O salutaris hostia

O salutaris hostia (English O Saving Host) It is the penultimate stanza of the hymn, Verbum supernum prodiens, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas for the Hour of Lauds in the Office of the Feast of Corpus Christi. This stanza and the final stanza, or doxology (Uni trinoque domino), have been selected to form a separate hymn for Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Usually, and most appropriately, it is begun either when the door of the tabernacle is opened or when the monstrance is being placed on the throne of exposition. The hymn is often chosen as a motet for solemn Mass, and may thus be used after the proper Offertory for the day has been sung or recited. An indefensible, but, fortunately, very rare, custom, perhaps inaugurated by Pierre de la Rue, the profound contrapuntal composer of the fifteenth century, was that of replacing the Benedictus at Mass by the O Salutaris.

Musical settings at CPDL

Anonymous Ambrosian chant (Anonymous) Ludwig van Beethoven William Byrd Marc-Antoine Charpentier Pierre de La Rue Josquin Des Prez José Alexandrino de Sousa Abel Di Marco Fabio Fresi

Jacob Handl Giovanni Battista Martini Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Lorenzo Perosi Pasquale Pisari Albert H. RoSewig Gioacchino Rossini Ascanio Trombetti Alajos Werner Ilaria Zuccaro Peter Josef Zwyssig

Text and translations

Latin text O salutaris hostia
quae caeli pandis ostium,
bella premunt hostilia:
da robur, fer auxilium

Uni trinoque Domino
sit sempiterna gloria,
qui vitam sine termino
nobis donet in patria.

English translation O victim and salvation
who opens wide the gate of heaven,
we are oppressed by savage wars,
give us your strength, bring us your aid.

Everlasting glory be to the Lord,
three in One,
who gives us life without end
in heaven. Italian translation O salvatrice vittima
Che schiudi ai cieli il viatico,
Ostili assalti premono,
Da' tu forza ed ausilio!

All'uno e trino Principe,
Che vita senza termine
Dà a noi nella sua patria,
Sia sempiterna gloria.

(Translation by Daniele Ventre) Template:DanishText Gegroet, o (heilig) offer(dier),
Gij die de hemelpoort opent,
steun (ons in) onze strijd tegen de(aards-)vijanden,
geef kracht en draag bij met Uw hulp.

Aan U, o drieëne Heer, komt eeuwige eer toe,
U, die ons in het (hemelse) Vaderhuis
een leven geeft, waaraan geen einde komt.