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Perichoresis Volume 14. Issue 2 (2016): 67-79 DOI: 10.1515/perc-2016-0011 EUCHARISTIC TRANSFORMATION. THOMAS AQUINAS’ ADORO TE DEVOTE HENK J. M. SCHOOT * Tilburg University ABSTRACT. Originally the Adoro te devote was not a liturgical hymn but a prayer, probably in- tended by Thomas Aquinas for personal use when attending mass. Quoting the at present most reliable version of the poem, the author studies Adoro te devote from the angle of transformation: poetic, Eucharistic and mystic or eschatological transformation. Structure and form are analysed, and a number of themes discussed: two alternative interpretations of adoration, several concepts of truth intended in the poem, the good thief and doubting Thomas as symbols of moral and spiritual imperfection, and (present and future) living in connection, in union with God. KEY WORDS: Eucharist, poetry, Thomas Aquinas, systematic Theology, liturgy The celebration of the Eucharist is the fundamental form of ritual initiation and ongoing transformation in the Catholic tradition. The Eucharist is one of the sacraments of initiation, together with baptism and confirmation, be- cause there is always a first time when someone participates in the celebration of the Eucharist, and also because this always requires a certain amount of preparatory formation. Moreover, from the early Middle Ages onwards, the faithful confess their sins during the celebration of the Eucharist, and thus transform their moral lives. Above all, the celebration of the Eucharist is the primordial form of ongoing transformation, because in the eucharistic prayer the faithful gathered together pray through the words of the celebrant for the activity of the Holy Spirit, so that all who participate may themselves be truly transformed into the body of Christ. The consecration of bread and wine, which makes the body and blood of Christ to be present, is a ritualisa- tion of the transformation of the community gathered together, and of each member of that community individually. If we were to find a poem that centres on this ritual transformation, we would be at the very heart of what might be called transformative poetry. In * HENK J. M. SCHOOT (PhD 1993, Catholic Theological University of Utrecht) is asso- ciate professor of systematic theology as well as director of the Thomas Instituut te Utrecht at Tilburg University. Email: [email protected]. © EMANUEL UNIVERSITY of ORADEA PERICHORESIS 14.2 (2016) 68 HENK J. M. SCHOOT fact, such a poem does exist. It is a text known to and loved by tradition under a title derived from its first words: Adoro te devote (‘you I adore devoutly ’)1 and was composed by Thomas Aquinas (c. 1226-1274), the doctor eucharisticus .2 It has recently been argued on good grounds that the first words should be changed to Te devote laudo , ‘you I praise devoutly ’. It is a prayer addressed to Jesus, under the veil of the consecrated elements of bread and wine: 1 Te deuote laudo, latens ueritas 3, You I praise devoutly, Truth that hides, 2 Te que sub his formis uere latitas. You who are truly there, hidden beneath these forms. 3 Tibi se cor meum totum subicit, To You my heart submits itself completely, 4 Quia te contemplans totum deficit. because in contemplating You it entirely falls short: 5 Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, sight, touch, taste, all fail in You; 6 Sed auditu solo tute creditur. only by hearing is it all believed. 7 Credo quicquid dixit dei filius, I believe what the Son of God said: 8 Nichil ueritatis uerbo uerius. nothing is more true than the Word of truth. 9 In cruce latebat sola deitas, On the cross was hidden the divinity alone, 10 Sed hic latet simul et humanitas. but here at the same time hides the hu- manity. 11 Ambo uere credens atque confitens, Truly believing and professing both, 12 Peto quod petiuit latro penitens. I plead for what the good thief pleaded. 13 Plagas sicut Thomas non intueor, Like Thomas, I do not see the wounds, 14 Deum tamen meum te confiteor. nevertheless I confess that you are my God. 15 Fac me tibi semper magis credere, Make me believe in You, 16 In te spem habere, te diligere. hope in You, love You always more. 17 O memoriale mortis domini, O memorial of the death of the Lord, 18 panis uiuus uitam prestans homini. living bread giving life to man, 19 Presta michi semper de te uiuere, make me always live through you, 20 Et te michi semper dulce sapere. and to savour your sweetness always. 21 Pie pellicane, Ihesu domine, Kind pelican, Jesus Lord, 22 Me immundum munda tuo sanguine. Purify impure me by your blood, 1 Wielockx (2007) proposed a new wording of the first verse. That the words Adoro te devote do not belong to this prayer can be deduced from the fact that it has seven rather than the required six syllables, that the stress is not on the first, third, and fifth syllables but on the second, fourth, and sixth, and that it begins with a verb in the first person singular, which is very unusual. These difficulties disappear if the first line is rendered as Te devote laudo . 2 For further details, see Pope Pius XI’s proposal to designate Thomas Aquinas as doctor eucharisticus (Moons 2009: 110). 3 The classic version of the poem has deitas rather than veritas . However, veritas is probably original, and it contributes to the poem’s focus on the Eucharist as the sacrament of truth. See also the beautiful chiasm latens veritas —vere latitas . Robert Wielockx published a new critical edition of the text in 1998 which we have followed here (Wielockx 1998). Enrique Alarcon’s authoritative website www.corpusthomisticum.org has adopted this version, and so have we in this article. The English translation is a slightly adapted version of the one in Venard (2015: 75-76). PERICHORESIS 14.2 (2016) Eucharistic Transformation. Thomas Aquinas’ Adoro Te Devote 69 23 Cuius una stilla saluum facere, of which one drop could save 24 Totum mundum posset omni scelere. the entire world from every sin. 25 Ihesu, quem uelatum nunc aspicio, Jesus whom I now see veiled, 26 Quando fiet illud quod tam sicio? when will that which I thirst for come? 27 Vt te reuelata cernens facie, When, discovering you with unveiled face, 28 Visu sim beatus tue glorie. will I be blessed by the vision of your glory. Historical Context Thomas Aquinas is almost certainly the author of Adoro te devote .4 As a medi- eval theologian, Thomas is best known to our time as the author of the Summa Theologiae , a work whose focus on interpretation and systematic argument has rarely enraptured the hearts of poets. In his early work, Thomas in fact made some disparaging comments on the possible importance of poetry to the science of theology. On the other hand, however, he wrote an important commentary on part of the Psalms, and he is regarded by many as the author of the liturgy for Corpus Christi, including beautiful hymns such as Sacris solemniis and Pange lingua . The Adoro te is usually also associated with these texts, but this is not historically correct. The Adoro te is not part of the Corpus Christi liturgy. It is known to us as a hymn, but the text was not set to music until the eighteenth century. It was originally a prayer, written by Thomas for his own use, perhaps in 1264. Thomas, a Dominican friar and a priest, not only said mass himself every day, but was also accustomed to attend a second mass. It was for his own use during this second mass that he composed this text. This explains why it is not written in the first person plural, as is usual for hymns, but in the first person singular. Structure and Form The poem consists of fourteen distichs or two-line verses. Each line itself con- sists of two half-verses, the first half of which has six (hexameter) syllables and the second has five (hexameter) syllables. The only exception is the first half- verse Adoro te devote , which consists not of six, but of seven syllables. It is not correct to arrange the fourteen distichs in seven stanzas of four lines each, an arrangement that only became customary after the prayer started to be used as a hymn. It is not supported by the oldest manuscripts. 4 According to Torrell (2015: 176-179.479-480). Torrell regretfully mentions that the Commissio Leonina , which is charged with preparing a critical edition of Thomas’ works, has decided to remove the Adoro te from the list of authentic works of Thomas (Torrell 2015: 180, note 62). It has not disclosed its reasons for doing so. In the fourth edition of his Historia Beati Thomae de Aquino (1323), Guillermo de Tocco mentions the poem as Thomas’ work, while a poem by Jacopone da Todi, composed between 1280 and 1294, has clear echoes of the Adoro te , which means it must have been disseminated before that time. Almost all of the 51 oldest manuscripts mention Thomas as the author, and no other author has ever been mentioned. PERICHORESIS 14.2 (2016) 70 HENK J. M. SCHOOT The lines have end rhyme in pairs. The first seven distichs each end on words ending on a consonant, while the last seven distichs have end words with a vowel. This creates a clear structure of two halves, each consisting of fourteen lines. The form of the poem therefore draws attention to the transition from the first half to the second half. The transition that is expressed there, the trans- formation, is the transition from prayerful contemplation of the truth of the hidden God, to a petitionary prayer addressed to the same Jesus.

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