It takes its title from its incipit. In modern usage, it is commonly known in English translation as "O Blest Creator of the Light", and may be sung to a number of different settings. Historian Franz Mone identified it in 8th-century manuscripts from Darmstadt and Trier and considered it to be an early 5th-century work, while other scholars have dated it as a much later work. Lucis Creator Optime was sung as the first hymn for Sunday Vespers in monasteries. In the Liturgy of the Hours the hymn is set for Sunday evening Vespers for the first and third weeks in Ordinary time.
Lucis creator optime, lucem dierum proferens, primordiis lucis novae, mundi parans originem. Qui mane junctum vesperi, diem vocari praecipis, illabitur tetrum chaos, audi preces cum fletibus. Ne mens gravata crimine, vitae sit exsul munere, dum nil perenne cogitat, seseque culpis illigat. Caeleste pulset ostium, vitale tollat praemium, vitemus omne noxium, purgemus omne pessimum. Praesta Pater piissime, Patrique compar unice, cum Spiritu paraclito, regnans per omne saeculum.
Father of Lights, by whom each day Is kindled out of night, Who, when the heavens were made, didst lay Their rudiments in light; Thou, who didst bind and blend in one The glistening morn and evening pale, Hear Thou our plaint, when light is gone, And lawlessness and strife prevail.
Hear, lest the whelming weight of crime Wreck us with life in view; Lest thoughts and schemes of sense and time Earn us a sinner's due. So may we knock at Heaven's door, And strive the immortal prize to win, Continually and evermore Guarded without and pure within.
English translation by John Mason Neale [ 4 ]. O Blest Creator of the light, Who mak'st the day with radiance bright, and o'er the forming world didst call the light from chaos first of all; Whose wisdom joined in meet array the morn and eve, and named them Day: night comes with all its darkling fears; regard Thy people's prayers and tears.
