Yesterday I posted about a now-lost Naxos sampler CD which included a version of “Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal” I now long to hear. It also included Messiaen’s “O Sacrum Convivium” – which here is sung by the choir of Trinity College, Cambridge. Unlike yesterday, this version is just as good as what I remember from the Naxos CD!
“O Sacrum Convivium” means “O Sacred Banquet” (think “convivial”) and is a text celebratory of the Blessed Sacrament. Here, via Wikipedia, is the Latin text with English translation:
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Original Latin (punctuation from Liber Usualis)
- O sacrum convivium!
- in quo Christus sumitur:
- recolitur memoria passionis eius:
- mens impletur gratia:
- et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur.
- Alleluia.
O sacred banquet!
in which Christ is received,
the memory of his Passion is renewed,
the mind is filled with grace,
and a pledge of future glory to us is given.
Alleluia.
Séamus Sweeney 