Ave verum corpus natum. Anon. [Holy Communion.] The text will be found in Daniel, ii. p. 327. Also as No. 213 in Mone’s Collection; with the heading, In elevatione Corporis Christi, and the statement that a Reichenau manuscript of the 14th century, says "Pope Innocent composed the following salutation" ("Salutationem sequentem composuit Innocentius Papa"), and "this prayer has three years of indulgences granted by Pope Leo" ("haec oratio habet tres annos indulgentiaruni a dom. Papa Leone"). Levis, Anecdota sacra, Turin, 1789, p. 107, gives the text with the variation Esto nobis praestantior virtus in examine, instead of Esto nobis praegustatum mortis in examine. It is in J. M. Horst's Paradisus Animae (ed. Cologne, 1644, p. 321), Sect. V., "De Sacram. Eucharistiae," as a private devotion at the elevation of the Host in the Mass ("sub elevatione "). It is also in Kehrein, No. 157. See Ave Christi Corpus verum, for a cognate hymn at the elevation of the Chalice. [Rev.W. A. Shoults, B.D.]
Translations in common use:—
1. Hail to Thee! true Body sprung. By E. Caswall. First published in his Lyra Catholica, 1849, p. 249, in 10 lines; and again, slightly altered, in his Hymns & Poems, 1873, p. 162. In the Roman Catholic hymnals the original translation is generally used. In the People's Hymnal1867, No. 177, we have a cento from this translation of Caswall, that by J. R. Beste, and others.
2. Hail, true Body, born of Mary, No. 214 in
the Appendix to Hymnal Noted, 1864, is by H. N. Oxenham, from his Sentence of Kaires and other Poems, 1854 and 1867, somewhat altered.
3. Hail, true Body Incarnated, by W. J. Irons, is No. 67 of his Psalms & Hymns for the Church, 1873 and 1883. This rendering is specially adapted for Good Friday. First published in Dr. Irons's Hymns, 1866, No. 113.
4. Hail, true Body! God of heaven. By J. K. Beste, published with the Latin text in his Church Hymns (Rom. Cath.) London, 1849. It maybe added that in most of the modern Roman Catholic collections the Latin text is also given, as in this case.
Translation not in common use:—
Hail, true Body, born of Mary. E. B. Pusey, 1848.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Ave verum corpus natum, p. 99, ii. Also in a manuscript of circa 1340 in the Bodleian (Liturg. Misc., 104, f. 2.).
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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