Thomas Aquinas Archive

“Pange lingua: Music for Corpus Christi” – Choir of Clare College, Cambridge/ Michael Papadopoulos, organ/ Graham Ross – Harmonia mundi

by Audiophile Audition | Jul 7, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

“Pange lingua: Music for Corpus Christi” – Choir of Clare College, Cambridge/ Michael Papadopoulos, organ/ Graham Ross – Harmonia mundi HMM 907688, 75:19 ****: A fine historical selection of the Corpus Christi through the centuries. It was Thomas Aquinas who composed the hymn Pange lingua, used on the Maundy Thursday procession in the Roman Catholic Church. And Aquinas is the chief of the medieval poets who solemnized this feast, ancient in the west, and still present even in some Anglican churches, though it was abolished there in 1548 (today it is the “Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion”). Originally however, the institution of Corpus Christi as a feast resulted from work on the part of Juliana of Liège, a 13th-century Norbertine canoness (b. 1191) in Liège, Belgium. Her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was enhanced by a vision of the Church under the appearance of the full moon having one dark spot, which signified the need for this celebration. She had the vision for the next 20 years but she kept it a secret. Finally, after petitioning the bishop, in 1246 a celebration of Corpus Christi was appointed to be held in the local diocese each year […]