St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-74

The word went forth
Yet from his Father never went away;
Came to his work on earth
And laboured till the twilight of his day.

Men envied him: he went to death
By his own man betrayed:
Yet first to his own men himself had given,
In wine and broken bread.

O victim slain for us and our salvation,
Opening the door of light,
The warring hosts are set on our damnation:
Give us the strength to fight.

The Oxford Book of Prayer, ed. Appleton, p. 158