Corda Pia – A Franciscan Hymn

Veronica Brandt · September 30, 2017

CTOBER 4 IS THE FEAST OF ST FRANCIS. That’s this Wednesday. A popular feast day for lots of different reasons – people who like animals, people who see the Church falling down or people who like living simply – the Poverello of Assisi attracts all sorts of fans.

For the saint known as God’s Troubadour, there are lots of hymns. Here is an old gem – it’s in Latin, but with a simple tune and an easy chorus. It tells the story of St Francis receiving the Stigmata.

* For sheet music and a translation see this Page about Corda Pia

Update: it has come to my attention that I have written a little about this hymn before back in 2014

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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—Corpus Christi Watershed

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Dom Pothier does not belong to the dim past, as the silence which surrounds his name would lead one to believe. Only a few years separate us from the time when—growing old and heavily burdened by trials—Dom Pothier was concentrating his ever keen attention on the study of manuscripts in the Belgian place of retreat where his community had found refuge. For he was the abbot; and there can be no doubt that the cross he wore during those days was a cross of sorrow, though he bore it with a smile.”

— Dom Ermin Vitry, OSB (31-OCT-1936)

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About Veronica Brandt