Jam lucis orto sidere

Now in the sun’s new dawning ray

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Jam lucis orto sidere
Deum precemur supplices,
Ut in diurnis actibus
Nos servet a nocentibus.
Linguam refrænans temperet,
Ne litis horror insonet:
Visum fovendo contegat,
Ne vanitates hauriat.
Sint pura cordis intima,
Absistat et vecordia:
Carnis terat superbiam
Potus cibique parcitas.
Ut cum dies abscesserit,
Noctemque sors reduxerit,
Mundi per abstinentiam
Ipsi canamus gloriam.
Deo Patri sit gloria,
Ejusque soli Filio,
Cum Spiritu Paraclito,
Nunc, et per omne sæculum.

Now in the sun’s new dawning ray,
Lowly of heart, our God we pray
That He from harm may keep us free
In all the deeds this day shall see.
May fear of Him our tongues restrain,
Lest strife unguarded speech should stain:
His favoring care our guardian be,
Lest our eyes feed on vanity.
May every heart be pure from sin,
And folly find no place therein:
Scant meed of food, excess denied,
Wear down in us the body’s pride.
That when the light of day is gone,
And night in course shall follow on,
We, free from cares the world affords,
May chant the praise that is our Lord’s.
All laud to God the Father be,
All praise, Eternal Son, to Thee:
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the holy Paraclete.

Author: Ambrosian, 5^th cent. Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation By Alan G. McDougall. There are about thirty translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Prime daily throughout the year. Read the article on Prime in the Cath. Encycl.

“The star of light being now risen, let us humbly beseech God, that in our daily actions He may keep us from all harm.” Lucis sidus=sol; Prime was said at sunrise.
“Bridling, may He restrain the tongue, lest the jarring discord of strife resound; may He lovingly veil our sight lest it drink in vanities.” Fovendo: “The ablative of the gerund and gerundive is used to express manner, means, cause, etc. In this use, the ablative of the gerund is, in later writers nearly, and in medieval writers entirely, equivalent to a present participle” (Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar, 507). Linguam: Qui enim vult vitam diligere, et dies videre bonos, coerceat linguam suam a malo, et labia ejus ne loquantur dolum (I Peter 3,10). For an exposition of the sins of the tongue, read the third chapter of St. James’ Epistle. Visum: Averte oculos meos, ne videant vanitatem (Ps. 118, 37).
“May the inmost recesses of the heart be pure, and may folly cease; may the sparing use of food and drink wear down the pride of the flesh.” Parcitas: In multis enim escis erit infirmitas . . . Propter crapulam multi obierunt; qui autem abstinens est, adjiciet vitam (Ecclus. 37, 33-34).
“That when the day has departed, and fate has brought back the night, still pure by virtue of abstinence, we may sing His glory.” Sors, fate, divine ordinance, Ipsi, dative, to Him.
“Glory be to God the Father, and to His only Son, together with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, both now and forever.”