Immense cœli Conditor

O Great Creator of the sky

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Immense cœli Conditor
Qui mixta ne confunderent,
Aquæ fluenta dividens,
Cœlum dedisti limitem.
Firmans locum cœlestibus,
Simulque terræ rivulis;
Ut unda flammas temperet,
Terræ solum ne dissipent.
Infunde nunc, piissime,
Donum perennis gratiæ:
Fraudis novæ ne casibus
Nos error atterat vetus.
Lucem fides adaugeat:
Sic luminis jubar ferat:
Hæc vana cuncta proterat:
Hanc falsa nulla comprimant.
Præsta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice,
Cum Spiritu Paraclito
Regnans per omne sæculum.

O Great Creator of the sky
Who wouldest not the flood on high
With earthly waters to confound,
But mad’st at the firmament their bound;
The floods above Thou didst ordain;
The floods below Thou did restrain:
That moisture might attemper heat,
Lest the parched earth should ruin meet.
Upon our souls, good Lord, bestow
Thy gift of grace in endless flow:
Lest some renewed deceit or wile
Of former sin should us beguile.
Let faith discover heav’nly light;
So shall its rays direct us right:
And let this faith each error chase,
And never give to falsehood place.
Grant this, O Father, ever One
With Christ, Thy sole-begotten Son,
And Holy Ghost, whom all adore,
Reigning and blest forevermore.

Author: Probably by Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604). Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by J. M. Neale. There are seventeen translations. Theme: The work of the second day—the creation of the firmament, which includes the whole space between the surface of the earth and the most distant stars. This work is thus narrated by Moses: Dixit quoque Deus: Fiat firmamentum in medio aquarum, et dividat aquas ab aquis. Et fecit Deus firmamentum, divisitque aquas quæ erant sub firmamento ab his, quæ erant super firmamentum. Et factum est ita. Vocavitque Deus firmamentum Cœlum: et factum est vespere et mane dies secundus (Gen. 1, 6-8).

“O great Creator of the heavens, Thou didst establish the sky as a boundary, dividing the floods of water, lest uniting they flow together.” Fluentum, i, a stream, flood. See the article on Firmament in the Cath. Encycl.
“Thou dost establish a place for the heavenly waters, and also for the streams on earth, that water might moderate the heat, lest it destroy the soil of the earth.”
“Pour forth now, most gracious Lord, the gift of Thy never-failing grace, lest by the misfortune of some new deception the old error should overwhelm us.” Vetus error, personified—our ancient enemy, the devil; or, former sins.
“Let faith increase the light, and thus produce an effulgence of light; may it trample under foot all vain things; may nothing false supplant it.” Adaugeat, the Original Text has inveniat; Neale translated the Original Text. Hæc, sc., fides.