« O NIMIS FELIX MERITIQUE CELSI ». — This is the third part of the hymn of the Office for the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, composed by Paolo Diacono, and it is sung at Lauds.
In the first two stanzas, it continues to enumerate the lofty merits of the Baptist; then the poet addresses him in devout prayer, asking that the Saint direct our steps and make smooth the way toward our heavenly homeland.
BIBL.: G. G. Belli, Gli inni del Breviario tradotti, Rome 1857, p. 272; C. Albin, La poëzie du Bréviaire romain, Lione n.d., pp. 286–89; V. Terreno, Gli inni dell'Ufficio divino, Mondovì 1932, pp. 216–18; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Naples 1947, p. 218. Silverio Mattei