Conditor Alme Siderum ~ Creator of the Starts of Night. Anonymous text from the 7th century used at Vespers during Advent. Sung here by the Dominican students at Blackfriars, Oxford. Below is the Latin from the Liturgia Horarum (Liturgy of the Hours), alongside the English translation.
CONDITOR alme siderum, aeterna lux credentium, Christe, redemptor omnium, exaudi preces supplicum. Qui condolens interitu mortis perire saeculum, salvasti mundum languidum, donans reis remedium, Vergente mundi vespere, uti sponsus de thalamo, egressus honestissima Virginis matris clausula. Cuius forti potentiae genu curvantur omnia; caelestia, terrestria nutu fatentur subdita. Te, Sancte, fide quaesumus, venture iudex saeculi, conserva nos in tempore hostis a telo perfidi. Sit, Christe, rex piissime, tibi Patrique gloria cum Spiritu Paraclito, in sempiterna saecula. Amen. | CREATOR of the stars of night, Thy people's everlasting light, Jesu, Redeemer, save us all, and hear Thy servants when they call. Thou, grieving that the ancient curse should doom to death a universe, hast found the medicine, full of grace, to save and heal a ruined race. Thou camest, the Bridegroom of the Bride, as drew the world to evening tide, proceeding from a virgin shrine, the spotless Victim all divine. At whose dread Name, majestic now, all knees must bend, all hearts must bow; and things celestial Thee shall own, and things terrestrial Lord alone. O Thou whose coming is with dread, to judge and doom the quick and dead, preserve us, while we dwell below, from every insult of the foe. To God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, Three in One, laud, honor, might, and glory be from age to age eternally. Amen. |
