Placare Christe servulis

General information

Office hymn for Vespers of All Saints. Ascribed to Rabanus Maurus. This text replaced Christe Redemptor omnium, conserva in Urban VIII's revision of the breviary in 1632. The latter has recently (1970?) been restored.

• Notes on text

Settings by composers

• José Maurício Nunes Garcia SATB
• Josef Ohnewald SATB (XIIb – vv. 1-2,6-7)
• Stefano Torchio SATB

Other settings possibly not included in the manual list above

• Anonymous — Placare Christe servulis

Text and translations

Latin text 1. Placare, Christe, servulis, quibus Patris clementiam tuae ad Tribunal gratiae patrona Virgo postulat. 2. Et vos, beata per novem distincta gyros agmina, antiqua cum praesentibus, futura damna pellite. 3. Apostoli cum Vatibus, apud severum Iudicem veris reorum fletibus exposcite indulgentiam. 4. Vos, purpurati Martyres, vos, candidati praemio confessionis, exsules vocate nos in patriam. 5. Chorea casta Virginum, et quos eremus incolas transmisit astris, Caelitum locate nos in sedibus. 6. Auferte gentem perfidam credentium de finibus, ut unus omnes unicum ovile nos Pater regat. 7. Deo Patri sit gloria, Natoque Patris unico; Sancto simul Paraclito, in sempiterna saecula.

English translation 1. O CHRIST, Thy guilty people spare! Lo, kneeling at Thy gracious throne, Thy Virgin-Mother pours her prayer, Imploring pardon for her own. 2. Ye Angels, happy evermore! Who in your circles nine ascend, As ye have guarded us before, So still from harm our steps defend. 3.Ye Prophets and Apostles high! Behold our penitential tears; And plead for us when death is nigh, And our all-searching Judge appears. 4. Ye Martyrs all! a purple band, And Confessors, a white-robed train; Oh, call us to our native land, From this our exile, back again. 5. And ye, 0 choirs of Virgins chaste! Receive us to your seats on high; With Hermits whom the desert waste Sent up of old into the sky. 6. Drive from the flock, O Spirit blest! The false and faithless race away; That all within one fold may rest, Secure beneath one Shepherd's sway. 7. To God the Father glory be, And to His sole-begotten Son; And glory, Holy Ghost, to Thee, While everlasting ages run. Translation by Edward Caswall