Words: Unknown author, pre-13th Century (Jesu quadragenariae); translated from Latin to English by (Verses by a Country Curate, 1859) and the compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Music: Windsor, , 1533; arranged in Booke of Musicke, by William Daman, 1591.
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.