Scripture Verse

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. Matthew 4:1–2

Introduction

Words: Un­known au­thor, pre-13th Cen­tu­ry (Je­su qua­dra­ge­na­ri­ae). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John W. Hew­ett (Vers­es by a Coun­try Cu­rate, 1859) & the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern.

Music: Wind­sor Chris­to­pher Tye, 1533. Ar­ranged in Booke of Mu­sicke, by Wil­liam Da­man, 1591 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Hew­ett, Tye or Da­man (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Jesu, our Lent­en fast of Thee
We du­te­ous learn to keep,
A heal­ing time, by Thy de­cree,
For all Thy wound­ed sheep.

A time in which to­wards pa­ra­dise,
Once lost by car­nal sense,
The souls re­deemed by Thee may rise
Through chast­en­ing ab­sti­nence.

Now with Thy Church be pre­sent, Lord,
In all Thy sav­ing grace,
And hear us as with one ac­cord
Mourning, we seek Thy face.

Most Mer­ci­ful, for­give the past,
The sins which we de­plore;
Thy shel­ter­ing arms around us cast,
That we may sin no more.

To Thee our sac­ri­fice we bring
Of Lent­en fast and pray­er,
Till, cleansed by Thee, our God and king,
Thy Pas­chal joy we share.

Grant this, O Fa­ther, through Thy Son,
And through the Spir­it blest,
Who art with Them for­ev­er One,
Eternally con­fessed.