Veni, Sancte Spíritus, et emítte cǽlitus lucis tuæ rádium. Veni, pater páuperum, veni, dator múnerum, veni, lumen córdium.
Consolátor óptime, dulcis hospes ánimæ, dulce refrigérium. In labóre réquies, in æstu tempéries, in fletu solátium.
O lux beatíssima, reple cordis íntima tuórum fidélium. Sine tuo númine, nihil est in hómine, nihil est innóxium.
Lava quod est sórdidum, riga quod est áridum, sana quod est sáucium. Flecte quod est rígidum, fove quod est frígidum, rege quod est dévium.
Da tuis fidélibus, in te confidéntibus, sacrum septenárium. Da virtútis méritum, da salútis éxitum, da perénne gáudium. Amen. Allelúia.
Come, Thou 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 labor, 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 naught, 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.
The Veni, Sancte Spiritus is the Sequence sung at the Mass of Pentecost, after the Alleluia and before the Gospel, when the Church keeps the birthday of her life in the Holy Spirit. So perfect is it in form and beauty that it has been called for centuries the Golden Sequence. It dates from the early thirteenth century and is ascribed either to Pope Innocent III or, more often, to Stephen Langton, the learned Archbishop of Canterbury.
Every line is a prayer to the Holy Spirit under a different tender title — "Father of the poor," "giver of gifts," "light of hearts," "the soul’s most welcome guest," "sweet refreshment." It confesses our utter dependence: "Where Thou art not, man hath naught, nothing good in deed or thought." And it rises to a series of perfectly balanced petitions — to wash what is soiled, water what is dry, heal what is wounded, bend what is rigid, warm what is cold, and guide what has gone astray. Few prayers so exactly name the needs of the human soul.
Its final petition asks for the sacrum septenarium, the "sevenfold gift" — the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord, from Isaiah 11:2) — and then, simply, "virtue’s reward, salvation’s end, and joy that never ends." When the Roman Missal was reformed after the Council of Trent, only a handful of the many medieval sequences were kept; the Veni Sancte Spiritus was one of them, retained for Pentecost as a treasure the Church would not lose.
Come, Thou 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 labor, 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 naught, 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.
Veni, Sancte Spíritus, et emítte cǽlitus lucis tuæ rádium.
Veni, pater páuperum, veni, dator múnerum, veni, lumen córdium.
Consolátor óptime, dulcis hospes ánimæ, dulce refrigérium.
In labóre réquies, in æstu tempéries, in fletu solátium.
O lux beatíssima, reple cordis íntima tuórum fidélium.
Sine tuo númine, nihil est in hómine, nihil est innóxium.
Lava quod est sórdidum, riga quod est áridum, sana quod est sáucium.
Flecte quod est rígidum, fove quod est frígidum, rege quod est dévium.
Da tuis fidélibus, in te confidéntibus, sacrum septenárium.
Da virtútis méritum, da salútis éxitum, da perénne gáudium. Amen. Allelúia.
Come, Thou 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 labor, 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 naught, 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.