Veni Creator Spiritus


Veni Creator Spiritus is a hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Gregorian Chant. It has been translated into several languages, often as a hymn for Pentecost.

Liturgical use

As an invocation of the Holy Spirit, it is sung in the Catholic Church during liturgical celebrations on the feast of Pentecost. It is also sung at occasions such as the entrance of Cardinals to the Sistine Chapel when they elect a new pope, as well as at the consecration of bishops, the ordination of priests, when celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation, the dedication of churches, the celebration of synods or councils, coronations, the profession of members of religious institutes, and other similar solemn events. There are also Catholic traditions of singing the hymn on New Year's Day for plenary indulgence.
The hymn is also widely used in the Anglican Communion and appears, for example, in the Ordering of Priests and in the Consecration of Bishops in the Book of Common Prayer, 1662. It has been translated into several languages; one English example is "Creator Spirit! by whose aid", written 1690 by John Dryden and published in The Church Hymn Book 1872 ; one of the earlier is the 1627 version "Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire" by Bishop John Cosin. Martin Luther used it as the basis for his chorale for Pentecost "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist", first published in 1524.

Text

Notable English translations

Since the English Reformation in the 16th century, there have been more than fifty English language translations and paraphrases of Veni Creator Spiritus. The version attributed to Archbishop Cranmer, his sole venture into English verse, first appeared in the Prayer Book Ordinal of 1550. It was the only metrical hymn included in the Edwardian liturgy. In 1561 John Day included it after the psalms in his incomplete metrical psalter of that year. From 1562 onwards, in The Whole Booke of Psalmes, Day printed Cranmer’s version at the start of the metrical paraphrases. In terms of concision and accuracy, Cranmer compares poorly with Luther. Cranmer’s sixth stanza, which mentions the Last Judgement and religious strife within Christendom, was a new addition, with no parallel in the Latin original or in Luther's version;
The version included in the 1662 revision of the Book of Common Prayer compresses the content of the original seven verses to four, but retained the Latin title. It was written by Bishop John Cosin for the coronation of King Charles I of Great Britain in 1625. The same words have been used at every coronation since, and is sung by the choir after the singing of the Creed, while the sovereign is dressed in a white alb and seated in the Coronation Chair, prior to the Anointing. The first verse is:
This is also the version found in the Anglo-Catholic devotional manual Saint Augustine's Prayer Book as part of the Novena to The Holy Ghost.
Another well-known version by the poet John Dryden was first published in his 1693 work, Examen Poeticum. It may be sung to the tune "Melita" by John Bacchus Dykes, and excerpts of the Dryden text have been set to the German hymn tune "Lasst uns erfreuen". Dryden's first verse is:

German paraphrases

wrote a paraphrase in German, "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist" as a Lutheran hymn for Pentecost, first published in 1524, with a melody derived from the chant of the Latin hymn. It appears in the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 126.
A rhymed German translation or paraphrase, "Komm, Heiliger Geist, der Leben schafft", was written by Friedrich Dörr to a melody close to the Gregorian melody, published in 1972. It became part of the common German Catholic hymnal Gotteslob in 1975, and of its second edition in 2013, as GL 342 in the section "Pfingsten – Heiliger Geist".

Musical settings