When, in June 1514, Ottaviano Petrucci sent his Missarum Josquin Liber Tertius to the press, Josquin had probably not yet written his Mass on the Hymn to the Holy Sacrament, or else there had not been time for the editor (who had taken such a large part in making Josquin’s work known) to include it in the publication. Indeed, the Mass was published only in 1539 by Johannes Ott in Nuremberg during that sort of Josquin “revival” which took place in German–speaking countries following Luther’s high praise of Josquin’s work. It is therefore more than probable that Pange Lingua Mass was Josquin’s last elaboration of the Ordinary of the Mass, based on the (still well-known today) hymn Pange lingua gloriosi written by St. Thomas Aquinas during that surge of religious devotion which followed the “Miracle of Bolsena” and led Pope Urban IV to institute the feast of Corpus Christi.

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