Sion, praise thy Saviour, singing; & Very Bread, good Shepherd, tend us

Hymns #193 & 194
Text: St. Thomas Aquinas (c.1225-1274)
Music: Adam of St. Victor  (d. c. 1192)
Tune names: LAUDA SION & BONE PASTOR

 

THE TEXT

In the 1260s, Pope Urban IV commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to compose texts for a special Mass and offices for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Among the texts St. Thomas produced was a 24-stanza sequence (i.e., the hymn sung in the Mass just before the Gospel) known as Lauda Sion Salvatorem. The text used in hymns #193 and #194 in our Hymnal are paraphrases of stanzas 1, 2, 5, 3 and 12 of this longer work

 

THE TUNES

In our parish, we most frequently sing the plainchant tunes for these two hymns. They are both taken from a single melody attributed to Adam of St. Victor, who wrote the text for 47 prominent sequences,

Here is the entire sequence chanted by Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint Maurice et Saint Maur de Clervaux.

 

Below is Andrew Remillard’s rendition of LAUDA SION on piano.

 

Below is Andrew Remillard’s rendition of BONE PASTOR on piano.