Tantum Ergo
Down in Adoration Falling
The hymn sung as the priest blesses the people with the Blessed Sacrament; the close of the Pange Lingua.
Tantum ergo Sacramentum
veneremur cernui,
et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui;
praestet fides supplementum
sensuum defectui.
Genitori, Genitoque
laus et iubilatio,
salus, honor, virtus quoque
sit et benedictio;
procedenti ab utroque
compar sit laudatio. Amen.
Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail;
Lo! o'er ancient forms departing,
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.
To the everlasting Father,
And the Son who reigns on high,
With the Holy Ghost proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honour, blessing,
Might and endless majesty. Amen.
Translation source: fisheaters.com/prayers.html
About this prayer
Tantum Ergo Sacramentum, "Therefore so great a Sacrament," is the final pair of stanzas of Pange Lingua Gloriosi, the great hymn Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote for the feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. These verses are sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, at the solemn moment when the priest, having incensed the Host, takes the monstrance and blesses the people with the Body of Christ.
In them the Church bows in adoration before so great a Sacrament, confessing that the new rite has succeeded the ancient figures of the Law, and that where the senses fail, faith supplies what they cannot perceive. The closing stanza renders praise and jubilation to the Father and to the Son, and equal praise to the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from them both. To its devout singing on Holy Thursday and on the feast of Corpus Christi the Church has attached a plenary indulgence.