Veni, Sancte Spiritus
Veni, Sancte Spiritus. Latin, Pope Innocent III (1161-1216), or (more probably) Archbishop Stephen Langton* (1150-1228).
This is the Sequence* used at Pentecost from the Middle Ages onwards, sometimes known as ‘The Golden Sequence’. It is widely regarded as ‘one of the masterpieces of Latin sacred poetry’ (JJ, p. 1212). It was written in ten 3-line stanzas, the first two lines of each stanza rhyming, the final line rhyming through the stanzas:
Veni, sancte Spiritus,
Et emitte coelitus
Lucis tuae radium.
Veni pater pauperum,
Veni, dator munerum,
Veni, lumen cordium.
This text is published in Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus II. 35, where it is attributed to Robert II, King of...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Veni, Sancte Spiritus."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 15 Feb. 2025.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/v/veni,-sancte-spiritus>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Veni, Sancte Spiritus."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 15, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/v/veni,-sancte-spiritus.