AETERNE RERUM CONDITOR

«AETERNE RERUM CONDITOR». - A hymn of the Roman Breviary for Sunday Lauds from the octave of the Epiphany to the 1st Sunday of Lent, and from the 1st Sunday of October to Advent. It is certainly by St Ambrogio, and echoes the ideas set forth in his Hexaemeron (V, 24). St Agostino quotes several verses of it in his Retractationes (I, 21); in the Milanese manuscripts it bears the title: ad galli cantum. After the praise of God, whose wisdom has alternated day with night in order to relieve the burden of weariness (stanza 1), the author, inspired by the cock’s morning song, makes it the theme of this splendid and unrivalled hymn. At the cock’s crow, the fearful helmsman is reassured, the storms are calmed, hope returns to all, sufferings are alleviated, and wanderers and thieves withdraw into hiding. Peter himself, at the cock’s crow, came to himself and wept for his sins (stanzas 2-6). Men too, therefore, must rise at the cock’s crow, which is like Christ’s summons: that is, they must hasten and not delay the work of their own salvation. The hymn ends with a moving prayer: may Christ call sinners back to the fold and shed the fullness of his light of grace upon all souls (7-8).