Words: Au­thor un­known (O De­us, ego amo te); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by , Lyra Ca­thol­i­ca, 1849. The orig­in­al is re­port­ed­ly a Span­ish son­net which be­gins, No me mueve, mi Dios, para quererte; it ap­peared in Diep­en­brock’s Geist­lich­er Blu­men­strauss (1829), at­trib­uted to Fran­cis Xavier. It al­so ap­peared in the Po­es­i­as of The­re­sa de Je­sus (1515-1582), show­ing her as the au­thor, but was not in in her Lib­ros (Lis­bon: 1616), Ob­ras (Lis­bon: 1654), or Op­era (Köln, Ger­m­any: 1686). be­lieved the La­tin form was prob­ab­ly by Xavier or by a Ger­man Je­su­it. A trans­la­tion of the La­tin lyr­ics was pub­lished in 1668 in Heil­i­ge Seel­en­lust, by , cred­it­ing Xa­vier as the au­thor.

Music: St. Ful­bert, , 1849. Al­ter­nate tunes:

  • Flensburg, (1784-1859); har­mo­nized by , 1867
  • Solomon, from the air What Tho’ I Trace, by
  • St. Fran­cis Xav­ier, , 1875

My God, I love Thee; not because
I hope for Heav’n thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not
May eternally die.

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me
Upon the cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails and spear,
And manifold disgrace.

And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
E’en death itself; and all for man
Who was Thine enemy.

Then why, O blessèd Jesus Christ
Should I not love Thee well?
Not for the hope of winning Heaven,
Nor of escaping hell.

Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Nor seeking a reward,
But as Thyself hast lovèd me,
O everlasting Lord!

E’en so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing,
Solely because Thou art my God,
And my eternal King.