Author. Unknown. It is not in the Ambrosian tradition or style, and Biraghi, the authority on the hymns of St Ambrose, excludes it from the list of genuine hymns of the saint. Daniel thinks it to be of the seventh or eighth century.

1. artubus (artus, 4), joint, limb; cf. 8, 11; 87, 8. 2. Spreto cubili, abl. absol; spernere, spurn, scorn, despise etc.

4. deposcimus, pray earnestly; here with infinitive instead of the more usual ut clause.

6. mentis, soul-its usual meaning in the hymns. Ardor; here in a good sense, as in 19, 8. Ambiat; (1) to take every possible means to find God; or (2) to solicit, pray to, as in Hor. Od. I, 35, 5 and Prud. Perist. II, 491.

8. exordium, beginning, starting-point of the acts to follow, actuum sequentium; cf. the collect ut cuncta

nostra oratio et operatio a te semper incipiat.

9. cedant; an optative. Tenebrae; the second syllable is normally long in poetry and short in prose. The darkness and light are spiritual; cf. Eph. 5, 8.

10. diurno sideri, the sun; cf. 14, 8. Here spiritually of the sun of righteousness.

12. labascat (from labascere, 3, inchoative of labare), totter, waver, give way, yield; munere, by the gift of; or, better, by the office, working of light.

13. idem, also. Idem is the old form of the nom. plur. and the reading of the MS. The Breviary iidem should be scanned as idem.

14. noxa, guilt, sin. Amputes, prune away; cf. amputa opprobrium meum, Ps. 118, 39.

15-16. Cf. ut viventes laudemus nomen tuum, Domine, et ne claudas ora te canentium, Esther 13, 17.

Author. Unknown. For the reasons given in 3, it cannot be St Ambrose. "The doxology is so insistently contained in all MSS, that I have printed it as an integral part of the hymn', W. 7 is the only five-verse hymn in the Matins series, and W wondered if 7, 17-20 originally belonged to this hymn.

This doxology is now one of the common ones in the Breviary, but it did not become such until Clement VIII when it was substituted for the form: Praesta Pater omnipotens,/Per Jesum Christum Dominum,/Qui tecum in perpetuum/Regnat cum sancto Spiritu.

1. Consors; for the sense cf. 12, 1. Cf. lines 1-2 with 12, I-4.

2. ipse; for the masculine with a feminine noun, cf. 11, 15, note.

3. rumpimus, break in upon, interrupt; cf. 5, 8; 8, 14; 13, 14.

4. assiste, stand by, i.e. hear with favour; cf. adesse in 3, 4; cf. also 112, 19.

5. tenebras; cf. 3, 9, note. Mentium; cf. 3, 6. 6. catervas, bands; cf. signum quod ipse nosti/Damnat tuam catervam, Prud. Cath. VI, 147–8.

8. pigritantes (from pigritari, intensive of pigrari), to be given to laziness. W suggests 'lingering' and compares ne pigriteris venire usque ad nos, Acts 9, 38. 9. Sic is answered by ut in line 11.

11. exorantibus, praying earnestly; more usually, gaining requests.

12. Prae of praecinentes is local; prae of praecinit, 13, 2, is temporal.

Praesta Pater piissime Patrique compar unice 15 Cum Spiritu Paraclito Regnans per omne saeculum.

answer. Grant this most loving Father and You, the only Son, equal to the Father and, with the Spirit, the Paraclete, reigning through the ages.

Rerum creator optime Rectorque noster, aspice; Nos a quiete noxia, Mersos sopore, libera.

5 Te sancte Christe, poscimus,
Ignosce culpis omnibus;
Ad confitendum surgimus
Morasque noctis rumpimus.

Mentes manusque tollimus, 10 Propheta sicut noctibus Nobis gerendum praecipit Paulusque gestis censuit.

Vides malum quod fecimus, Occulta nostra pandimus, 15 Preces gementes fundimus, Dimitte quod peccavimus.

Hymn 5 Wednesday Matins

Good creator of the world and ruler of mankind, look down on us and free us, buried in sleep, from sinful sloth. To You, holy Christ, we make our prayer; pardon all our sins. It is to own You as Lord that we have risen and now break upon the silence of the night. We raise up our hearts and lift up our hands in prayer, as the Psalmist commanded to be done at night and as Paul by his actions showed to be the right thing. You see the evil we have done, and we confess our hidden faults. With penitent heart we make this earnest prayer: Forgive us our sins.

Nox atra rerum contegit
Terrae colores omnium;
Nos confitentes poscimus
Te, juste judex cordium,

5 Ut auferas piacula
Sordesque mentis abluas,
Donesque, Christe, gratiam
Ut arceantur crimina.

Hymn 6 Thursday Matins

Night's pall has shrouded in darkness all the colours of creation. Acknowledging that we are sinners, we beseech You, just judge of man's heart, to take away our sin and wash away the soul's guilt. Give us, Lord Christ, the grace of being preserved from sin. Behold our soul lies

Author. Unknown. It has been attributed to St Ambrose and to St Gregory.

3. noxia, sinful; cf. 2, 20.

5. sancte. Very rarely used in the liturgy in this way of our Lord. Its purpose here is to contrast His holiness with our sinfulness.

7. confitendum. Confiteri has the idea of ‘acknowledge' underlying all its uses in Christian Latin. (1) to acknowledge God's holiness, i.e. to praise Him; (2) to acknowledge our sinfulness, i.e. to confess our guilt; (3) to acknowledge God by death (martyrs); and (4) to acknowledge God by a holy life (confessors). Perhaps the second as well as the first meaning is implied here, for 9-12 illustrate the first and 13-16 the second.

8. morasque noctis, the spaces i.e. the hours of the night; mora delay and mora temporis (Ovid)=space of time. Original: morasque nostras, i.e. we bring our delay to an end; cf. rumpe moras, Virg. Georg. III, 43.

Rumpimus; cf. 4, 3, note.

9. mentes; cf. 3, 6. Manus. The ancients prayed with hands uplifted and upturned. This posture suggested a cross: Non ausa est cohibere poena palmas/in morem crucis ad Patrem levandas, Prud. Perist. VI, 106.

10. propheta, i.c. psalmist; cf. 2, 8, note. 12. gestis censuit, showed his approval (of the psalmist's advice) by his actions. Media autem nocte Paulus et Silas orantes laudabant Deum, Acts 16, 25.

13. fecimus; cf. 50, 29. Original: gessimus, which is purposely contrasted with gerendum and gestis, i.e. sin at night with prayer at night. For such a use of gerere cf. peccata vestra quae gessistis, Deut. 9, 18.

14. pandimus (pandere, open; cf. 73, 18), lay open, confess, acknowledge.

IS. preces gementes. Preces is accusative and gementes nominative. Cf. 8, 6; 11, 28; 13, 10 etc. for prayers and tears.

Mens ecce torpet impia 10 Quam culpa mordet noxia;

Obscura gestit tollere
Et te, redemptor, quaerere.

Repelle tu caliginem

Intrinsecus quam maxime,

15 Ut in beato gaudeat

Se collocari lumine.

motionless in its wickedness and the grip of guilty sin holds it fast. Yet its desire is to put away the works of darkness and to seek You, its Redeemer. Dispel completely the inner darkness of our soul so that it may rejoice to find itself in the light of happiness.

Tu Trinitatis Unitas, Orbem potenter quae regis, Attende laudis canticum Quod excubantes psallimus.

5 Nam lectulo consurgimus
Noctis quieto tempore
Ut flagitemus omnium
A te medelam vulnerum,

Quo fraude quidquid daemonum
10 In noctibus deliquimus,
Abstergat illud caelitus
Tuae potestas gloriae,

Ne corpus astet sordidum
Nec torpor instet cordium,

15 Ne criminis contagio
Tepescat ardor spiritus.

Ob hoc, redemptor, quaesumus, Reple tuo nos lumine, Per quod dierum circulis 20 Nullis ruamus actibus.

Hymn 7 Friday Matins

Lord God, one and three, all-powerful ruler of the world, receive the hymn of praise that we sing as we keep watch. For we have risen from our beds during the silence of the night to ask You earnestly to heal the wounds our sins have caused so that the might of Your heavenly glory may wash away whatever sin may have befallen us at night through the craft of evil spirits. Thus our body will not be defiled from sin nor sluggishness of soul be sin's immediate result; thus our soul's eagerness will not grow

colder under sin's evil influence. Wherefore we ask You, Redeemer, fill us with Your light so that no actions of ours may cause us to fall.

10. mordet. Besides meaning to bite, mordere may mean to bite into, take fast hold of and also to sting, pain. Interpretations of mordet in this line vary.

II. gestit, is eager, yearns, desires.

jective; dispel the inner darkness (of our soul). 15. gaudeat sc. mens.

16. se collocari, to establish oneself, live permanently in. In such cases the pronoun is often

Author. Unknown. Same conjectures as for 5.

3. Attende; usually followed by the dative or by a preposition. Here, as occasionally in the Vulgate, the accusative is used.

4. excubantes, keeping watch; cf. vigilemus, 1, 1. 10. Noctibus: the plural in such cases denotes that no particular night (or day, diebus) is meant.

II. Caelitus, an adverb, used almost as an adjective; cf. 6, 14.

13. astet, originally adsit; both= sit.

14. instet suggests that this is an immediate result of the preceding line; cf. perennis instet gloria, 21, 8.

15. contagio (contagium, a touching, contact, infection, contamination etc. Cf. arcens mali contagium, 83, 7 and diabolica vitare contagia, collect Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost.

17. Ob hoc. W suggested that 17-20 are an addition to this hymn (cf. intro. to 4), and certainly the Ob hoc is abrupt. The first four verses are addressed to Trinitatis Unitas, but this one to the Redemptor.

19. per quod, sc. lumen; i.e. if we are helped by this light.

20. nullis ... actibus, no actions of ours may cause us to fall, W. An intransitive followed by an ablative is classical. The sense is that of John 11, 9-10.