Auctor beate sæculi

O Christ, the world’s Creator bright

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Auctor beate sæculi,
Christe Redemptor omnium:
Lumen Patris de lumine,
Deusque verus de Deo.
Amor coegit te tuus
Mortale corpus sumere,
Ut novus Adam redderes,
Quod vetus ille abstulerat.
Ille amor almus artifex
Terræ marisque, et siderum,
Errata patrum miserans,
Et nostra rumpens vincula.
Non corde discedat tuo
Vis illa amoris inclyti:
Hoc fonte gentes hauriant
Remissionis gratiam.
Percussum ad hoc est lancea,
Passumque ad hoc est vulnera:
Ut nos lavaret sordibus,
Unda fluente, et sanguine.
Decus Parenti, et Filio,
Sanctoque sit Spiritui,
Quibus potestas, gloria
Regnumque in omne est sæculum.

O Christ, the world’s Creator bright,
Who didst mankind from sin redeem,
Light from the Father’s glorious Light,
True God of God, in bliss supreme.
Thy love compelled Thee to assume
A mortal body, man to save;
Reversing the old Adam’s doom;
Our ransom the New Adam gave.
That love which gloriously framed all—
The earth, the stars, and wondrous sea—
Took pity on our parents’ fall,
Broke all our bonds and set us free.
O Saviour, let Thy potent love
Flow ever from Thy bounteous Heart;
To nations that pure fount above
The grace of pardon will impart.
His Heart for this was opened wide,
And wounded by the soldier’s spear,
That freely from His sacred side
Might flow the streams our souls to clear.
Glory to Father and to Son,
And to the Holy Ghost the same,
To whom all power, when time is done,
And endless rule, in endless fame.

Author: Unknown, 18^th cent. Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by Father Husenbeth. There are eight translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Vespers. Of the five hymns given here in honor of the Sacred Heart, the Annus Sanctus contains two translations of Nos. 82, 83, 84, and one each of Nos. 85 and 86. These hymns are evidently the work of the same author. “Their play of fancy and of imagination, their rhetorical finish, their condensed phraseology, give clear intimations of a skill which has profited by the models constructed by St. Ambrose. They abound, too, in Biblical allusions, every stanza recalling some type, or figure, or prophecy, of fulfilment.” (Msgr. Henry, in his Eucharistica, p. 235).

“O Blessed Creator of the world, Christ, the Redeemer of all, Light of the Father’s Light, and true God of God.” The words Lumen de lumine, Deus verus de Deo (vero) are from the Nicene Creed. They express the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Word, the Creator of all things (John 1, 1-3).
“Thy love constrained Thee to assume a mortal body, that the New Adam might restore what the old Adam had take away.” For the parallel between Christ and Adam, see Rom. 5, 12-21.
“That love, the gracious builder of the earth and sea and stars, took pity on the sins of our fathers, and broke our chains.” Amor and artifex are in apposition. Patrum, the just of the Old Law.
“May the power of Thy wondrous love not depart from Thy Heart: let the nations draw from that fount the grace of pardon.”
“For this It was pierced with a lance, for this It suffered wounds, that It might cleanse use from our sins by the issuing forth of Water and Blood.” Cor is the subject, from the preceding stanza. Ad hoc, for this purpose.
“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, to whom be power and glory and kingdom forever and ever.”