O Lux beata cœlitum

O Highest Hope of mortals

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

O Lux beata cœlitum
Et summa spes mortalium,
Jesu, o cui domestica
Arrisit orto caritas.
Maria, dives gratia,
O sola quæ casto potes
Fovere Jesum pectore,
Cum lacte donans oscula.
Tuque ex vetustis patribus
Delecte custos Virginis,
Dulci patris quem nomine
Divina Proles invocat.
De stirpe Jesse nobili
Nati in salutem gentium,
Audite nos qui supplices
Vestras ad aras sistimus.
Dum sol redux ad vesperum
Rebus nitorem detrahit,
Nos hic manentes intimo
Ex corde vota fundimus.
Qua vestra sedes floruit
Virtutis omnis gratia,
Hanc detur in domesticis
Referre posse moribus.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui natis es de Virgine,
Cum Patre, et almo Spiritu,
In sempiterna sæcula.

O Highest Hope of mortals,
Blest Light of Saints above,
O Jesu, on whose boyhood
Home smiled with kindly love;
And thou whose bosom nursed Him,
O Mary, highly graced,
Whose breast gave milk to Jesus,
Whose arms thy God embraced;
And thou of all men chosen
To guard the Virgin’s fame,
To whom God’s Son refused not
A Father’s gracious name;
Born for the nation’s healing,
Of Jesse's lineage high,
Behold the suppliants kneeling,
O hear the sinners’ cry!
The sun returned to evening,
Dusks all the twilight air:
We, lingering here before you,
Pour out our heartfelt prayer.
Your home was a garden
Made glad with fairest flowers;
May life thus blossom sweetly
In every home of ours.
Jesus, to Thee be glory,
The Maiden-Mother’s Son,
With Father and with Spirit
While endless ages run.

Author: Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903). Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation from the Marquess of Bute’s Roman Breviary. There are three translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Vespers on the Feast of the Holy Family.

“O blessed Light of the Saints, and supreme hope of mortals, O Jesus, upon whose birth domestic affection smiled;” Cui . . . orto.
“O Mary, rich in grace, thou alone wast able to nourish Jesus at thy chaste breast, giving Him kisses with thy milk;”
“And thou, of the ancient fathers, the chosen guardian of the Virgin, whom the Divine Child did call by the sweet name of Father,”
“Both having sprung from the noble root of Jesse, for the salvation of mankind, hearken to us, your suppliants, who stand at your altars.” De stirpe Jesse: Et egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice ejus ascendet (Is. 11,1). Jesse was the father of David. Both Mary and Joseph were of the house of David.
“When the sun declining towards evening takes away from things their beauty, we remaining here pour forth our prayers from the bottom of our hearts.” Hic, viz., in the church.
“The grace of every virtue with which your home abounded, vouchsafe that we too may be able to reproduce the same in our home lives.” Constr.: Ut detur, nos hanc gratiam referre posse in moribus nostris domesticis.