O Godhead Hid, Devoutly I Adore Thee

This is a traditional Eucharistic hymn.

This is the original text of this hymn as it appears in the Lyra Catholica (1849) where it is listed as a hymn for Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament:

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee,
Who truly art within the forms before me;
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in contemplating Thee.

Sight, touch, and taste in Thee are each deceiv’d;
The ear alone most safely is believ’d:
I believe all the Son of God has spoken,
Than Truth’s own word there is no truer token.

God only, on the Cross lay hid from view;
But here lies hid at once the Manhood too:
And I, in both professing my belief,
Make the same prayer as the repentant thief.

Thy wounds, as Thomas saw, I do not see;
Yet Thee confess my Lord and God to be:
Make me believe Thee ever more and more;
In Thee my hope, in Thee my love to store.

O thou Memorial of our Lord’s own dying!
O living Bread, to mortals life supplying!
Make Thou my soul henceforth on Thee to live;
Ever a taste of Heavenly sweetness give.

O loving Pelican! O Jesu, Lord!
Unclean I am, but cleanse me in thy blood;
Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt,
Can purge the entire world from all its guilt.

Jesu! whom for the present veil’d I see,
What I so thirst for, oh, vouchsafe to me:
That I may see thy countenance unfolding,
And may be blest thy glory in beholding. Amen.

Words: St. Thomas Aquinas, 13th C.; tr. Fr. Edward Caswall, C.O., 1849.
Tune: “Adoro Te Devote” traditional chant melody.
Meter: 11.11.11.11

This is the text of this hymn as it appears in the 10th edition (1906) of the St. Basil’s Hymnal (1889) where it appears with the text of Adoro Te Devote:

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore Thee
Who truly art within the form before me
To Thee my heart I bow with bended knee,
As failing quite in contemplating Thee

The original Latin text of this hymn may be found here.