Nunc Sancte nobis Spiritus

Nunc Sancte nobis Spiritus. Since the 9th-century New Hymnal (see ‘Medieval hymns and hymnals’*), this has been the ferial hymn for Tierce, the Third Hour; as such, it appears in most medieval hymn collections (cf. ‘Iam lucis orto sidere’* for Prime and ‘Rector potens, verax Deus’* for Sext). Its reference to the Holy Spirit is clearly appropriate to the ‘Third Hour’ (see Acts 2). It was ascribed to Ambrose of Milan* by Hincmar of Reims, but is now thought not to be by him (see Analecta Hymnica 50.19-20, where its authorship is described as ‘Dubius’), although it is in the Ambrosian iambic dimeter. It is found in Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus I. 50, in two verses with the customary...