In about 1964 Pope Urban IV requested St. Thomas Aquinas to write hymns for the Feast of Corpus Christi. One out of the five hymns that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote for this feast was Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem. This hymn is divided into two parts, one part which refers to the Old Testament and one part which refers to the New Testament. This hymn is still used today and expresses what we as Catholics believe regarding transubstantiation.
Starting in the fourth stanza of Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem, Aquinas treats the relation of the new law and ritual to the old. He uses two different words for “Passover,” the Hebrew word to refer to the old rite, and the Latin term to refer to the new. This hints at the true meaning of the actions described when it says, “Brings to end the olden rite.”(St. 4, v.3.) This line shows the end of the Old testament. Prior to Christ's coming, sacrifices that showed us the true lamb of the new law were used. After His coming, the new Paschal rite replaced the old. …show more content…
Thomas Aquinas lays out the tradition of repeating Christ's actions on the night of the last supper as that new rite, replacing the old one. Passed down by holy custom, the tradition of the Church preserving the institution of Christ, bread and wine are consecrated as a sacrificial offering. This consecration serves as a remembrance, which takes meditating upon the life of Christ and enacts it through physical imitation of His actions. This been said, His memory becomes present in a true and physical way through the repetition of His actions, just as He Himself becomes truly present through the repetition of the words He
Starting in the fourth stanza of Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem, Aquinas treats the relation of the new law and ritual to the old. He uses two different words for “Passover,” the Hebrew word to refer to the old rite, and the Latin term to refer to the new. This hints at the true meaning of the actions described when it says, “Brings to end the olden rite.”(St. 4, v.3.) This line shows the end of the Old testament. Prior to Christ's coming, sacrifices that showed us the true lamb of the new law were used. After His coming, the new Paschal rite replaced the old. …show more content…
Thomas Aquinas lays out the tradition of repeating Christ's actions on the night of the last supper as that new rite, replacing the old one. Passed down by holy custom, the tradition of the Church preserving the institution of Christ, bread and wine are consecrated as a sacrificial offering. This consecration serves as a remembrance, which takes meditating upon the life of Christ and enacts it through physical imitation of His actions. This been said, His memory becomes present in a true and physical way through the repetition of His actions, just as He Himself becomes truly present through the repetition of the words He