University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Meditations on the Supper of our Lord

and the Hours of the Passion, by Cardinal John Bonaventura the Seraphic Doctor. Drawn into English verse by Robert Manning of Brunne. (About 1315-1330.) Edited ... with introduction and glossary by J. Meadows Cowper

expand section

Comyng þe tyme of grete mercy,
Whan god sent hys sone down fro hy,
Of a mayden he wulde be bore,
To saue mankynde þat was forlore.
But noþer with corupt syluer ne golde;
But wyþ hys blode, by vs he wulde.
Whan tyme was come to suffre þys
A soper he made to hys dycyplys;
Are he were ded and shuld fro hem wende,
A memorand þyng to haue yn mynde.
Þys soper was real as þou mayst here,
Foure real þynges cryst made þere.
Ȝyf þou þenke weyl on þys fedyng,
God wyl nat late þe passe fastyng.
Foure þynges þou most haue yn þy þoȝt,
Þat yn þys soper cryst haþ wroȝt:
Þe fyrst ys a bodly fedyng,
Þe secunde ys hys dycyples fete wasshyng,
Þe þred yn brede hym self takyng,
Þe fourþe a sermoun of feyre makyng.