VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. - Hymn of Vespers and of Terce in the Office of Pentecost. By an unknown author of the end of the 9th century, it is already found in codices of the end of the 10th century and appears in the liturgy in 1049 when Leo IX intoned it at the Council of Reims. It is one of the most common hymns of the Church and is always sung at the beginning of solemn sacred actions.

In the first three stanzas the Holy Spirit is invoked with the titles attributed to him by Scripture; with the fourth a deprecatory form begins, with which light is asked for the understanding, ardor for the heart, strength for the will, fidelity to the Grace of the Lord. It closes with the petition to believe always in him, the Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: S. G. Piment, Les hymnes du Brév. rom., III, Paris 1884, pp. 125-43; J. Henry, The hym. v. P. C. S., in Americ. Eccles. Rev., 3 (1897), pp. 573-96; A. Wilmart, L'hymne et la séquence du St. Esprit, in La vie et les arts liturg., 2 (1914), pp. 392-98 (reproduced in Auteurs spirituels et textes déviés du m. d. latin, Paris 1932, pp. 37-45); A. Mitra, Gli inni del Brev. rom., Naples 1947, pp. 128-30.

Silverio Mattei

@incollection{ec12_veni_creator_spiritus, author = {Mattei, Silverio}, title = {Veni Creator Spiritus}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1230}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/veni-creator-spiritus} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry