131 O ESCA VIATORUM
Ascribed by some to Thomas Aquinas, but believed by latest and best authorities to have been composed by some unknown German Jesuit of the seventeenth century. It has not been traced further back than the Mainz Gesang-Buch of 1661, where it is styled “Hymn on the true Bread of Heaven.”
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| O Food for pilgrims pining! O Bread for angels shining! O Manna fresh from heaven! In bountiful completeness, O may Thy heavenly sweetness To hungering hearts be given. | | O Font of love surprising, From Jesu’s heart uprising! A pure refreshing flow; Nought else our thirst allayeth— For this the pilgrim prayeth— This draught of love bestow. | | Thy face we come revering, O Jesus, now appearing In sacramental rite. O when in heaven, before it Unveiled, may we adore it, Our faith absorbed in sight. | |