Catholic CornucopiadCheney

Audi benigne Conditor

O kind Creator, bow Thine ear

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

  1. Audi benigne Conditor
    Nostras preces cum fletibus,
    In hoc sacro jejunio
    Fusas quadragenaria.
  2. Scrutator alme cordium,
    Infirma tu scis virium;
    Ad te reversis exhibe
    Remissionis gratiam.
  3. Multum quidem peccavimus,
    Sed parce confitentibus:
    Ad nominis laude tui
    Confer medelam languidis.
  4. Concede nostrum conteri
    Corpus per abstinentiam;
    Culpæ ut relinquant pabulum
    Jejuna corda criminum.
  5. Præsta beata Trinitas,
    Concede simplex Unitas:
    Ut fructuosa sint tuis
    Jejuniorum munera. Amen.
  1. O king Creator, bow Thine ear
    To mark the cry, to know the tear
    Before Thy throne of mercy spent
    In this Thy holy fast of Lent.
  2. Our hearts are open, Lord, to Thee:
    Thou knowest our infirmity;
    Pour out on all who seek Thy face
    Abundance of Thy pardoning grace.
  3. Our sins are many, this we know;
    Spare us, good Lord, Thy mercy show;
    And for the honor of Thy name
    Our fainting souls to life reclaim.
  4. Give us the self-control that springs
    From discipline of outward things,
    That fasting inward secretly
    The soul may purely dwell with Thee.
  5. We pray Thee, Holy Trinity,
    One God, unchanging Unity,
    That we from this our abstinence
    May reap the fruits of penitence.
Author: Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604) Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by T. A. Lacey. There are twenty-two translations, eight of which are in the Annus Sanctus. Liturgical Use: Vespers hymn on Sundays and week-days during Lent. Read the article on Lent, in the Cath. Encycl.

  1. “Hear, O loving Creator, our prayers poured forth with our tears, in this sacred forty-day fast.” Constr.: Audi preces cum fletibus fusas in hoc, etc.
  2. “Loving searcher of hearts, Thou knowest the weekness of our strength: grant us who have turned again to Thee, the grace of pardon.” Infirma (orum) virium = infirmas vires.
  3. “Much, indeed, have we sinned, but spare us confessing our misdeeds: for the glory of Thy Name, grant a remedy to the weak.”
  4. “Grant that through the abstinence our bodies may be brought into subjection, so that our hearts being free from sin may abandon the food of sin.” Jejuna, lit., fasting, not partaking of food; it is here followed by the genitive criminum.
  5. “Grant, O blessed Trinity and simple Unity, that the rewards of fasting may be profitable to Thy servants.”
Copyright Benziger Brothers, 1922. Online Edition Copyright David M. Cheney, 2019-2023.