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Veni Creator Spiritus

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Veni Creator Spiritus
Hymn
First verse
First verse
English Come, Creator Spirit
Occasion Pentecost
Text c. 809, attributed to Rabanus Maurus
Language Latin
Meter 8 8 8 8
Melody Gregorian chant
Composed c. 1000, attributed to Kempten Abbey

Veni Creator Spiritus (Latin: Come, Creator Spirit) is a traditional Christian hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus, a ninth-century Frankish Benedictine monk, teacher, archbishop, and saint. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung to a Gregorian Chant tune first known from Kempten Abbey around the year 1000. The hymn has been translated and paraphrased into several languages, and adapted into many musical forms, often as a hymn for Pentecost or for other occasions that focus on the Holy Spirit.

Liturgical use

As an invocation of the Holy Spirit, Veni Creator Spiritus is sung in the Catholic Church during liturgical celebrations on the feast of Pentecost, at both Terce and Vespers. It is also sung at occasions such as the College of Cardinals entering the Sistine Chapel during a papal conclave, the consecration of bishops, the ordination of priests, the profession of members of religious institutes, administering the sacrament of Confirmation, the dedication of churches, the convening of synods or councils, the coronation of monarchs, the Red Mass starting the judicial year, and the beginning of other similar solemn events. It is also traditional to chant the hymn on New Year's Day to obtain a plenary indulgence.

Martin Luther used the hymn as the basis for his Pentecost chorale "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist", first published in 1524.

Veni Creator Spiritus is also widely used in Anglican liturgies, where it has appeared since the publication of the 1550 ordinal and continues to appear, for example, in the ordinal of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and in the Novena to The Holy Ghost in Saint Augustine's Prayer Book, published in 1947.[1] Bishop John Cosin's 1625 translation, "Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire" has been sung at all British coronations since Charles I's. Another well-known rendering into English is "Creator Spirit, by whose aid", written in 1690 by John Dryden and published in The Church Hymn Book (1872, n. 313).[2]

Text

Several variations of the lyrics exist. Below are the original ninth-century text and a classicizing revision published in 1632 under Pope Urban VIII. The former is used in some Protestant churches and certain Catholic religious orders, while the latter is used in most secular Catholic parishes. A versified English translation follows.

Original text

[3]

Veni Creator Spiritus,
Mentes tuorum visita,
Imple superna gratia,
Quæ tu creasti pectora.

Qui Paraclitus diceris,
Donum Dei altissimi
Fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
Et spiritalis unctio.

Tu septiformis munere,
Dexteræ Dei tu digitus,
Tu rite promissum Patris,
Sermone ditans guttura.

Accende lumen sensibus:
Infunde amorem cordibus:
Infirma nostri corporis
Virtute firmans perpeti.

Hostem repellas longius,
Pacemque dones protinus:
Ductore sic te prævio,
Vitemus omne noxium.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,
Noscamus atque Filium;
Te utriusque Spiritum
Credamus omni tempore.

Gloria Patri Domino,
Natoque qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
In sæculorum sæcula. Amen.

1632 revision

[3]

Veni Creator Spiritus,
Mentes tuorum visita,
Imple superna gratia,
Quæ tu creasti pectora.

Qui diceris Paraclitus,
Altissimi donum Dei,
Fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
Et spiritalis unctio.

Tu septiformis munere,
Digitus Paternæ dexteræ,
Tu rite promissum Patris,
Sermone ditans guttura.

Accende lumen sensibus:
Infunde amorem cordibus:
Infirma nostri corporis
Virtute firmans perpeti.

Hostem repellas longius,
Pacemque dones protinus:
Ductore sic te prævio,
Vitemus omne noxium.

Per te sciamus da Patrem,
Noscamus atque Filium;
Teque utriusque Spiritum
Credamus omni tempore.

Deo Patri sit gloria,
Et Filio qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
In sæculorum sæcula. Amen.

English translation

[4]

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with Thy grace and heav'nly aid
And fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

To Thee, the Comforter, we cry,
To Thee, the Gift of God Most High,
The Fount of life, the Fire of love,
The soul's Anointing from above.

The sev'n-fold gifts of grace are Thine,
O Finger of the Hand Divine;
True Promise of the Father Thou,
Who dost the tongue with speech endow.

Thy light to every thought impart
And shed Thy love in every heart;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.

Drive far away our wily Foe,
And Thine abiding peace bestow;
If Thou be our protecting Guide,
No evil can our steps betide.

Make Thou to us the Father known;
Teach us the eternal Son to own
And Thee, whose name we ever bless,
Of both the Spirit, to confess.

Praise we the Father and the Son
And Holy Spirit, with them One;
And may the Son on us bestow
The gifts that from the Spirit flow! Amen.

Notable English translations

Since the English Reformation in the 16th century, there have been more than fifty English-language translations and paraphrases of Veni Creator Spiritus.[5] The version attributed to Archbishop Cranmer, his sole venture into English verse, first appeared in the Prayer Book Ordinal of 1550. It was the only metrical hymn included in the Edwardian liturgy. In 1561 John Day included it after the psalms in his incomplete metrical psalter of that year. From 1562 onwards, in The Whole Booke of Psalmes, Day printed Cranmer's version at the start of the metrical paraphrases.[6] In terms of concision and accuracy, Cranmer compares poorly with Luther. Cranmer's sixth stanza, which mentions the Last Judgement and religious strife within Christendom ("the last dreadful day... strife and dissension..."), was a new addition, with no parallel in the Latin original or in Luther's version.

The version included in the 1662 revision of the Book of Common Prayer compressed the content of the original seven verses into four (with a two-line doxology), but retained the Latin title. It was written by Bishop John Cosin for the coronation of King Charles I of Great Britain in 1625.[7] The same words have been used at every coronation since, sung by the choir after the Creed and before the Anointing.[8] The first verse is:

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire
and lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost Thy sevenfold gifts impart.[9]

At the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla in 2023, the words were sung for the first time in Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic and Welsh in addition to English,[10] the three new translations being the work of Iain Urchadan, Damian McManus, and Grahame Davies respectively.[11][12]

Another well-known version, by the poet John Dryden, was first published in his Examen Poeticum (1693). It has six-line verses and hence must be sung to a hymn tune in 88 88 88 meter, such as "Melita" by John Bacchus Dykes.[13] Dryden's first verse is:

Creator Spirit, by whose aid
The world's foundations first were laid,
Come, visit every pious mind;
Come, pour Thy joys on humankind;
From sin and sorrow set us free,
And make Thy temples worthy Thee.

German paraphrases

Martin Luther wrote a paraphrase in German, "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist" (literally: Come, God Creator, Holy Ghost) as a Lutheran hymn for Pentecost, first published in 1524, with a melody derived from the chant of the Latin hymn. It appears in the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 126.[14]

Heinrich Bone published his own German paraphrase in 1845, "Komm, Schöpfer Geist, kehr bei uns ein" (literally: Come, Creator Spirit, visit us), also using an adaptation of the plainchant melody. It appears in the German Catholic hymnal Gotteslob (2013) and its 1975 predecessor.

A rhymed German translation or paraphrase, "Komm, Heiliger Geist, der Leben schafft" (literally: Come, Holy Spirit who creates life), was written by Friedrich Dörr to a melody close to the Gregorian chant, published in 1972. It became part of the Gotteslob hymnal in 1975, and the second edition in 2013, as GL 342 in the section "Pfingsten – Heiliger Geist" (Pentecost – Holy Spirit).

Musical settings

Over the centuries, Veni Creator Spiritus has inspired the following works by notable composers, in approximate chronological order:

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Veni Creator Spiritus, "the most famous of hymns" (Frere), is assigned in the Roman Breviary to Vespers (I and II) and Terce of Pentecost and throughout the octave. The Church also sings it at such solemn functions as the election of popes, the consecration of bishops, the ordination of priests, the dedication of churches, the celebration of synods or councils, the coronation of kings, etc. It is also sung in the more private devotions attending the opening and closing of that scholastic year in institutions of learning. The Congregation of Rites decreed (20 June, 1899) that the Eastertide doxology (Deo Patri sit gloria—Et Filio qui a mortuis—Surrexit ac Paraclito—In sæculorum sæcula) should always be used, no matter what, the feast or season of the year might be. The Vatican Graduale (1908) gives the older text, (attestation of which does not go back beyond the ninth century) and also, under the heading "secundum usum recentiorem", the present Breviary text, which is a revision, in the interest of classical prosody, of the older text, by the correctors of the Breviary under Urban VIII. The doxology of the older text (which is probably not original with the text itself) is: "Sit laus Patri cum Filio—Sancto simul Paraclito—Nobisque mittat Filius—Charisma Sancti Spiritus". This doxology is generally associated with the hymn "Beata nobis gaudia". It is unnecessary to indicate here the points of revision, since the printing of both texts in the Vatican Graduale makes comparison easy. Hymnologists think the revision uncalled for.

Dreves (Analecta Hymnica, L, 195) places the hymn in the section he devotes to Rabanus Maurus (d. 856), Abbot of Fulda and Archbishop of Mainz, and shows (p. 194) the importance of the manuscript evidence in his favour. Frere (Introduction to Hymns Ancient and Modern, historical edition, p. xxii) thinks the hymn can "with some confidence" be ascribed to him; as does also Blume (1908). Added support of the ascription is found in the scansion of the line Qui Paracletus dicitur (revised into "Qui dicitur Paraclitus"), where, in accordance with precedent found in Rabanus, Paracletus is accented on the penultimate syllable, as against the almost universal medieval custom of accenting it on the ante-penultimate, an illustration of which is found in the third line of the doxology (which is not part of the original hymn). Guéranger with many others, ascribed the hymn to Charlemagne, but with slight ground except his zeal for the doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Ghost from Father and Son. The legendary story of Ekkehard V contains its own refutation. The hymn has also been attributed to St. Ambrose and to St. Gregory the Great, but without real evidence for either ascription. No ancient writer ascribes it to St. Ambrose, nor can a good argument be based on its inclusion of two lines (Infirma nostri corporis—Virtute firmans perpeti) from the "Veni Redemptor gentium" (which is certainly by St. Ambrose) or on the phrasal similarity of its two lines "Accende lumen sensibus—Infunde amorem cordibus" with the line "Infunde lumen cordibus" of the hymn "O lux beata Trinitas" (which is probably by St. Ambrose). Borrowing from celebrated hymns was a common practice of medieval hymnodists. Mone ascribes it to St. Gregory because of its classical metre and occasional rhymes, and especially its prayerfulness, which he declares is a feature of St. Gregory's hymns; and the scansion of Paracletus (with the accent on the penultimate) he considers referable to the learning of such an author.

The hymn was probably first assigned to Vespers. One eleventh-century manuscript has it at both Lauds and Vespers, two others have it at Lauds. Its use at Terce is said to have begun at Cluny—a highly appropriate assignment, as it thus commemorates the descent of the Holy Ghost at the third hour of the day (Acts, ii, 15). In the council held at Reims in 1049, Pope Leo IX presiding, it was sung at the commencement of the third session in place of the ordinary antiphon, "Exaudi nos, Domine. It is found in several pontificals of the same century. It is the only Breviary hymn retained by the Protestant Episcopal Church, a translation being given in the Prayer Book (Ordering of Priests). There are about sixty English versions. Warton styles the translation of Dryden "most elegant and beautiful". It begins:

Creator Spirit, by whose aid
The world's foundations first were laid,
Come visit every pious mind,
Come pour Thy joys on human kind;
From sin and sorrow set us free,
And make Thy temples worthy Thee.

Julian, Dict. of Hymnology (2nd ed., London, 1907), 1206-1211, 1720; Dreves, Lateinisehs Hymnendichter des Mittel-alters, II. in Analecta Hymnica, L (Leipzig, 1907), 193-4 (Latin text. MS. references, additional stanzas, notes), 180-1, biographical notice of Rabanus; Frere, Introduction to Hymns Ancient and Modern. (hist. ed., London, 1909) p. (see hymns Nos. 180, 181, for text and two trs., two harmonized plainsong melodies, modern settings and comment); Pimont, Les hymnes du bréviare romain, III (Paris, 1884), 125-143, extensive comment: "The other two hymns of Pentecost are mostly narrative, while the Veni Creator is entirely an address to the Holy Ghost. This characteristic trait, and the exceptional beauty of the hymn, have always made it dear and venerable to Holy Church... The Dominicana sing it only at Terce. Other manuscripts locate it at Matins. The ancient Ordinarium of Laon indicates its use a all the canonical hours. The nuns of the Paraclete (Nogent-sur-Seine) repeated the first stanza seven times at Terce, five times at Sext, and thrice at None." He refers to Martène, De antiq. rit. eccl., III, iv, c. 28; Henry, The Hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus" in Amer. Eccl. Review (June, 1897), 573-596, text and original translation. comment; Shipley, Annus Sanctus (London, 1874), gives trs. by Aylward (161), Anon. in Evening Office, 1710 (165), Husenbeth (167), R. Campbell (170). and in the Appendix, 10, 11, 26, 27, trs. of the Primers of 1604, 1619, 1685, 1706 (this last being Dryden's); Mone, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, I (Freiburg, 1853), 241-243; Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, I, 213-215; IV, 124-126; Duffield, Latin Hymn-Writers and their Hymns (New York, 1889), 114-131, text and original tr., biography of Rabanus, for whose authorship Duffield contends vigorously; The Seven Great Hymns of the Medieval Church (7th ed., New York, 1868), 134-139); Amer. Eccl. Review (May, 1900, 525), decree S.C.R. (20 June, 1899) concerning the doxology; IDEM (Oct., 1896, 432-434), the singing of the Veni Creator before the sermon at High Mass; Johner, A New School of Gregorian Chant (New York, 1906, p. 87) gives the melody with marked accents and calls attention to "the upward movement from the first to the third line". For imitative hymns: Dreves, Analecta Hymnica, XII, 139; XXI, 52, 56; XXX (three hymns); XLIII, 211; XXXIII, 23. Ott, L'Innodia ambrosiana in Rassegna Gregoriana. VI (1907), 490, gives the melody of the hymn Hic est dies verus Dei, shows that it is the same as that of the Veni Creator, remarks that "all the spirit of the Ambrosian hymnody is felt in this fresh and vivacious melody", and thinks that "the music probably belongs to Saint Ambrose"; Blume, Ein neuer Markstein in der liturgischen Hymnodie in Stimmen aus Maria-laach, LXXV, No. 1 (July, 1, 1908), 6 and footnote, for comment on revision.

References

  1. Back to citation Saint Augustine's Prayer Book (1967) [1947]. (Revised ed.) West Park, New York: Holy Cross Publications. p. 316.
  2. Back to citation "Creator Spirit, by whose aid". hymnary.org. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 McGrath, George Warren (1939). The Revision of the Hymns of the Roman Breviary under Urban VIII (PDF) (Thesis). Loyola University. p. 149. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  4. Back to citation Based on Edward Caswall 1849, from The Lutheran Hymnal. Concordia Publishing House. 1941. p. 233.
  5. Back to citation Nutter, Charles S; Tillett, Wilbur F. The Hymns and Hymn Writers of The Church (Smith & Lamar, 1911), p. 108.
  6. Back to citation Quitslund, Beth. The Reformation in Rhyme: Sternhold, Hopkins and the English Metrical Psalter (Ashgate, 2008), pp. 204, 229.
  7. Back to citation Aquilina, Ivan D. The Eucharistic Understanding of John Cosin and His Contribution to the 1662 Book Of Common Prayer (University of Leeds, 2002), p. 6.
  8. Back to citation "Guide to the Coronation Service". Westminster Abbey. Archived 11 December 2013.
  9. Back to citation "The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II". Oremus.org. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  10. Back to citation "Grahame Davies - Welsh poet, editor and literary critic". grahamedavies.com. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  11. Back to citation Robinson, Matthew (6 May 2023). "King Charles's Coronation: Read the order of service in full". The Telegraph.
  12. Back to citation Coronation of King Charles III: Veni Creator Spiritus (in four British Languages) & Zadok the Priest, 7 May 2023, retrieved 2023-08-21
  13. Back to citation "Creator Spirit, by whose aid". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  14. Back to citation "EG 126: Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist" (PDF). Evangelisches Gesangbuch. Carus-Verlag. 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  15. Back to citation "Veni Creator Spiritus (Titelouze, Jean) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  16. Back to citation "Veni creator Spiritus, H.54 (Charpentier, Marc-Antoine) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  17. Back to citation "Veni creator Spiritus, H.69 (Charpentier, Marc-Antoine) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  18. Back to citation "Veni creator Spiritus, H.70 (Charpentier, Marc-Antoine) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  19. Back to citation "Veni creator Spiritus, H.70 (Charpentier, Marc-Antoine) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2026-04-18.
  20. Back to citation "Veni Creator Spiritus, S.14 or 14bis (Lalande, Michel Richard de) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  21. Back to citation "Komm Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist, P.223 (Pachelbel, Johann) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  22. Back to citation Sharp, G. B. (1972). "The Organist's Repertory. 11: Nicolas de Grigny, 1672-1703". The Musical Times. 113 (1553): 705–707. doi:10.2307/956248. JSTOR 956248.
  23. Back to citation Veni creator spiritus, hymne du // saint esprit (Ms. autogr ed.). 1723.
  24. Back to citation Bertoni 1765 (Ms ed.). 1765.
  25. Back to citation Giroust, François (1787). "Veni creator // par Mr Giroust. En 1787 (manuscrit autographe)". Gallica. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  26. Back to citation Veni Creator: [4 voix d'hommes]. Paris: chez Madame Maeyens Couvreur. 1866.
  27. Back to citation "Phantasie über 'Veni Creator Spiritus' (Capocci, Filippo) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  28. Back to citation Matthew-Walker, Robert (Winter 2021). "Zsolt Gárdonyi: Toccata – Veni creator spiritus für Orgel". The Organ. 100 (395): 55. ProQuest 2509373185.
  29. Back to citation "CREATION". danforrest.com. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
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