Unus ex discipulis - One of the disciples

Hymns & songs

Holy Week Liturgy
Unus ex Discipulis
Unus ex discipulis - “One of my disciples” - is the third responsorio for Maundy Thursday in the Holy Week Liturgy. It is a meditation on Our Lord's tragic betrayal by Judas Iscariot. From inside His own trusted circle of disciples, Christ is delivered by the traitor to the envious Pharisees. At the Last Supper Our Lord dips His hands into the same dish as the hands of the one who will deliver Him up to be scourged and crucified. He who is Innocence itself shares His last meal with the one who is guilty of the most vile treachery.

Unus ex discipulis was composed by Fr. Tomás Luis de Victoria.
It is sung here by the Spanish group La Columbina.

Listen to Unus ex Discipulis

Lyrics:

Unus ex discipulis meis
Tradit me hodie.
Vae illi per quem tradar ego.
Melius illi erat si natus non fuisset.

Qui intingit mecum manum in paropside,
Hic me traditurus est
In manu peccatorum.

Unus ex discipulis meis
Tradit me hodie.
Vae illi per quem tradar ego.
Melius illi erat si natus non fuisset.

Translation:

One of My disciples
Betrays Me today.
Woe to him by whom I am betrayed.
It would be better for him not to have been born.

The one who dips his hand with Me into the dish,
This one will deliver Me
Into the hands of sinners.

One of My disciples
Betrays Me today.
Woe to him by whom I am betrayed.
It would be better for him not to have been born.