A RECENT RELEASE from GIA Publications, Inc., Feast of Life features another of my collaborations with hymn writer, composer, and organist, Alan. J. Hommerding. Feast of Life sets two Aquinas texts, both translated by Hommerding into in English: O Sacrum Convivium/O Great, Sacred Feast of Life and Ecce Panis Angelorum/Bread of Angels. With degrees in theology, theory, and music, Hommerding served as Senior Editor of World Library Publications. In 2019 he was awarded “Distinguished Catholic Music Composer of the Year” by the Association of Catholic Publishers.
** Feast of Life, is available in print or PDF download here.
In the publication, Hommerding writes of his treatment of O Sacrum Convivium • O Great, Sacred Feast of Life: “…[T]he past (Christ’s Passion), present (our eucharistic celebration), and future (the heavenly banquet) dimensions of the sacrament are concisely presented. This translation is one I refer to as a ‘singing’ translation, in that its preservation of the syllable count/stress of the Latin text is an essential consideration, along with conveying the meaning of the text.”
Listen here to a recording conducted by Dr. Alfred Calabrese and sung by the Saint Rita Choir, Dallas Texas
Ecce Panis Angelorum • Bread of Angels: Of this text Hommerding writes: “Like many of the lengthier eucharistic texts of St. Thomas Aquinas, this one is a shorter excerpt from his Lauda, Sion Salvatorem, currently used as the Sequence on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ…The words guide us to our “forever feasting,” when we will share this heavenly bread with the angels.
Listen here to a recording performed by the Boston Cathedral Singers, Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston