ATHLETA CHRISTI NOBILIS

«ATHLETA CHRISTI NOBILIS». — Hymn of the Lauds for the feast of St. Venantius the Martyr, of unknown authorship. It was inserted into the Breviary in 1670 by Clement X, formerly Bishop of Camerino. It is entirely a narration of the legendary deeds of the Camerino martyr, told without a trace of poetry. The pagan idols are despised, Venantius is bound with harsh ropes and cast into a chasm; to quench the persecutors’ thirst he makes living water gush forth from a rock. The final stanza, before the concluding doxology, is a prayer to the martyr to obtain the living water of divine grace.