Jesu dulcis memoria

Last updated

Jesu dulcis memoria is a Christian hymn often attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. The name can refer either to the entire poem, which, depending on the manuscript, ranges from forty-two to fifty-three stanzas, or only the first part. [1] . The hymn inspired other variants, such as the "De nomine Iesu."

Contents

Three sections of it are used as hymns in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus: "Iesu dulcis memoria" (Vespers), "Iesu rex admirabilis" (Matins), "Iesu decus angelicum" (Lauds).

Several English hymns sung today are based on translations of Jesu dulcis memoria. These include "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts" (1858 translation by Ray Palmer) and "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee" (1849 translation by Edward Caswall).

Opening stanzas

(See Thesaurus Precum Latinarum)

Latin textNon-metrical (literal) English versionEdward Caswall translation
Jesu dulcis memoria
dans vera cordis gaudia:
sed super mel et omnia
ejus dulcis praesentia.
Nil canitur suavius,
nil auditur jucundius,
nil cogitatur dulcius,
quam Jesus Dei Filius.
Jesu, spes paenitentibus,
quam pius es petentibus!
quam bonus te quaerentibus!
sed quid invenientibus?
Nec lingua valet dicere,
nec littera exprimere:
expertus potest credere,
quid sit Jesum diligere.
Sis, Jesu, nostrum gaudium,
qui es futurus praemium:
sit nostra in te gloria,
per cuncta semper saecula.
Amen.
The sweet memory of Jesus
Giving true joy to the heart:
But more than honey and all things
His sweet presence.
Nothing more delightful is sung,
Nothing more pleasing heard,
Nothing sweeter thought,
Than Jesus, the Son of God.
O Jesus, hope of the penitent,
How gracious you are to those who ask
How good to those who seek you;
But what [are you] to those who find?
No tongue may tell,
No letter express;
He who has experience of it can believe
What it is to love Jesus.
O Jesus, may you be our joy,
You who are our future reward.
May our glory be in you
Throughout all eternity.
Amen
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast!
Yet sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy Presence rest.
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus' Name,
The Saviour of mankind.
O hope of every contrite heart!
O joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah! this
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Jesus! our only hope be Thou,
As Thou our prize shalt be;
In Thee be all our glory now,
And through eternity.
Amen.

Music

The tune to which the hymn was sung can be heard at Oremus Hymnal. It has also been set to music by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, and others. [2]

Alan Gray's 1928 anthem What are these that glow from afar?, composed in memory of his two sons lost in the war, uses a quotation from Jesu dulcis memoria to great effect. [3] [4]

Tenth Avenue North covered the song on their album Cathedrals.

Related Research Articles

"Ave verum corpus" is a short Eucharistic chant that has been set to music by many composers. It dates to the 13th century, first recorded in a central Italian Franciscan manuscript. A Reichenau manuscript of the 14th century attributes it to Pope Innocent

"Tantum ergo" is the incipit of the last two verses of Pange lingua, a Medieval Latin hymn generally attributed to St Thomas Aquinas c. 1264, but based by Aquinas upon various earlier fragments. The "Genitori genitoque" and "Procedenti ab utroque" portions are adapted from Adam of Saint Victor's sequence for Pentecost. The hymn's Latin incipit literally translates to "Therefore so great".

Vexilla regis prodeunt is a Latin hymn in long metre by the Christian poet and saint Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers. It takes its title from its incipit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaudete</span> 16th century sacred Christmas carol

Gaudete is a sacred Christmas carol, thought to have been composed in the 16th century. It was published in Piae Cantiones, a collection of Finnish/Swedish sacred songs published in 1582. No music is given for the verses, but the standard tune comes from older liturgical books.

<i>Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid</i>, BWV 3 Chorale cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach

Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV 3, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the Second Sunday after Epiphany and first performed it on 14 January 1725. It is based on the hymn published by Martin Moller in 1587.

"Verbum supernum prodiens" is a Catholic hymn in long metre by St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). It was written for the Hour of Lauds in the Divine Office of Corpus Christi. It is about the institution of the Eucharist by Christ at the Last Supper, and His Passion and death.

"Pie Jesu" is a text from the final couplet of the hymn "Dies irae", and is often included in musical settings of the Requiem Mass as a motet. The phrase means "pious Jesus" in the vocative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O Come, O Come, Emmanuel</span> Christian hymn for Advent and Christmas

"O come, O come, Emmanuel" is a Christian hymn for Advent, which is also often published in books of Christmas carols. The text was originally written in Latin. It is a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons, a series of plainchant antiphons attached to the Magnificat at Vespers over the final days before Christmas. The hymn has its origins over 1,200 years ago in monastic life in the 8th or 9th century. Seven days before Christmas Eve monasteries would sing the “O antiphons” in anticipation of Christmas Eve when the eighth antiphon, “O Virgo virginum” would be sung before and after Mary's canticle, the Magnificat. The Latin metrical form of the hymn was composed as early as the 12th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Gray</span> English organist and composer

Alan Gray was an English organist and composer.

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus" is a Christian hymn originally written by preacher Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother, who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. Scriven originally published the poem anonymously, and only received full credit for it in the 1880s. The tune to the hymn was composed by Charles Crozat Converse in 1868.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid</span>

"Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid" is a German hymn in 18 stanzas attributed to Martin Moller (1587). It is often catalogued as a paraphrase of the Latin "Jesu dulcis memoria", a medieval hymn attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, but only a few lines refer directly to this song. Hymn tunes were composed for the hymn, and it is also often sung to a tune composed for "Herr Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht". The anonymous hymn tune of "Herr Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht" first appeared in Wolflein Lochamer's Lochamer-Liederbuch, printed in Nürnberg around 1455. In Leipzig in the 1720s, Johann Sebastian Bach composed settings of Lochamer's hymn based on four of his church cantatas and a sacred motet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacris solemniis</span> Eucharistic hymn by Thomas Aquinas

"Sacris solemniis" is a hymn written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) for the feast of Corpus Christi. The strophe of Sacris solemniis that begins with the words "Panis angelicus" has often been set to music separately from the rest of the hymn. It appears about 1768 in the iberian musical form Vilancete/Villancico at Francesc Morera's "Si el grano divino". Most famously, in 1872 César Franck set this strophe for voice (tenor), harp, cello, and organ, and incorporated it into his Messe à trois voix Opus 12. The hymn expresses the doctrine that the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. In the Roman Catholic tradition the concept of transubstantiation is presented as an explanation of how this change happens.

Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, SWV 478, is a German-language musical setting of the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross by Heinrich Schütz. It was written in Weissenfels around 1645 and revised in 1657. Schütz set the text of the biblical words in their context, framed by two stanzas from Johann Böschenstein's hymn "Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund", as an oratorio or Passion cantata. He scored it for five voices (SATTB), five instrumental parts and continuo. The original title reads: Die Sieben Worte unsers lieben Erlösers u. Seeligmachers Jesu Christi, so er am Stamm des Hl. Kreuzes gesprochen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesu, meine Freude</span> 1653 sacred song composed by Johann Crüger with lyrics by Johann Franck

"Jesu, meine Freude" is a hymn in German, written by Johann Franck in 1650, with a melody, Zahn No. 8032, by Johann Crüger. The song first appeared in Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica in 1653. The text addresses Jesus as joy and support, versus enemies and the vanity of existence. The poetry is bar form, with irregular lines from 5 to 8 syllables. The melody repeats the first line as the last, framing each of the six stanzas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend</span> 17th-century German Christian hymn

"Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend" is a Lutheran hymn from the 17th century. Its hymn tune, Zahn No. 624, was adopted in several compositions. It was translated into English and is part of modern hymnals, both Protestant and Catholic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag</span>

"Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag" is a German Easter hymn, with text and tune written by Nikolaus Herman and published in 1561. It has inspired musical settings by composers from the 17th to the 20th century. It appears in several hymnals, including the German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch. Other hymns, especially Easter hymns, in both German and English, are sung to the same melody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen</span>

"Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen" is a Christian Christmas hymn by Paul Gerhardt, originally in 15 stanzas in artful metre. It was first published, "Frölich sol mein hertze springen", in 1653 in the fifth edition of the hymnal Praxis Pietatis Melica by Johann Crüger, who also created a melody. Johann Sebastian Bach used it as a chorale in his Christmas Oratorio, with a different melody by Johann Georg Ebeling. The song is part, with twelve stanzas, of the current Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch and other songbooks.

Attende, Domine is a Christian liturgical chant for the season of Lent, referred to in English as the Lent Prose. The themes of this hymn are the sinfulness of man and the mercy of God, a theological concept emphasised during Lent. The text is Mozarabic in origin and dates to the 10th century, and is sung to a Mode V Gregorian melody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier</span>

"Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier" is a Lutheran hymn with text written by Tobias Clausnitzer in 1663, and a hymn tune, Zahn No. 3498b, based on a 1664 melody by Johann Rudolph Ahle. A prayer for illumination, it is suitable for the opening of a church service and to be sung before a sermon. The song is part of the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 161. It is also part of the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob as GL 149. It is popular also in English translations such as "Blessed Jesus, at your word" by Catherine Winkworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O Jesu Christe, wahres Licht</span> Lutheran hymn

"O Jesu Christe, wahres Licht" is a Lutheran hymn by the German Baroque poet, Lutheran minister and hymn-writer Johann Heermann. The text was first published in 1630 during the Thirty Years' War. It is a prayer for enlightenment of those who are ignorant, and of those who turned away. It was associated with a melody from Nürnberg, dating to 1676. The hymn is part of modern German hymnals, both Protestant and Catholic. It was translated to English as "O Christ, our true and only light".

References