DIVINUM OFFICIUM Hymn

Hymnus: Placare, Christe, servulis

All Saints - Lauds Hymn

The hymn 'Placare, Christe, servulis' is a comprehensive intercession invoking the entire communion of saints. Opening with Mary ('Patrona Virgo'), it proceeds through the nine choirs of angels, the apostles and prophets ('apud severum Judicem'), the martyrs (purpurati - purple-robed from blood), the confessors (candidati - white from innocence), the virgins, and the desert hermits. The petition 'Vocate nos in patriam' (call us to our homeland) expresses the exile motif: earth is peregrinatio, heaven is patria. The penultimate stanza's prayer against 'gentem perfidam' (the faithless nation) reflects the medieval context of Christendom threatened by external enemies, but applies spiritually to all who assault the Church. The hymn's comprehensiveness makes it a litany in verse form - every category of holiness is invoked.

LATINE
Placare, Christe, servulis, / Quibus Patris clementiam / Tuae ad tribunal gratiae / Patrona Virgo postulat. // Et vos, beata per novem / Distincta gyros agmina, / Antiqua cum praesentibus, / Futura damna pellite. // Apostoli cum Vatibus, / Apud severum Judicem, / Veris reorum fletibus / Exposcite indulgentiam. // Vos purpurati Martyres, / Vos candidati praemio / Confessionis, exsules / Vocate nos in patriam. // Chorea casta Virginum, / Et quos eremus incolas / Transmisit astris, caelitum / Locate nos in sedibus. // Auferte gentem perfidam / Credentium de finibus, / Ut unus omnes unicum / Ovile nos Pastor regat. // Deo Patri sit gloria, / Natoque Patris unico, / Sancto simul Paraclito, / In sempiterna saecula. Amen.
ENGLISH
O Christ, Thy guilty people spare! / Lo, kneeling at Thy gracious throne, / Thy Virgin Mother pours her prayer, / Imploring pardon for her own. // Ye Angels, happy evermore! / Who in your circles nine ascend, / As ye have guarded us before, / So still from harm our steps defend. // Ye Prophets and Apostles high! / Behold our penitential tears; / And plead for us when death is nigh, / And our all-searching Judge appears. // Ye Martyrs all! a purple band, / And Confessors, a white-robed train; / Oh, call us to our native land, / From this our exile, back again. // And ye, O choirs of Virgins chaste! / Receive us to your seats on high; / With hermits whom the desert waste / Sent up of old into the sky. // Drive far away our ancient foe, / And grant us peace from every harm; / That in the paths of faith we go, / Secured by Love's Almighty arm. // All honour, laud, and glory be, / O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee; / All glory, as is ever meet, / To Father and to Paraclete. Amen.
NOTA
FONS
Breviarium Romanum (1962)
USUS
All Saints - Lauds Hymn
HORA
Lauds
GENVS
Hymn