Thy Sweet Remembrance, Lord, Imparts

For The Weeks After Epiphany

Words: Jesu dulcis memoria, Cento from Hymn of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Twelfth Century.
Vespers Hymn, for the Holy Name, from the Breviary.

Translation:  Robert Campbell, of Sherrington

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

Thy sweet remembrance, Lord, imparts 
Serenest joy to faithful hearts ; 
But far above all sweetest things, 
The sweetness that thy presence brings. 

What song so tuneful to the ear, 
What earthly sound so sweet to hear, 
What thought can such delight supply, 
As Jesus, Son of God most high ? 

Jesu, of penitents the stay, 
And refuge in the evil day ; 
To those that seek thee ever kind, 
But oh, what joy to those that find. 

No tongue can speak, no thought conceive, 
Nor they who have not known believe ; 
The heart that feels alone can tell, 
What 'tis in Jesus' love to dwell 

Then, Jesu, while on earth we tread, 
Thy love within our bosom shed ; 
And be, dear Lord, when time is o'er, 
Our crown of glory evermore. 

Note from Shipley:

51. Jesu, dulcis memoria. Vespers Hymn, for the Holy Name, from the Breviary. Cento from Hymn of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Twelfth Century. Thy sweet remembrance, Lord, imparts. Robert Campbell. 47, 48.