Veni Sancte Spiritus
Come, Holy Ghost (the Golden Sequence)
The Golden Sequence, the Church's Pentecost sequence imploring the light and the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Ghost.
Veni, Sancte Spiritus,
et emitte caelitus
lucis tuae radium.
Veni, pater pauperum,
veni, dator munerum,
veni, lumen cordium.
Consolator optime,
dulcis hospes animae,
dulce refrigerium.
In labore requies,
in aestu temperies,
in fletu solatium.
O lux beatissima,
reple cordis intima
tuorum fidelium.
Sine tuo numine,
nihil est in homine,
nihil est innoxium.
Lava quod est sordidum,
riga quod est aridum,
sana quod est saucium.
Flecte quod est rigidum,
fove quod est frigidum,
rege quod est devium.
Da tuis fidelibus,
in te confidentibus,
sacrum septenarium.
Da virtutis meritum,
da salutis exitum,
da perenne gaudium.
Amen. Alleluia.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from Thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!
Thou of comforters the best;
Thou the soul's most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labour, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of Thine,
And our inmost being fill!
Where Thou art not, man hath nought,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour Thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess Thee, evermore
In Thy sevenfold gifts descend;
Give them virtue's sure reward;
Give them Thy salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.
Amen. Alleluia.
Translation source: fisheaters.com/prayers.html
About this prayer
Veni Sancte Spiritus, called the Golden Sequence for its surpassing beauty, is the sequence sung at Mass on Pentecost and through its octave, between the Epistle and the Gospel. It is commonly ascribed to the thirteenth century and to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, though some have named Pope Innocent III. In ten brief stanzas it implores the Holy Ghost to come down from heaven as the Father of the poor, the best of comforters, the sweet guest of the soul, and to shed within His faithful a ray of His divine light.
Unlike the Veni Creator, which calls upon the Spirit as Creator at the great public acts of the Church, this hymn is a tender and personal plea for His indwelling: rest in labour, coolness in the heat, solace in tears, the washing of what is soiled, the watering of what is dry, the healing of what is wounded. At the last it begs the sevenfold gifts, the reward of virtue, and the joy that never ends. It is one of only a handful of sequences that the traditional Roman Missal preserves.