit houses. He 
next undertook to visit and re-visit almost every country of Europe, 
exploring libraries, secular as well as monastic, in search of the 
most ancient MSS. and all treatises bearing on the history or the 
theory of the chant.  

His success surpassed all his expectations when, in the library of 
the former Benedictine Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland, he found 
himself in presence of what seems to be the most authentic Gregorian 
manuscript in existence, i.e. a transcription from the original "Antiphonarium of St. 
Gregory", brought from Rome to St. Gall by the monk Romanus in 
the closing years of the eighth century. 

The doubts of Fétis 
and Danjou regarding the identity of this document are proved by 
Lambillotte to be founded on mere conjectures. This volume of 131 
pages of old parchment, the ivory binding of which depicts ancient 
Etruscan sculptures, contains all the Graduals, the Alleluias, and 
the Tracts of the whole year, in the ancient neumatic notation (a 
sort of musical stenography), together with the so-called Romanian 
signs, i.e. the special marks of time and expression added by 
Romanus. Lambillotte succeeded, not without serious difficulty, in 
obtaining permission to have a facsimile of this manuscript made by 
an expert copyist. This he published (Brussels, 1851), adding 
to it his own key to the neumatic notation, and a brief historical 
and critical account of the document. 

The appearance of 
the "Antiphonaire de St. Grégoire" made a deep impression on 
the learned world, and obtained for its author a Brief of 
congratulation and encouragement from Pope Pius IX, 1 
May, 1852, and a "very honourable mention" from the French Institute, 
12 Nov. of the same year. Lambillotte now undertook to embody the 
results of his investigations in a new and complete edition of the 
liturgical chant books. He lived to finish this extensive work, but 
not to see its publication. The Gradual and the Vesperal appeared 
1855--1856 in both Gregorian and 
modern notations, under the editorship of Father Dufour, who had for 
years shared the labours of Lambillotte. He also published 
the "Esthétique", a volume of 418 pages, 8, setting forth 
Lambillottes views on the theory and the practice of Gregorian music. 
This treatise is the best testimony to the authors untiring zeal and 
critical ability.  

Dom Pothier, the learned Benedictine, who has gone over the same 
ground, and who has just succeeded in completing the Gregorian 
restoration, says of the "Esthétique" that it is "filled with 
precious information" (Mélodies Grégoriennes, p. 145, 
note). At the same time he calls attention to some serious errors in 
translation and even in reading, on the subject of rhythm, which, he 
holds, have been conclusively refuted by Chanoine Gontier, in 
his "Méthode de Plain Chant", pp. 96 etc. De Monter also 
speaks of grave errors and numerous assertions contrary to its own 
method, that have crept into the treatise. He attributes the 
introduction of the sharp into the Gregorian scales 
to the editors of this posthumous work (p. 207). 


Lambillottes "Gradual" and "Vesperal" were adopted by only a small 
number of French dioceses. The time had really not yet arrived for 
the practical application of theories, nor for the introduction of 
the full text of St. Gregory. This 
Lambillotte seems to have felt when he so far yielded to the temper 
of his generation as to make some of those very cuts and alterations 
which had been the chief reproach of former editions. Twenty-five 
years were still to elapse before the classical work in Gregorian music, 
the "Mélodies Grégoriennes" by Dom Pothier, O.S.B., 
could make its appearance (Tournay, 1880), and another twenty-five 
before the teaching of Dom Pothier was to receive official sanction 
and practical application through the Vatican edition, now in 
progress of publication. 

To Father Louis Lambillotte belongs the 
credit of having successfully inaugurated this important movement. By 
his writings the issue of Gregorian 
restoration was forced upon the world; by his researches and 
especially by the publication of the "Antiphonarium of St. 
Gregory", this arduous enterprise was placed on a solid, 
scientific basis. His contemporaries placed the following inscription 
on his tomb at Vaugirard: 
 Qui cecinit Jesum et Mariam, 
eripuitque tenebris 
Gregorium, hunc superis insere, Christe, 
choris. 
 Receive, O Christ, into Thy choirs above him 
who sang the praises of Jesus and Mary, and rescued 
the music of Gregory from the 
darkness of ages.  



		              
		              

  Genre: Classical Vocals