Catholic CornucopiadCheney

Tu, Trinitatis Unitas

O Three in One, and One in Three

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

  1. Tu, Trinitatis Unitas, Orbem potenter quæ regis, Attende laudis canticum Quod excubantes psallimus.
  2. Nam lectulo consurgimus Noctis quieto tempore, Ut flagitemus omnium A te medelam vulnerum.
  3. Quo fraude quidquid dæmonum In noctibus deliquimus, Abstergat illud cœlitus Tuæ potestas gloryæ.
  4. Ne corpus adstet sordidum, Nec torpor instet cordium, Ne criminis contagio Tepescat ardor spiritus.
  5. Ob hoc, Redemptor, quæsumus, Reple tuo nos lumine, Per quod dierum circulis Nullis ruamus actibus.
  6. Præsta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Parælito Regnans per omne sæculum.
  1. O Three in One, and One in Three, Who rulest all things mightily: Bow down to hear the songs of praise Which, freed from bonds of sleep, we raise.
  2. While lingers yet the peace of night, We rouse us from our slumbers light: That might of instant prayer may win The healing balm for wounds of sin.
  3. If, by the wiles of Satan caught, This night-time we have sinned in aught, That sin Thy glorious power to-day, From heaven descending, cleanse away.
  4. Let naught impure our bodies stain, No laggard sloth our souls detain, No taint of sin our spirits know, To chill the fervor of their glow.
  5. Wherefore, Redeemer, grant that we Fulfilled with Thine own light may be: That, in our course, from day to day, By no misdeed we fall away.
  6. Grant this, O Father ever One With Christ, Thy sole-begotten Son, And Holy Ghost, whom all adore, Reigning and blest forevermore.
Author: Ascribed to Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604). Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by G. H. Palmer and J. W. Chadwick. There are thirteen translations.
  1. “Thou Unity in Trinity, Thou who dost mightily rule the world, hearken to the canticle of praise, which we, risen from sleep, sing.”
  2. “For we rise from our beds in the quiet time of the night, that we may ask of Thee a remedy for all our wounds.”
  3. “That whatever, by the deception of the evil spirits, we have failed in during the night, the same may the power of Thy glory from heaven blot out.” Quo, conj., that. Cœlitus, adv., from heaven.
  4. “Lest the body become defiled and torpor of heart threaten, and the fervor of the soul be chilled by the touch of sin.”
  5. “We therefore beseech Thee, O Redeemer, fill us with Thy light, that in the lapse of days, we may fail in none of our actions.”
Copyright Benziger Brothers, 1922. Online Edition Copyright David M. Cheney, 2019.