« NOX ATRA RERUM CONTEGIT ». – Hymn of Matins for Thursday, by an unknown author.
Night, the image of sin, veils the colors of the earth with its shadow, and the appearance of things disappears or is transformed: so, in the world of the spirit, amid the dense darkness of sin, the soul is lost and all the beauty of creation vanishes, the loveliness of God is eclipsed, and the worth of good works is lost. It is then that vice presents itself under an alluring aspect, and sin seduces.
BIBL.: S. G. Pimont, Les hymnes du Bréviaire romain, I, Parigi 1874, pp. 218-23; C. Albin, La poésie du Bréviaire, Lione s. a., pp. 52-54; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Napoli 1948, p. 70. Silverio Mattei