''Rector Potens, Verax Deus'' is the name of the daily hymn for the midday office of

Sext Sext, or Sixth Hour, is a canonical hour of the Divine Office of almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is held around noon. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the sixth hour of the day after dawn. ...

in the

Roman Breviary The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notati ...

and in the

Benedictine Rite The Benedictine Rite is the particular form of Mass and Liturgy celebrated by the Benedictine Order, as based on the writings of St. Benedict on the topic. Mass The Benedictine Order never had a rite of its own celebrating Mass. Since the reform ...

The text of the hymn

The original version of the Hymn ended the third line with the verb 'instruis.' This was amended during the Renaissance to the more stylistic verb 'illuminas'

The purpose and meaning of the hymn

As a hymn for the midday office, the focus of the hymn is physically upon the midday sun. Metaphorically and allegorically the hymn goes from the heat of the sun, to the heat of argument, which the hymn asks God's assistance to avoid. In Christian tradition midday was considered the time when Eve was tempted by Satan and committed the first sin, and so this gives added force to the prayer of the hymn, asking God to protect against strife. The origins of the hymn are unknown. But the similarity of this hymn with the hymns for

Terce Terce is a canonical hour of the Divine Office. It consists mainly of psalms and is held around 9 a.m. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the third hour of the day after dawn. With Sext, None and Compline it belongs to the so-called "Little ...

( Nunc sancte nobis spiritus) and

None None may refer to: *Zero, the mathematical concept of the quantity "none" *Empty set, the mathematical concept of the collection of things represented by "none" *''none'', an indefinite pronoun in the English language Music * ''None'' (Meshuggah E ...

( Rerum Deus Tenax Vigor) means that it probably shares the same author. Baudot ("The Roman Breviary", London, 1909, 34) thinks the hymn is "probably" by

St. Ambrose Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promot ...

. However none of this set of three hymns are found in the oldest Benedictine collections of hymns, where Ambrose's other works are found. All three of these hymns are found in later Celtic collections. suggesting that they probably have a different author. (For discussion of authorship, see Rerum Deus Tenax Vigor).

English translations of the hymn

Music and chants for the hymn

The hymn has been set to many different tunes. The following links give examples:
Rector Potens Verax Deus (Ferial Tone)Rector Potens (Schola Hungarica)

Sources

References

{{reflist Latin-language Christian hymns