«AETERNE RERUM CONDITOR». — Hymn of the Roman Breviary for Lauds on Sundays from the Octave of Epiphany to the First Sunday of Lent and from the First Sunday of October to Advent. It is certainly by St. Ambrose and echoes the thoughts he expounded in his Hexaemeron (V, 24). St. Augustine quotes some of its verses in his Retractationes (I, 21); in Milanese manuscripts it bears the title: ad galli cantum. After the praise of God, whose wisdom has alternated day and night to alleviate the burden of weariness (stanza 1), the author, inspired by the morning crowing of the cock, makes it the theme of this splendid and unrivalled year. At the cock’s crow, the fearful helmsman is reassured, the storms abate, hope returns to all, pains are mitigated, wanderers and thieves take to their hiding places. Even Peter, at the cock’s crow, came to himself and wept for his sins (stanzas 2–6). Men too must therefore rise at the cock’s crow, which is like Christ’s call, swift and without delay, to the work of their salvation. The hymn ends with a moving prayer: may Christ bring back sinners to the fold and irradiate the fullness of His light of grace in all souls (stanzas 7–8).
AETERNE RERUM CONDITOR
BIBL.: G. M. Dreves and B. Blume, Analecta hymnica, 50 (1907), p. 111; S. G. Pimont, Les Hymnes du Bréviaire romain, I, Paris 1874, pp. 48–65; L. Venturi, Gli Inni della Chiesa tradotti e commentati, 3rd ed., Florence 1880, pp. 54–61; K. Kastner, Praktischer Brevior-Kommentar, I, Breslau 1924, p. 16; A. Mirra, Gli Inni del Breviario romano per i Licei filosofici e per il clero, Naples 1947, pp. 55–57.