«NOX ATRA RERUM CONTEGIT». Hymn of Matins on Thursday, of unknown authorship.
Night, image of sin, veils with its shadow and the colors of the earth, and the aspect of things disappears or is transformed: so too in the world of the spirit, amid the dense shadows of sin, the soul is lost and all the beauty of creation fades, the lovableness of God is eclipsed, and the value 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, Paris 1874, pp. 218-23; C. Albin, La poésie du Bréviaire, Lyon n.d., pp. 52-54; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Bréviaire romano, Naples 1948, p. 70.