"Veni redemptor gentium" (Come, Redeemer of the nations) is a Latin

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

or Christmas hymn by

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 promo ...

of Milan in iambic tetrameter. The hymn is assigned to the Office of Readings for Advent, from December 17 through December 24, in the Liturgy of the Hours. John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore saw it as an Evening hymn for the period from Christmas to the eve of Epiphany.

History

The later hymn "

Veni Creator Spiritus "Veni Creator Spiritus" (Come, Creator Spirit) is a traditional Christian hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus, a ninth-century German monk, teacher, and archbishop. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Greg ...

" borrows two lines from the hymn (''Infirma nostri corporis — Virtute firmans perpeti''). "Veni redemptor gentium" was particularly popular in Germany where Martin Luther translated it into German as " Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," which then he, or possibly Johann Walter, set as a chorale, based on the original plainchant. Luther adapted the original chant tune separately for each of three other hymns: " Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich", "" and "". In the mid-nineteenth century, John Mason Neale translated "Veni redemptor gentium" into English as "Come, thou Redeemer of the earth". It is often sung to the tune "Puer nobis nascitur" by Michael Praetorius. In 1959, Dom Paul Benoit, OSB adapted the chant melody as the

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

"Christian Love", for use with the text "Where Charity and Love Prevail," Omer Westendorf's

common metre Common metre or common measure—abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a poetic metre consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot cons ...

translation of the Holy Thursday hymn " Ubi caritas."See
Christian Love
" Hymnary.org, accessed 2014-08-27.

Lyrics

The metrical English translation was made by J. M. Neale.

References

{{Authority control 4th century in music Latin-language Christian hymns Advent songs