D

PREFACE.

URING the past twenty years the author has contributed to various magazines some original and translated Eucharistic verse together with comment (nearly all of which appeared in The Ecclesiastical Review) on the translations. Although these contributions were made casually and without ulterior purpose, he finds that, together with some hitherto unpublished matter, they would fill a little volume which might well bear the title of " Eucharistica". In it he has ventured to include a few renderings from Latin prose, two of which (namely the Prayers for the Blessing of Vestments and the "Prayer of St. Augustine") were requested for special occasions. He had also planned to include, if the requisite permission should have been obtained, his articles in the Catholic Encyclopedia on Lauda Sion, Pange Lingua, Sacris Solemniis, Verbum Supernum, O Deus Ego Amo Te, etc. On second thought it seemed simpler, however, to refer the reader who might desire fuller information on these hymns, to that great storehouse itself, rather than to burden the present pages unduly.

If any apology were needed for such a volume as this, it could reasonably be based on the fact that our English devotional literature is not rich in Eucharistic treatments, and that, in respect of appropriate verse (whether original or translated), it is especially inadequate. Any one who is familiar with the notable volumes of

Carmina Mariana compiled by Mr. Orby Shipley, will recognize the lacuna in the kindred devotional field of Eucharistica. Indeed, Latin hymns of merit are very few (the hymns of St. Thomas, the Ave Verum, the Sancti Venite, and a few others, almost exhaust the list)—nor are their English renderings so many or so felicitous as to make any further efforts in this field superfluous.