Veni Creator Spiritus
Come, Holy Ghost, Creator
The Church's great hymn invoking the Holy Ghost, sung at Pentecost and at every solemn beginning of grace.
Veni, Creator Spiritus,
mentes tuorum visita,
imple superna gratia,
quae tu creasti pectora.
Qui diceris Paraclitus,
altissimi donum Dei,
fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
et spiritalis unctio.
Tu septiformis munere,
digitus paternae dexterae,
tu rite promissum Patris,
sermone ditans guttura.
Accende lumen sensibus,
infunde amorem cordibus,
infirma nostri corporis
virtute firmans perpeti.
Hostem repellas longius,
pacemque dones protinus;
ductore sic te praevio
vitemus omne noxium.
Per te sciamus da Patrem,
noscamus atque Filium,
teque utriusque Spiritum
credamus omni tempore.
Deo Patri sit gloria,
et Filio, qui a mortuis
surrexit, ac Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula. Amen.
Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
And in our hearts take up Thy rest;
Come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
O Comforter, to Thee we cry,
Thou heavenly gift of God most high,
Thou Fount of life, and Fire of love,
And sweet anointing from above.
Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts art known,
Thou finger of God's hand we own;
Thou, promise of the Father, Thou
Who dost the tongue with power imbue.
Kindle our senses from above,
And make our hearts o'erflow with love;
With patience firm and virtue high
The weakness of our flesh supply.
Far from us drive the foe we dread,
And grant us Thy true peace instead;
So shall we not, with Thee for guide,
Turn from the path of life aside.
Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
The Father and the Son to know,
And Thee, through endless times confessed,
Of both the eternal Spirit blest.
Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
With Thee, O Holy Comforter,
Henceforth by all in earth and heaven. Amen.
Translation source: www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Hymni/VeniCreator.html
About this prayer
Veni Creator Spiritus, "Come, Creator Spirit," is the Church's foremost hymn to the Holy Ghost, traditionally ascribed to Rabanus Maurus, the ninth-century monk and Archbishop of Mainz. In seven stanzas it calls upon the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity under the names Scripture and tradition give Him: the Paraclete or Comforter, the gift of God Most High, the living fount, the fire, the love, the spiritual anointing, and the finger of God's right hand bearing the sevenfold gifts.
Because it begs the Spirit to come and make all things new, the Church sings it at every great beginning and outpouring of grace: at Pentecost, at the conferring of Holy Orders and Confirmation, at the consecration of churches and the crowning of kings, at the opening of councils and conclaves, and at the start of the new year. A plenary indulgence has long been granted for its recitation on the first day of January and on the feast of Pentecost. Its closing stanza gives glory to the Father, to the Son who rose from the dead, and to the Holy Ghost.