Contents Tu, Trinitatis Unitas
O Three in One, and One in Three
TempusPerAnnum


Attributed to Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604). This hymn is found in the Roman Breviary for Friday Matins. It is also used in the Liturgia Horarum (less verse four) in the Office of Readings for Fridays of the first and third weeks of the Psalter during Ordinary Time.

TU, TRINITATIS Unitas,
orbem potenter qui regis,
attende laudis canticum
quod excubantes psallimus.1
O THREE in One, and One in Three,
Who rulest all things mightily,
bow down to hear the songs of praise
which, freed from bonds of sleep, we raise.
Nam lectulo consurgimus
noctis quieto tempore,
ut flagitemus vulnerum
a te medelam omnium.2
While lingers yet the peace of night,
we rouse us from our slumbers light;
that might of instant prayer may win
The healing balm for wounds of sin.
Quo fraude quicquid3 daemonum
in noctibus deliquimus,
abstergat illud caelitus
tuae potestas gloriae.
If, by the wiles of Satan caught,
this nighttime we have sinned in aught,
that sin Thy glorious power today,
from heaven descending, cleanse away.
Ne corpus astet sordidum,
nec torpor instet cordium,
ne criminis contagio
tepescat ardor spiritus.
Let naught impure our bodies stain,
no laggard sloth our souls detain,
no taint of sin our spirits know,
to chill the fervor of their glow.
Te corde fido, quaesumus,4
reple tuo nos lumine,
per quod dierum circulis
nullis ruamus actibus.
Wherefore, Redeemer, grant that we
fulfilled with Thine own light may be:
that, in our course. from day to day,
by no misdeed we fall away.
Praesta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice,
cum Spiritu Paraclito,
regnans per omne saeculum.
Grant this, O Father ever One
with Christ, Thy sole-begotten Son,
and Holy Ghost, whom all adore,
reigning and blest forevermore.

Latin from the Liturgia Horarum. English translation by Rev. George Herbert Palmer (1846-1926) and Rev. Joseph William Chadwick (1841-1882).

Changes made by Pope Urban VIII in 1632 to the Roman Breviary:

1 orbem potenter quae regis,/ attende laudis canticum/ quod excubantes psallimus.
2 ut flagitemus omnium/ a te medelam vulnerum.
3 quidquid
4 "Ob hoc, Redemptor, quaesumus " appears in the Roman Breviary, but this line pre-dates Pope Urban VIII and appears in old hymals.


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