Crown of the Angels, Thy Sweet Name

For The Weeks After Epiphany

Words: Jesu, decus angelicum, Cento from Hymn of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Twelfth Century.

Translation:  Very Rev. Prior James A. Dominic Aylward, Order of Preachers, 1843-1850.

Source: Orby Shipley, Annus Sanctus: Hymns of the Church for the Ecclesiastical Year. Vol. 1. (London and New York: Burns and Oates, 1884), p. 46-47.

Crown of the angels, thy sweet name 
	Excels all tuneful art ; 
'Tis very honey to the lips, 
	And nectar to the heart 

Who taste thee hunger still ; who drink 
	Still feel a thirst intense ; 
They yearn for thy delights alone 
	And loathe the joys of sense. 

Stay with us, Lord, and round our souls 
	Still shed thy radiance bright ; 
Oh, chase the shadows, and rejoice 
	The world with thy sweet light. 

Flower of a Virgin-stem, to thee, 
	My lover true, be given 
Honour and praise and kingly rule 
	O'er all the realms of heaven. 

Note from Shipley:

50. Jesu, decus angelicum. Lauds Hymn, for the Holy Name, from the Breviary. Cento from Hymn of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Twelfth Century. Crown of the angels, thy sweet name. Very Rev. Prior James A. Dominic Aylward, Order of Preachers, 1843-1850. 45, 46.

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