Review of the Hymn for Terce: Joseph Connelly, Hymns of the Roman Liturgy

Nunc sancte nobis Spiritus,
Unum Patri cum Filio,
Dignare promptus ingeri
Nostro refusus pectori.

Os, lingua, mens, sensus, vigor
Confessionem personent;
Flammescat igne caritas,
Accendat ardor proximos.

Holy Spirit, one with the Father and the Son,

deign at this hour to come down on us without

delay and pour out Your graces over our soul.

Let mouth, tongue, soul, thought and strength

make Your praise resound. Let our love be set

aflame by the fire of Your love and its heat in

turn enkindle love in our neighbors.

I. Nunc, i.e. at the hour when the Holy Ghost
came on the first Pentecost.

2. unum Patri, one (in essence) with the Father and
the Son. Patri; the dative expressing relationship, as it

does after affinis, similis.

3. promptus, without delay; ingeri, practically
equivalent to infundi.

4. refusus; a participle, but expressing the result of
ingeri, namely the gradual working of the Spirit
through us and 'taking possession' of our whole
being, as explained in the next line.

Effundere is the scriptural word for the coming of
the Spirit, Acts. 2, 33 and 10, 45; diffundere is the word
used in Romans 5, 5 (cf note on line 7) for the
charity of God being poured over our souls. Re-
fundere here is the equivalent of diffundere, but also
hinting at the sobria ebrietas which results; cf. 11, 22
and 12, 24.

5. Os ... vigor. Mouth, tongue, soul, thought and
strength. The line. refers to the effects of the first
Pentecost and then to those desired by the singers-
Os, lingua being the external signs and results, mens,

sensus the complete transformation of soul and mind,
and vigor the zeal of the apostolate. It is the result of
refusus, just as the ringing announcement of salvation
(personent) by the Apostles followed on the coming
of the Spirit.

6. confessionem, declaration of faith or thanks, cf
5, 7, note; thus the Apostles were loquentes ...
magnalia Dei, Acts 2, II. For the accusative after
sonare and its compounds, c£ 11, 31 and 90, 12-the
former certainly and the latter almost certainly by
Ambrose.

7. igne; cf. linguae tamquam ignis, Acts 2, 3; fons
vivus, ignis, caritas, 64, 7. Caritas: cf Caritas Dei
diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui
datus est nobis, Rom. 5, 5.

8.ardor, in good sense; c£ 3, 6, note.
'And love light up our mortal frame

Till others catch the living flame' (Newman).