sursum corda

[ soor-soom kawr-dah, kohr- ]

nounEcclesiastical.
  1. the words “Lift up your hearts,” addressed by the celebrant of the Mass to the congregation just before the preface.

Origin of sursum corda

1
Borrowed into English from Latin around 1550–60

Words Nearby sursum corda

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sursum corda in a sentence

  • Do you remember the passage where Burke alludes to the old warning of the Church—sursum corda?

    "Stops" | Paul Allardyce
  • It calls to the reader, as the early Christian litanies did to the worshipper, sursum corda, Raise your thoughts!

    Sonnets and Canzonets | A. Bronson Alcott
  • And it means also sursum corda (Lift up your hearts) whenever the difficulties and sorrows of the desert seem too much.

    Mater Christi | Mother St. Paul
  • On the plate of George Bancroft, the late historian, a chubby cherub bears a panel on which is the motto, sursum corda.

    American Book-Plates | Charles Dexter Allen
  • The general reader will never forgive such portraits as that of the elder Barbier, who, after shouting, 'sursum corda!

British Dictionary definitions for sursum corda

sursum corda

/ (ˈsɜːsəm ˈkɔːdə) /


noun
  1. RC Church a Latin versicle meaning Lift up your hearts, said by the priest at Mass

  2. a cry of exhortation, hope, etc

Origin of sursum corda

1
C16: Latin, literally: up hearts

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012