Daily Advent Evening Prayer: First Thursday

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

For many, Advent would not be Advent if introduced by any hymn other than Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars of Night). It is well-nigh impossible for even the best of poets to find a formula that really corresponds to the first line of the Latin text. The Latin "sidus" ["siderum"] means more than "star." It includes the stars, of course, but also sun and moon and planets and all the heavenly constellations and comets and meteors. These are the cosmic elements that will appear in later stanzas of the hymn. For the ancients, these mysterious heavenly bodies that moved about and that had their cycles of waxing and waning and that in some unfathomable way could affect the course of human destiny-these heavenly bodies were perhaps living beings.

The opening line of this Advent hymn should make us think of the great array of all the powerful cosmic bodies that figure in those eschatological texts of scripture where the whole of the created universe responds to the presence of its God. The point of reference is not some lovely nightfall scene studded with gently glimmering stars, but rather that Great Day when "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken" (Matthew 24:29). Indeed, this Advent hymn, if we really look at it, is something of a "Dies irae" in a less strident mode.

In stanza three, the world's evening draws to a close. We recognize in the last three lines of this stanza the allusion to verse six of Psalm 19, the verse that occurs so frequently in the Christmastide cycle: "And he, as a bridegroom coming forth from the bridal chamber, rejoices as a giant to run his course." So just when the world seems doomed to certain extinction, the Sun comes forth in a blaze of light and begins its paschal journey across the whole of human life and experience... (C. Waddell in An Advent Sourcebook, LTP 1988)


Conditor alme siderum,
Aeterna lux credentium,
Christe, redemptor omnium,
Exaudi preces supplicum.

Creator of the stars of night,
Your people's everlasting light,
O Christ, Redeemer of us all,
We pray you hear us when we call.

Qui condolens interitu
Mortis perire saeculum,
Salvasti mundum languidum,
Donans reis remedium.

In sorrow that the ancient curse
Should doom to death a universe,
You came, O Savior, to set free
Your own in glorious liberty.

Vergente mundi vespere,
Uti sponsus de thalamo,
Egressus honestissima
Virginis matris clausula.

Come, Sun and Savior, to embrace
Our gloomy world, its wear race,
As groom to bride, as bride to groom:
The wedding chamber, Mary's womb.

Cuius forti potentiae
Genu curvantur omnia;
Caelestia, terrestria
Nutu fatentur subdita.

At your great Name, O Jesus, now
All knees must bend, all heart must bow;
All things on earth with one accord,
Like those in heav'n, shall call your Lord.

Te deprecamur, hagie,
Venture iudex saeculi,
Conserva nos in tempore
Hostis a telo perfidi.

Come in your holy night, we pray;
Redeem us for eternal day;
Defend us while we dwell below,
From all assaults of our dread foe.

Laus, honor, virtus, gloria,
Deo Patri et Filio
Sancto simul Paraclito,
In sempiterna saecula.

To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Praise, honor, might, and glory be
From age to age eternally.

Creator of the universe of planets and stars,
you are my Creator, too:
I am the work of your hands.
As I need the sun by day and the moon by night,
so I need your light for wamth in my soul
and to show me the path
along which you guide my steps...

Keep me from the darkness of sin
and the shadows of doubt and fear...
Shine bright in my mind and heart
that I might see you when you draw near,
and know the peace of your face...

Lord, I pray you hear me
when I call on your holy name...

-ConcordPastor