Panis Angelicus
Bread of Angels
A stanza of Aquinas's Corpus Christi hymn, marvelling that the Bread of Angels is made the food of men.
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.
The Bread of Angels becomes the Bread of men;
the Bread of heaven puts an end to all the figures;
O wondrous thing! the Lord is eaten
by the poor, the servant, and the lowly.
O Godhead, Three and One, of Thee we ask:
visit us in such wise as we give Thee worship;
lead us along Thy paths to where we strive to go,
unto the light wherein Thou dwellest. Amen.
Translation source: www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Hymni/SacrisSol.html
About this prayer
Panis Angelicus, "the Bread of Angels," is a stanza of Sacris Solemniis, the hymn Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote for Matins of Corpus Christi in 1264. It marvels at the heart of the Eucharistic mystery: that the Bread of Angels, the very life on which the blessed in heaven are fed, is made under the sacramental veils the Bread of men, so that the poor and lowly servant eats his Lord.
In a single verse it sets forth the wonder of the Sacrament, where once the figures of the old Law foreshadowed Him, now the reality is given, and what the angels behold face to face is received by mortal lips. The stanza is often sung apart from the rest of the hymn at Mass and at Benediction, and the doxology joined to it by custom prays the Triune God to visit us as we adore Him, and to lead us by His paths to the light in which He dwells.