HILARIUS PICTAVIENSIS

I

HYMNUS MATUTINUS

Lucis largitor splendide,
Cuius sereno lumine
Post lapsa noctis tempora
Dies refusus panditur;

Tu verus mundi Lucifer,
Non is, qui parvi sideris
Venturae lucis nuntius
Angusto fulget lumine,

Sed toto sole clarior,
Lux ipse totus et dies,
Interna nostri pectoris
Illuminans praecordia:

Adesto, rerum conditor,
Paternae lucis gloria,

Cuius admota gratia

Nostra patescunt corpora.

HILARY OF POICTIERS

I

MORNING HYMN

O glorious Giver of light,

By whose all-beneficent ray Are ended the watches of night,

And opened the flood-gates of day;

Light-bearer art Thou to this earth,
Not he who foretells, as the seer,
By flickering starlight, the birth
Of dawn that is yet to appear.

But brighter Thyself than the sun,
Thou art the All-light and the Day,

Thy shining, all radiant One,

Drives all our hearts' darkness away:

Creator of all things, be near,

Thou glory of God's shining face,

Our bodies His temples appear

When touched by Thy marvelous grace.

Tuoque plena spiritu,
Secum Deum gestantia,
Ne rapientis perfidi
Diris patescant fraudibus,

Ut inter actus seculi
Vitae quos usus exigit,
Omni carentes crimine
Tuis vivamus legibus.

Probrosas mentis castitas
Carnis vincat libidines,
Sanctumque puri corporis
Delubrum servet Spiritus.

Haec spes precantis animae,
Haec sunt votiva munera,
Ut matutina nobis sit

Lux in noctis custodiam.

And filled with Thy Spirit the while,
Within them may God be enclosed,
Nor may they to treacherous guile
Of ravaging foes be exposed.

But e'en 'mid employments of time Which customs of this life shall cause, May we, without semblance of crime, Obediently walk in Thy laws.

May purity chaste of the mind

Our bodies' foul passions dethrone, Within, may Thy Spirit enshrined, These temples preserve for His own.

And this be our hope and our prayer, And this our heart's fondest delight, That morning's glad sunbeams shall bear Our souls till the safeguard of night.

II

HYMNUS MATUTINUS

Deus, Pater ingenite,
Et Fili unigenite,
Quos Trinitatis unitas
Sancto connectit Spiritu.

Te frustra nullus invocat,
Nec cassis unquam vocibus
Amator tui luminis
Ad coelum vultus erigit.

Et tu suspirantem Deus,
Vel vota supplicantium,
Vel corda confitentium
Semper benignus aspice.

Nos lucis ortus admonet
Grates deferre debitas,
Tibique laudes dicere,
Quod nox obscura praeterit.

Diem precamur bonum,
Ut nostros, Salvator, actus
Sinceritate perpeti

Pius benigne instruas.