Latin · Original
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. Amen.
O Salutaris Hostia
O Saving Victim
1264, by St. Thomas Aquinas — for the office of Corpus Christi
The Eucharistic hymn sung at the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament — composed by St. Thomas Aquinas as the closing two verses of the Verbum Supernum Prodiens.
The Prayer · Multiple Versions
English
O saving Victim, opening wide the gate of heaven to all below! Our foes press hard on every side; thine aid supply, thy strength bestow. To thy great name be endless praise, immortal Godhead, One in Three! O grant us endless length of days in our true native land with thee. Amen.
When the Prayer is Said
At the start of every Eucharistic Exposition; before every Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
History & Background
The O Salutaris Hostia consists of the last two strophes of the longer Eucharistic hymn Verbum Supernum Prodiens, which St. Thomas Aquinas composed in 1264 at the request of Pope Urban IV for the new feast of Corpus Christi. The two-strophe extract has been used as the standard hymn of the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament since the late medieval period.
The hymn is regularly paired with the Tantum Ergo (the last two strophes of the parallel Aquinas hymn Pange Lingua, sung at the Benediction itself) — together they bookend the Latin tradition of Exposition: O Salutaris at the moment of unveiling the monstrance, Tantum Ergo at the moment of giving the Eucharistic blessing.