Nunc Sancte nobis Spiritus

Come, Holy Ghost, who ever One

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Nunc Sancte nobis Spiritus,
Unum Patri cum Filio,
Dignare promptus ingeri
Nostro refusus pectori.
Os, lingua, mens, sensus, vigor
Confessionem personent,
Flammescat igne caritas,
Accendat ardor proximos.
Præsta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice,
Cum Spiritu Paraclito
Regnans per omne sæculum.

Come, Holy Ghost, who ever One
Art with the Father and the Son,
It is the hour, our souls possess
With Thy full flood of holiness.
Let flesh and heart and lips and mind
Sound forth our witness to mankind;
And love light up our mortal frame,
Till others catch the living flame.
Grant this, O Father, ever One
With Christ, Thy sole-begotten Son,
And Holy Ghost, whom all adore,
Reigning and blest forevermore.

Author: Possibly by St. Ambrose (340-397). Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation By Cardinal Newman. There are about twenty translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Terce daily throughout the year. In this hymn we ask the Holy Spirit to take possession of our hearts and inflame them with the fire of divine love. It is appropriate as a hymn for Terce, the Third Hour, for it was at that hour (9:00 A. M.) on Pentecost Day, that the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles (Acts 2, 15). Read the article on Terce in the Cath. Encycl.

“Deign now, O Holy Spirit, who art One with the Father and the Son, to come to us without delay, and be diffused in our hearts.” Unum: The neuter is here used substantively and signifies unity or sameness of nature and substance. It is so used in the Vulgate: Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus; et hi tres unum sunt. (I John 5, 7). Ego et Pater unum sumus (John 10, 30). Unum Patri= unum cum Patre; the dative here expresses affinity, relationship, etc., as do such adjectives as affinis, similis, par, and impar. Dignare, imper. of dignor. Ingeri, to be infused. Refusus=diffusus, diffused; refusus is by prolepsis used for refundi, as the Holy Spirit must first come to the soul before He can be diffused therein. This stanza might be paraphrased:—O Sancte Spiritus, qui es unum (una substantia) cum Patre et Filio, dignare nunc promptus ingeri nobis, et refundi nostro pectori.
“May mouth, tongue, mind, sense, and strength proclaim Thy praise; may our charity in its fervor glow brightly, and may the flame thereof enkindle the hearts of our neighbors.”
“Grant this, O most loving Father, and Thou, only-begotten Son, equal to the Father, who reignest eternally with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter."