O Salutaris Hostia

O Salutaris Hostia is one of the Eucharistic hymns composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. Another well known of his Eucharistic hymns is the Pange Lingua (which contains the Tantum Ergo).

O Salutaris Hostia is one of my favorite chants. There are many musical settings of it in addition to the Gregorian chant.  I recently learned an interesting fact about the hymn from a student here named Nathan who is majoring in Latin and Greek. He says the phrase da robur literally means "give me an oak" or "give me an oak tree." It's a Latin idiom which means "give me strength."

O salutaris Hostia,
Quae caeli pandis ostium:
Bella premunt hostilia,
Da robur, fer auxilium.

Uni trinoque Domino
Sit sempiterna gloria,
Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in patria.

Here's a literal translation, which differs a bit from the verse translation one often sees.

O saving Victim
who openeth the gates of heaven
hostile wars press
give strength, bear aid.

To the one and threefold Lord
may there be everlasting glory
who life without end
may (he) grant to us in the Fatherland.

Here's a setting I really like, though the video quality is lacking, from a Solemn Mass in Notre Dame in Paris.