The Conditor Alme Siderum

The Hymn for Evening Prayer in Advent until December 16th (inclusive)

Revised: November 25, 2016

The hymn Conditor Alme Siderum (Creator of the Stars of Night), by an unknown author, is of the Ambrosian (Milanese) school and from at least the 9th century.  The Liturgy of the Hours as revised by Pope Paul VI, consistent with the tradition, has assigned it to the season of Advent.  In the manuscripts, it is found in the Vatican, Benedictine, Carmelite, Cistercian, and Premonstratensian Offices.

The Conditor Alme Siderum, in iambic dimeter, is one of the hymns that was revised in 1632 by a commission under the direction of Pope Urban VIII, a Humanist pope, in order for the hymns to reflect the forms and meters of classical Latin rather than Christian Latin.  That is why some know this hymn as Creator Alme Siderum.  Only the canons of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the canons of Saint John Lateran, and the ancient religious orders retained the original version of the hymns.  The original version of this and the other hymns of the Office were restored to the Liturgy of the Hours under the direction of Pope Paul VI.

Remarkable in its poetry and direct in its expression, this is one of the hymns of the Liturgy of the Hours that the Church uses to introduce us to the mysteries of Christ as celebrated throughout the liturgical year.  As the days become shorter and the light of the sun diminishes, Christ is invoked as the Creator of the stars (Jn. 1:3 Omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est/all things were made through him and without him nothing was made) and the eternal light of those who believe—a theme which is also found in the hymn for Morning Prayer for Advent, the Vox Clara Ecce Intonat (Jn. 1: 9 Erat lux vera quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum/He was the true light who enlightens everyone who comes into the world).  Already this hymn anticipates the victory of light over darkness, which we will celebrate on Christmas Day as the Light of the World is born among us.  Nonetheless, the theme of Christ as Judge, which we find dominating the first part of Advent, is present as well.

The Conditor Alme Siderum binds together in a marvelous way the first and the final comings of Christ.  In its initial two verses, this hymn invokes the Lord as the redeemer of all, one who is saddened at the destruction of the world through sin, and the medicine for those who have fallen.  Its third verse focuses on the Incarnation of the Word when the fullness of time had come and when the world had come to eventide.  It is then that the Lord as a bridegroom from his bridal chamber is born of the most pure womb of the Virgin Mother.  To understand the expression of the world coming to its close, one should keep in mind that for the ancient Christian, it was customary to divide the age of the world into six periods: the first from Adam to Noah, the second from Noah to Abraham, the third from Abraham to David, the fourth from David to the Babylonian captivity, the fifth from the Babylonian captivity to Christ, and the sixth from Christ to the final judgment.

The cosmic sense of the sacred liturgy is found in verse four where it echoes Saint Paul’s hymn in his Letter to the Philippians 2:10 speaking of how all things in heaven and on earth bend the knee to Christ and profess that they are subject to him as Lord.  Verse five then addresses Christ as the one who will come to judge the world, and the Church prays that, during this present time, the Lord preserve us from our treacherous foe.  Nevertheless, the theme of Christ as Judge reminds us of Saint Augustine writing the following: “How good it will be to have as judge, someone who a short time ago was our advocate before the Father” (see 1 Jn. 2:1).  Finally, the hymn concludes in the customary way with the doxology to the Most Blessed Trinity.

Bibliography

Ernetti, Pellegrino. Gli Inni della Liturgia delle Ore: Testo Latino e Versione Ritmica Italiana.  Venice: San Giorgio Maggiore, 1981.

General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours. Translation and Commentary by Reverend Willian A. Jurgens. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1975.

Lentini, Anselmo. Te Decet Hymnus: L’Innario della “Liturgia Horarum.” Vatican City State: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1984.