Christe potens rerum, redeuntis conditor ævi,
Vox summi sensusque Dei, quem fundit ab altâ
Mente Pater, tantique dedit consortia regni,
Impia tu nostræ domuisti crimina vitæ,
Passus corporeâ mundum vestire figurâ,
Affarique palam populos, hominemque fateri.
Virginei tumuere sinus, innuptaque mater
Arcano obstupuit compleri viscera partu,
Auctorem paritura suum. Mortalia corda
Artificem texere poli, mundique repertor
Pars fuit humani generis, latuitque sub uno
Pectore, qui totum latè complectitur orbem;
Et qui non spatiis terræ, non æquoris undis,
Nec capitur cœlo, parvos confluxit in artus.
Quin et supplicii nomen nexusque subisti,
Ut nos surriperes letho, mortemque fugares
Morte tuâ: mox æthereas evectus in auras,
Purgatâ repetis lætum tellure parentem.
Translation.
Christ, sovereign of all things that be,
Wisdom and Word of God! we see
A new-born world spring forth from thee.
God born of God, and who dost share
His reign supreme, how didst thou bear
The vesture of our dust to wear?
Unto our race thou didst belong—
Didst speak and mingle with the throng,
To bear—to triumph over wrong.
A Virgin's bosom did accord
Repose to Him whom she adored;
In wonder she brought forth her Lord.
Who spread aloft the heavens, the day,
Who built the world—lo! clothed in clay
Hid 'neath one human bosom lay.
Whose hands the universe uphold,
Whom earth, nor seas, nor heavens enfold—
Lo! compassed by a mortal mould.
What anguish didst thou undergo;
What woe, to shelter us from woe;
What death, from death to save us so;
Ere from a world redeemed by grace
Thou didst return aloft through space
To seek the Blessed Father's face.