Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminis

Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminis (English: Sing, tongue, the battle of glorious combat) is a sixth-century Latin hymn generally credited to the Christian poet St. Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, celebrating the Passion of Christ. In the Catholic Church, the first five stanzas are used at Matins during Passiontide in the Divine Office, with the remaining stanzas (beginning with Lustra sex) sung at Lauds. Both parts are chanted during the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday.

This hymn later inspired Thomas Aquinas to write the hymn Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium for the Feast of Corpus Christi.

This hymn is incorporated into the prologue of Gustav Holst's Hymn of Jesus.

English translation of five verses by John Mason Neale:

 
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle;
Sing the ending of the fray.
Now above the cross, the trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant lay:
Tell how Christ, the world's redeemer,
As a victim won the day.
 
Tell how, when at length the fullness
Of the appointed time was come,
He, the Word, was born of woman,
Left for us His Father's home,
Blazed the path of true obedience,
Shone as light amidst the gloom.

Thus, with thirty years accomplished,
He went forth from Nazareth,
Destined, dedicated, willing,
Did His work, and met His death;
Like a lamb He humbly yielded
On the cross His dying breath.

Faithful cross, true sign of triumph,
Be for all the noblest tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thine equal be;
Symbol of the world's redemption,
For the weight that hung on thee!

Unto God be praise and glory:
To the Father and the Son,
To the eternal Spirit honor
Now and evermore be done;
Praise and glory in the highest,
While the timeless ages run.

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