I wonder if the Latin sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus may not be from ancient knowledge. It is a traditional Catholic hymn in a rhyming metre, which was numbered among the “sequences,” and has been called “the Golden Sequence.” It is part of the Pentecost liturgy, and is safely dated to the fifty years between 1180 and 1230. At the end of this piece, I give the Latin.
The actual praying of such a hymn, the way Gurdjieff describes for “God Have Mercy,” is itself a method for change (In Search of the Miraculous, p. 302). To ponder it is a true spiritual exercise.
A literal English translation reads:
Come Holy Spirit, and send forth the heavenly beam of your light. Come, Father of the Poor. Come, Giver of gifts. Come, light of hearts. The best comforter, kind visitor of the soul, delightful refreshment. In labour, rest; in raging heat, temperance; in tears, solace.
Most blessed light, fill the heart’s depths of your faithful. Without your divine will, there is nothing in man, nothing is innocuous. Cleanse what is dirty, water what is dry, heal what is wounded. Soften what is stiff, warm what is cold, straighten what is crooked. Give to your faithful, trusting in you, sevenfold holiness. Grant the merit of virtue; grant the reward of virtue; grant unending joy.
Artistically, it based on triads: each line of the Latin is made up of three sections, and each of these is often enough but not always comprised of three words. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Most Blessed Trinity. More deeply, it is a psychologically active hymn, showing how to introduce bring the third or reconciling force where it is needed: and I do not think this can be accidental.
“Come Holy Spirit.” The opening invites the Holy Spirit to come: for this we must be first active (invoking) and then receptive to the descent of the Spirit, and experience the reconciling. Without all three, the hymn is merely vaguely hopeful.
“And send forth the heavenly beam of your light.” The descending force is very gentle: light. This has a special meaning for people with an aim: it means that the higher aim is remembered in the midst of life.
“Come, Father of the Poor. Come, Giver of gifts.” How can the Holy Spirit be the father of the poor? I think the “poor” here are those who have been emptied (even if only temporarily) of false personality – our false ideas about ourselves. In place of fantasy, they are given glimpses of reality.
“Come, light of hearts.” This would be the opening of feeling, meaning real feeling, not just emotion.
“The best comforter, kind visitor of the soul, delightful refreshment.” Refreshment is active, giving energy; comfort is making sorrow or pain passive, and the visitor presents a new opportunity.
“In labour, rest; in raging heat, temperance; in tears, solace.” The previous line poetically described who the Spirit is. This describes what he does. Note that it is not rest from labour, but rest in labour, etc. The external circumstance remains the same, but our internal state is transformed.
“Most blessed light, fill the heart’s depths of your faithful.” No comment necessary.
“Without your divine will, there is nothing in man, nothing is innocuous.” The word, “numen,” translated as “divine will” (a meaning found in the dictionary) originally meant a “nod of the head,” hence an expression of will. This is literally true: without the higher life, we have no objective reality, only potential; and anything can turn dangerous in a moment, even – perhaps especially – what we think of as “love.”
“Cleanse what is dirty, water what is dry, heal what is wounded.” Soften what is stiff, warm what is cold, straighten what is crooked. In the Latin, this is the most astoundingly beautiful poetry.
“Give to your faithful, trusting in you, sevenfold holiness. Grant the merit of virtue; grant salvation on departing; grant unending joy.” This is a dual reference: to the sacraments of the Church, and to the Law of Seven. Sevenfold holiness is complete holiness, with all the intervals filled by the Holy Spirit.
The chant is sublime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6hqAfsHURo
The Latin
Veni, Sancte Spiritus, et emitte caelitus lucis tuae radium.
Veni, pater pauperum, veni, dator munerum, veni, lumen cordium.
Consolator optime, dulcis hospes animae, dulce refrigerium.
In labore requies, in aestu temperies, in fletu solatium.
O lux beatissima, reple cordis intima, tuorum fidelium.
Sine tuo numine, nihil est in homine, nihil est innoxium.
Lava quod est sordidum, riga quod est aridum, sana quod est saucium.
Flecte quod est rigidum, fove quod est frigidum, rege quod est devium.
Da tuis fidelibus, in te confidentibus, sacrum septenarium.
Da virtutis meritum, da salutis exitum, da perenne gaudium.
The Question of Authorship
The hymn is usually attributed to either Pope Innocent III (1161-1216) or Stephen Langton (c.1150-1228), the Archbishop of Canterbury. A lengthy hymn by Innocent III, Ave mundi spes Maria is found in Patrologia Latina, 217, 917-920C; in rhymed triplets, like the Veni Sancte Spiritus. Innocent and Langton were accomplished in many fields, wrote much, and were friends, both having studied at the University of Paris. I have not yet found evidence that Langton wrote any hymns or poetry. However, two things seem to me apparent: first, given that the two were contemporaries, I think the Golden Sequence may be either by neither. In fact, I suspect, and it is no more than a conjecture, that the Veni Sancte Spiritus was written by an unknown master, and promulgated by either the Pope or the Archbishop. If I am correct about the connection of the Sequence to ancient knowledge, then either or both of these men of action may have been connected with the school which preserved and developed that knowledge. It comes from the same age as that of the great Gothic Cathedrals (e.g. construction of Chartres Cathedral commenced about 1145 and was continuing while this hymn was being composed. The two may be connected in that they quite possibly come from the same hidden source.
The Holy Spirit descending upon the Mother of God.
