Pange lingua gloriosi [lauream]
Hymn recited on Good Friday morning during the Adoration of the Cross. For Breviary use it is divided into two parts:
“Pange lingua gloriosi,” hymn for Matins from Passion Sunday to the Wednesday of Holy Week (inclusive), and for Matins on 3 May and 14 September, Feasts of the Finding, and of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
“Lustra sex qui jam peregit,” hymn for Lauds for the same days as above.
It was written by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609) and has approximately twenty-five translations; the one given is by J. Neale.
The eighth verse reads:
Faithful Cross! above all other,
One and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peers may be;
Sweetest Wood and Sweetest Iron!
Sweetest Weight is hung on thee.