Contents Verbum supernum prodiens
Celestial Word, to This Our Earth
Hymni


Verbum supernum prodiens dates to somewhere around the 6th or 7th century and can be found in monastic breviaries of the 10th century. The hymn is used for the Office of the Readings as an Advent Hymn.

VERBUM supernum prodiens
a Patre lumen exiens,
qui natus orbi subvenis
cursu declivi temporis:
CELESTIAL Word, to this our earth
sent down from God's eternal clime,
to save mankind by mortal birth
into a world of change and time;
Illumina nunc pectora
tuoque amore concrema;
audita per praeconia
sint pulsa tandem lubrica.
Lighten our hearts, vain hopes destroy;
and in Thy love's consuming fire
Fill all the soul with heavenly joy,
and melt the dross of low desire.
Iudexque cum post aderis
rimari facta pectoris,
reddens vicem pro abditis
iustisque regnum pro bonis,
So when the Judge of quick and dead
shall bid His awful summons come,
to whelm the guilty soul with dread,
and call the blessed to their home.
Non demum artemur malis
pro qualitate criminis,
sed cum beatis compotes
simus perennes caelites.
Saved from the whirling black abyss,
forevermore to us be given
to share the feast of saintly bliss,
and see the face of God in heaven.
Sit, Christe, rex piissime,
tibi Patrique gloria
cum Sancto Spiritu Paraclito,
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.
To God the Father and the Son
our songs with one accord we raise;
and to the Holy Spirit, One
with Them, be ever equal praise. Amen

Latin, Liturgia Horarum, Tr. W. J. Courthope (1842-1917) from Church Hymns (1903).

Changes made by Pope Urban VIII in 1632 to the Roman Breviary:
1 Verbum supernum, prodiens/ e Patris aeterni sinu,/ qui natus orbi subvenis,/ labente cursu temporis:
2 Illumina nunc pectora,/ Tuoque amore concrema;/ ut cor caduca deserens/ caeli voluptas impleat.
3 Ut, cum tribunal Iudicis/ damnabit igni noxios,/ et vox amica debitum/ vocabit ad caelum pios;
4 Non esca flammarum nigros/ volvamur inter turbines,/ vultu Dei sed compotes/ caeli fruamur gaudiis.
5 Patri, simulque Filio,/ Tibique, Sancte Spiritus,/ sicut fuit, sit iugiter/ saeculum per omne gloria.


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