Contents Nunc, Sancte, nobis Spiritus
Come, Holy Ghost
Hymni


Attributed to St. Ambrose (340-397), this hymn is for the office of Terce (mid-morning prayer, about 9:00 AM) from the Liturgy of the Hours. It is particularly appropriate for Terce, for it was at that hour the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles on Pentecost (Acts 2:15).

NUNC, Sancte, nobis Spiritus,
unum Patri cum Filio,
dignare promptus ingeri
nostro refusus pectori.
COME, Holy Ghost, who ever One
art with the Father and the Son,
it is the hour, our souls possess
with Thy full flood of holiness.
Os, lingua, mens, sensus, vigor
confessionem personent,
flammescat igne caritas,
accendat ardor proximos.
Let flesh, and heart, and lips, and mind,
sound forth our witness to mankind;
and love light up our mortal frame,
till others catch the living flame.
Per te sciamus da Patrem,
noscamus atque Filium,
te utriusque Spiritum
credamus omni tempore. Amen.1
Grant this, O Father, ever One
with Christ, Thy sole-begotten Son,
and Holy Ghost, whom all adore,
reigning and blest forevermore.

From the Liturgia Horarum. Translation by Cardinal Newman (1801-1890).

1 The Roman Breviary a different concluding doxology: Praesta, Pater piissime,/ Patrique compar Unice,/ cum Spiritu Paraclito/ regnans per omne saeculum. It is this doxology that Cardinal Newman translated. This doxology concludes many hymns in the Liturgy of the Hours and dates to at least the 8th century.


<- Prev

©copyrighted by Michael Martin

Next->