Our choir will be offering this as the communion hymn Sunday.<\/p>\n
Some background:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAve verum corpus<\/span><\/b>\u201d is a short\u00a0Eucharistic\u00a0chant\u00a0that has also been set to music by various composers. It dates from the 14th century and has been attributed to\u00a0Pope Innocent VI.<\/sup><\/p>\n During the\u00a0Middle Ages\u00a0it was sung at the\u00a0elevation\u00a0of the\u00a0sacramental bread\u00a0during the\u00a0consecration. It was also used frequently during\u00a0Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n The poem is a meditation on the\u00a0Catholic\u00a0belief in\u00a0Jesus\u2019s\u00a0real presence\u00a0in the\u00a0sacrament\u00a0of the Eucharist, and ties it to the Catholic conception of the redemptive meaning of\u00a0suffering\u00a0in the life of all believers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation:<\/p>\n Hail, true Body, born O sweet Jesus, O holy Jesus, About the composer, Edward Elgar:<\/p>\n He was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the\u00a0Enigma Variations<\/i>, the\u00a0Pomp and Circumstance Marches<\/i>, concertos for\u00a0violin\u00a0and\u00a0cello, and two\u00a0symphonies. He also composed choral works, including\u00a0The Dream of Gerontius<\/a><\/i>, chamber music and songs. He was appointed\u00a0Master of the King\u2019s Musick<\/a>\u00a0in 1924.<\/p>\n Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his\u00a0Roman Catholicism\u00a0was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of\u00a0Victorian\u00a0and\u00a0Edwardian\u00a0Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his\u00a0Enigma Variations<\/i>\u00a0(1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work,\u00a0The Dream of Gerontius<\/i>\u00a0(1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the\u00a0Anglican<\/a>\u00a0establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Not only that: the woman he married was reportedly disinherited by her family because she chose to marry a Catholic.<\/p>\n Give a listen to his masterful Ave Verum<\/em> below. It\u2019s gorgeous.<\/p>\n
\nof the Virgin Mary,
\nhaving truly suffered, sacrificed
\non the cross for mankind,
\nfrom whose pierced side
\nwater and blood flowed:
\nBe for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet]
\nin the trial of death!<\/p>\n
\nO Jesus, son of Mary,\u00a0 have mercy on me. Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n