What is "sursum corda"

Sursum corda \Sur"sum cor"da\ [L. sursum upward + corda hearts.] (Eccl.) In the Eucharist, the versicles immediately before the preface, inviting the people to join in the service by ``lifting up the heart'' to God.

n. (Roman Catholic Church) a Latin versicle meaning `lift up your hearts'

The Sursum Corda ( Latin: "Lift up your hearts" or literally, "Hearts lifted") is the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer or Anaphora in the liturgies of the Christian Church, dating back to at least the third century and the Anaphora of the Apostolic Tradition. The dialogue is recorded in the earliest liturgies of the Christian Church, and is found in all ancient rites.

The phrase Sursum Corda is generally translated as "lift up your hearts", but the Latin literally just says "Upwards [the] hearts" (Latin does not distinguish between definite and indefinite). Being a translation of the Greek, Sursum Corda idiomatically should imply "our hearts" rather than "your hearts", as per the modern Spanish translation, Levantemos el corazón ("let us lift up the heart"). The Greek version Ἄνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας means "Let us lift up the hearts", idiomatically implying "our hearts".

Though the detail varies slightly from rite to rite, the structure of the dialogue is generally threefold, comprising an exchange of formal greeting between priest and people; an invitation to lift the heart to God, the people responding in agreement; and an invitation to give thanks, with the people answering that it is proper to do so. This third exchange indicates the people's assent to the priest continuing to offer the remainder of the Eucharistic Prayer on their behalf, and it is the necessity of such assent which accounts for the universality of the dialogue.

Sursum Corda is a poorly investigated Italian student movement. It seems to have its origins in the Italian youth organisations from the first years of the 20th century such as the battaglioni studenteschi founded in 1906 (or so) in Milan. The model were the German Burschenschaften. Organized with irredentist purposes before 1914, they can be considered one of the precursors of fascist organizations in Italy. Their Fiuman member was Nino Host Venturi, According to Host Venturi, he already in 1913 organised a Battaglione studenti volontari "Sursum Corda" in Brescia with students and expats from Austria-Hungary. They trained during weekends in the surrounding hills with the support from Italian regular army officers. In spring 1919 they had already a battalion-strength formation in Trieste. Nino Host Venturi kept the contacts with Gabriele D'Annunzio and organised his arrival in Fiume. Leo Negrelli from Trieste was another affiliate of the “Sursum Corda.”

thumb|right| Nave of Worcester Cathedral Sursum corda, Op. 11 is a musical work by the English composer Edward Elgar for strings, brass, timpani and organ, composed in 1894. The composer dedicated it to his friend Henry Dyke Acland (1850-1936), an amateur cellist who was his golfing companion, manager of the Worcester Old Bank in Malvern, and son of Henry Acland.

It was first performed at Worcester Cathedral on 9 April 1894, under the baton of Hugh Blair, organist of the cathedral. The composer was absent from this performance due to the ill health. Its first London performance took place at a Queen's Hall Promenade Concert on 21 September 1901.

The title translates from the Latin to read, "Lift up your hearts".

Sursum corda is the opening dialogue to the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer or Anaphora in the liturgies of the Christian Church.

Sursum Corda may also refer to:

• Sursum Corda, Washington, D.C., a small neighborhood and housing cooperative in Washington, D.C.
• Sursum Corda (Italy), an early 20th-century Italian proto-fascist student movement
• Sursum corda (Elgar), an 1894 musical work by Edward Elgar
• Sursum Corda, a co-educational social service organization at Loyola Marymount University