Tantum Ergo Lyrics in Latin and English, with Meaning

The Tantum Ergo is the hymn sung before the blessing at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament: "Down in adoration falling, this great Sacrament we hail." It is made of the last two verses of the Pange Lingua, the hymn St Thomas Aquinas wrote for the feast of Corpus Christi in 1264, and it is sung kneeling, in Latin, wherever the Host is exposed for adoration. Below are the full lyrics in Latin and English, a word-for-word translation, the versicle and prayer that follow it, the whole Pange Lingua, and the occasions when it is sung.

Tantum Ergo lyrics in Latin

Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et jubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.

Tantum Ergo lyrics in English

This is the classic English singing version, from the translation of Edward Caswall, as it stands in the Iter Fidei prayer book. It keeps the metre of the Latin, so it can be sung to the same tunes.

Down in adoration falling,
this great Sacrament we hail;
o'er ancient forms departing,
newer rites of grace prevail;
faith for all defects supplying,
where the feeble senses fail.

To the everlasting Father,
and the Son who reigns on high,
with the Holy Ghost proceeding
forth from each eternally,
be salvation, honour, blessing,
might and endless majesty.
Amen.

The versicle and prayer after the Tantum Ergo

At Benediction the hymn is always followed by a versicle and the collect of Corpus Christi, sung by the priest before he gives the blessing with the monstrance. In Paschaltide Alleluia is added to the versicle and response.

℣. Panem de caelo praestitisti eis.
℟. Omne delectamentum in se habentem.

Oremus. Deus, qui nobis sub Sacramento mirabili passionis tuae memoriam reliquisti: tribue, quaesumus, ita nos Corporis et Sanguinis tui sacra mysteria venerari, ut redemptionis tuae fructum in nobis jugiter sentiamus. Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum.
℟. Amen.

In English, as the Raccolta gives it:

℣. Thou didst send them bread from heaven.
℟. Having in itself every delight.

Let us pray. O God, who under this wonderful Sacrament hast left us a memorial of Thy passion: grant us, we beseech Thee, so to reverence the sacred mysteries of Thy Body and Thy Blood, that we may ever feel within ourselves the fruit of Thy redeeming work: Who livest and reignest world without end.
℟. Amen.

The versicle comes from the Book of Wisdom, which speaks of the manna: "Thou didst feed thy people with the food of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven prepared without labour; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste" (Wisdom xvi. 20, Douay-Rheims). The manna was the figure; the Eucharist is the true bread from heaven, as Our Lord says in St John vi. The prayer Deus, qui nobis is the collect of the Office and Mass of Corpus Christi, which the Church received from St Thomas.

The meaning of the Tantum Ergo, line by line

Caswall's English is beautiful but free. A literal translation of the Latin runs:

1. Tantum ergo Sacramentum veneremur cernui — "So great a Sacrament, therefore, let us venerate with heads bowed down."
2. Et antiquum documentum novo cedat ritui — "And let the old law give way to the new rite."
3. Praestet fides supplementum sensuum defectui — "Let faith supply what is lacking to the senses."
4. Genitori, Genitoque laus et jubilatio — "To the Begetter and the Begotten be praise and jubilation,"
5. Salus, honor, virtus quoque sit et benedictio — "salvation, honour, power also, and blessing;"
6. Procedenti ab utroque compar sit laudatio — "to Him who proceeds from both be equal praise."

"Tantum ergo" means "so great, therefore." The ergo links the verse to the one before it in the Pange Lingua, which tells how at the Last Supper "the Word made flesh, by His word, changes the true bread into His flesh." Because Christ has done this, therefore we adore. The hymn is a conclusion: it draws from the doctrine of transubstantiation the act of worship it demands.

"Veneremur cernui" — "let us venerate, bowing low." This is why the faithful bow profoundly, or bow their heads while kneeling, at these words.

"Antiquum documentum novo cedat ritui." The old law is the worship of the Old Testament: the paschal lamb, the manna, the sacrifices of the Temple, all of which were figures. They give way to the new rite, the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacrament of the altar, which contains the reality they foreshadowed.

"Praestet fides supplementum sensuum defectui." This is the heart of the hymn. Sight, touch and taste perceive only bread; faith, resting on the word of Christ, "This is my body," knows it is the Lord. It is the same thought St Thomas put into the Adoro te devote: "Sight, touch, taste are deceived in Thee, but by hearing alone one safely believes."

The second verse is a doxology to the Holy Trinity. "Him who proceeds from both" is the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Every Eucharistic act ends in the Trinity: the Son made flesh leads us to the Father in the Holy Ghost.

The full Pange Lingua: where the Tantum Ergo comes from

The Tantum Ergo is not a separate hymn. It is the fifth and sixth verses of the Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium, the Vespers hymn of Corpus Christi. Here are the first four verses in Latin, followed by a literal English translation; the hymn then continues with Tantum ergo as given above.

Pange, lingua, gloriosi
Corporis mysterium,
Sanguinisque pretiosi,
Quem in mundi pretium
Fructus ventris generosi
Rex effudit gentium.

Nobis datus, nobis natus
Ex intacta Virgine,
Et in mundo conversatus,
Sparso verbi semine,
Sui moras incolatus
Miro clausit ordine.

In supremae nocte coenae
Recumbens cum fratribus,
Observata lege plene
Cibis in legalibus,
Cibum turbae duodenae
Se dat suis manibus.

Verbum caro, panem verum
Verbo carnem efficit:
Fitque sanguis Christi merum,
Et si sensus deficit,
Ad firmandum cor sincerum
Sola fides sufficit.

Sing, my tongue,
the mystery of the glorious Body
and of the precious Blood
which the King of nations,
fruit of a generous womb,
hath shed for the ransom of the world.

Given to us, born for us
of a Virgin undefiled,
He sojourned in the world,
sowing therein the seed of the word,
and completed His dwelling
with admirable order.

On the night of the Last Supper,
reclining with His brethren,
after having fully observed the Law
in the prescribed foods,
He gives Himself as food,
with His own hands, to the Twelve.

The Word made flesh, by His word,
changes the true bread into His flesh,
and pure wine becomes the Blood of Christ;
and if the senses fail,
faith alone suffices
to assure a sincere heart.

The movement of the hymn is plain: the mystery announced (verse 1), the Incarnation (verse 2), the Last Supper (verse 3), the change of bread and wine (verse 4), and then the conclusion, Tantum ergo: adoration (verse 5) and praise of the Trinity (verse 6).

Who wrote the Tantum Ergo? St Thomas Aquinas and Corpus Christi

When Pope Urban IV extended the feast of Corpus Christi to the whole Church in 1264, he asked St Thomas Aquinas, then teaching at the papal court, to compose its Office and Mass. Butler's Lives of the Saints says of that work that it gives "proof of an extraordinary mastery of apt expression," as remarkable "for their doctrinal accuracy as for their tenderness of thought," and notes that the final verses of two of its hymns, the O salutaris and the Tantum ergo, "are regularly sung at Benediction."

From the same pen come the Lauda Sion, the sequence of the feast, and the Adoro te devote. His other prayers, from the prayer before study to his thanksgiving after Communion, are gathered in our page on the prayers of St Thomas Aquinas, and his life in our page on St Thomas Aquinas.

The theologian of the Eucharist was also its poet. The Tantum Ergo compresses into twelve lines what the Summa explains in many questions: Christ is truly present, the senses cannot see Him, faith receives Him on His word, and adoration is the only fitting answer.

When the Tantum Ergo is sung

• Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. After the exposition (usually with the O salutaris) and a time of adoration, the Tantum Ergo is sung kneeling; the priest incenses the Host, usually at Genitori, then sings the versicle and the prayer, and blesses the people with the monstrance. The Divine Praises follow before the Sacrament is reposed. The whole rite is described in our page on Eucharistic adoration and Benediction.
• Holy Thursday. At the end of the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Blessed Sacrament is carried to the altar of repose while the Pange Lingua is sung; at the altar of repose the Tantum Ergo is sung as the priest incenses the Sacrament before it is enclosed. See our page on Holy Thursday.
• Corpus Christi. The Pange Lingua is the Vespers hymn of the feast and is sung in the Eucharistic procession, which commonly ends with Benediction.
• Exposition and Forty Hours. Whenever the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, the Tantum Ergo precedes the blessing that closes the exposition.

The indulgence attached to the Tantum Ergo

The Raccolta, the Church's official collection of indulgenced prayers (English edition of Christopher and Spence, Benziger, 1943, no. 136), grants an indulgence of seven years for the devout recitation of the whole Pange Lingua with the versicle and prayer; of five years for the last two verses alone, that is the Tantum Ergo, with the versicle and prayer; and a plenary indulgence on the usual conditions when either is said every day for a month. On what an indulgence is, see our page on indulgences.

Tantum Ergo lyrics PDF

We do not offer a PDF. The complete text is on this page, Latin and English, with the versicle, prayer and full Pange Lingua, and it prints as it is. Better than a sheet of paper: the Iter Fidei app carries the Tantum Ergo with its Gregorian chant audio and score, in Latin and English, offline. Join early access here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Tantum Ergo mean?

Tantum ergo means "So great, therefore." The first lines say: "So great a Sacrament, therefore, let us venerate with bowed heads." The therefore refers to the verse before it in the Pange Lingua, which tells how Christ changed bread into His Body at the Last Supper.

What is the meaning of "Tantum ergo Sacramentum"?

"So great a Sacrament." The phrase names the Holy Eucharist and calls the faithful to adore Christ truly present in it. The rest of the verse explains why: the old rites of the Law have given way to the new, and faith supplies what the senses cannot perceive.

Is the Tantum Ergo a prayer or a hymn?

Both. It is a hymn, sung to Gregorian chant or to many later settings, and it is also a prayer that may be recited. The Raccolta indulgences it when it is said devoutly with its versicle and prayer, sung or not.

Why do we kneel and bow during the Tantum Ergo?

Because the hymn is addressed to Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament, and its own words ask for it: veneremur cernui, "let us venerate, bowing low." Kneeling is the posture of adoration due to God alone.

Is the Tantum Ergo sung on Holy Thursday?

Yes. In the traditional rite, after the Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Pange Lingua is sung during the procession to the altar of repose, and the Tantum Ergo when the procession arrives there and the Sacrament is incensed and placed in the tabernacle of repose.

What is the difference between the Pange Lingua and the Tantum Ergo?

The Pange Lingua is the whole hymn of six verses, written by St Thomas Aquinas for Corpus Christi. The Tantum Ergo is its last two verses, sung on their own at Benediction.

The Iter Fidei app carries the Tantum Ergo, the Pange Lingua and the traditional Eucharistic prayers with Gregorian chant audio. Join early access here.

Sources. Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims version: Wisdom xvi. 20; St John vi. Breviarium Romanum, Office of Corpus Christi, hymn Pange lingua and collect Deus, qui nobis. The Raccolta, ed. J. P. Christopher and C. E. Spence (Benziger, 1943), no. 136. Butler's Lives of the Saints, St Thomas Aquinas, 7 March. Urban IV, bull Transiturus (1264). Edward Caswall, Lyra Catholica (1849).