"SACRIS SOLEMNIIS IUNCTA SINT GAUDIA". — Hymn of the Matins for the feast of Corpus Christi, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas. It is a rhythmic hymn, and its verse does not follow the rules of Latin prosody, but rather the accentuation proper to vernacular poetry.
It narrates the institution of the Sacrament by Jesus on the night of the Last Supper, when He is about to be delivered to His enemies. He is the victim who immolates Himself for the salvation of the world and leaves to His disciples of all times and places Himself under the species of bread and wine, as a perpetual redemption and pledge of eternal love.
BIBL.: G. S. Piment, Les hymnes du Bréviaire romain, III, Paris 1884, pp. 177-88; E. Dumoutet, Le désir de voir l'Hoste et les origines de la dévotion au Saint Sacrement, ibid. 1926, pp. 60-62; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Naples 1947, pp. 131-33.