Come, O Creator Spirit Blest / Ve­ni Cre­at­or Spir­it­us

Make Our Hearts O’erflow With Love

Come, O Creator Spirit Blest is a translation of the 9th century Latin Hymn, Ve­ni Cre­at­or Spir­it­us (see 2nd video) at­trib­ut­ed to Rha­ban­us Mau­rus (766-856). A Benedictine monk and theologian, he eventually became the Archbishop of Mainz and is considered one of the most important writers of the Carolingian Age. In 1849, the ancient Latin text was translated into English by Fr. Edward Caswall (1814-1878). It was included in his seminal work, the Lyra Ca­thol­i­ca: his collected translations of hymns from the Roman Breviary and Missal. The tune most associated with it is Lambillotte, written by the Belgium Jesuit, Fr. Louis Lambillotte (1797-1855). He was a composer and palaeographer of Church music. His efforts in palaeography involved the study, restoration, and standardizing of Gregorian Chant. Another translation of Ve­ni Cre­at­or Spir­it­us also used in the Liturgy of the Hours is Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, Come.


Tune: Lambillotte

COME, O CREATOR SPIRIT BLEST by Edward Caswall, 1849 (Public Domain)

1. Come, O Creator Spirit blest,
And in our souls take up Thy rest;
Come, with Thy grace and heavenly aid,
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

2. Great Comforter, to Thee we cry;
O highest gift of God most high,
O Fount of life, O Fire of love,
And sweet anointing from above!

3. The sacred sevenfold grace is Thine,
Dread finger of the hand divine;
The promise of the Father Thou,
Who dost the tongue with power endow.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. O may Thy grace on us bestow
The Father and the Son to know,
And evermore to hold confessed
Thyself of each the Spirit blest.

Gregorian Chant

VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS - Rabanus Maurus, 9th century (Public Domain)

1. Veni, creator Spiritus
mentes tuorum visita,
imple superna gratia,
quae tu creasti pectora.

2. Qui diceris Paraclitus,
altissimi donum Dei,
fons vivus, ignis,
caritas et spiritalis unctio.

3. Tu septiformis munere,
digitus paternae dexterae
tu rite promissum
Patris sermone ditans guttura.

4. Accende lumen sensibus,
infunde amorem cordibus,
infirma nostri corporis,
virtute firmans perpeti. 

5. Hostem repellas longius
pacemque dones protinus;
ductore sic te praevio
vitemus omne noxium.

6. Per te sciamus da Patrem
noscamus atque Filium,
te utriusque Spiritum
credamus omni tempore.

7. Deo Patri sit gloria,
et Filio qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula. Amen.