Contents Consors paterni luminis
O Light of Light
Hymni


Attributed to St. Ambrose (340-397), this hymn is traditionally used at Tuesday Matins. Today it is used for the Office of the Readings on Tuesdays of the first and third weeks of the Psalter of Ordinary Time.

CONSORS paterni luminis,
lux ipse lucis et dies,
noctem canendo rumpimus:
assiste postulantibus.
O LIGHT of light,
O Dayspring bright,
coequal in Thy Father's light:
assist us, as with prayer and psalm
Thy servants break the nightly calm.
Aufer tenebras mentium,
fuga catervas daemonum,
expelle somnolentiam
ne pigritantes obruat.
All darkness from our minds dispel,
and turn to flight the hosts of Hell:
bid sleepfulness our eyelids fly,
lest overwhelmed in sloth we lie.
Sic, Christe, nobis omnibus
indulgeas credentibus,
ut prosit exorantibus
quod praecinentes psallimus.
Jesu, Thy pardon, kind and free,
bestow on us who trust in Thee:
and us Thy praises we declare,
O with acceptance hear our prayer.
Sit, Christe, rex piissime,
tibi Patrique gloria
cum Spiritu Paraclito
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.
O Father, that we ask be done,
through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son,
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
doth live and reign eternally.

Latin from the Liturgia Horarum. Translation by Joseph William Chadwick (1841-1882) and John David Chambers (1805-1893). Historically the concluding doxology "Praesta, Pater piissime" was used with this hymn and hence the above translation's mis-match with the Latin.


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