“DUM, NOCTE PULSA, LUCIFER.” – Hymn of Lauds in the Office of St Venantius the Martyr, composed by Cardinal Bona and inserted into the Breviary by Clement X.
As the dawn heralds the coming day, so the martyrdom of the young Camerino native shed the light of the Spirit upon his fellow citizens. His blood washed away their sins and became the seed of new Christians.
The hymn forms part of the two others appointed for the same feast, and these are certainly by the same author; yet it stands apart from them by a loftier inspiration and a more robust form.
BIBL.: G. Belli, Gli inni del Breviario, Roma 1856, p. 258; V. Terreno, Gli inni dell’Ufficio divino, Mondovì 1932, p. 208; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Napoli 1947, p. 212. Silverio Mattei