« LUX ECCE SURGIT AUREA ». — Hymn of the Thursday Lauds, composed by Prudenzio, consisting of stanzas 24–27 of the second hymn of the Cathemerinon.
From the spectacle of nature, the poet draws, with limpid inspiration, great moral lessons and lofty motives for spirituality. When the light rises to dispel the darkness, the blindness that for so long has kept man in the darkness of sin disappears. This light will purify and drive away evil. Let it therefore come into every soul, so that it may shine in its radiance, and so that all good actions may be accomplished in the fullness of the light.
BIBL.: Belli, p. 50; S. G. Pimont, Les hymnes du Bréviaire romain, I, Paris 1884, pp. 224–31; Chevalier, p. 58; Albin, pp. 55–57; F. Vanderstuyf, Les hymnes de l'Ordinaire du Bréviaire romain, Paris 1912, p. 94; Mirra, p. 71.
Silverio Mattei