Last night we were promised a full moon of peculiar brilliance so I looked out of the window hoping to see "Our Lady's Lamp" palely shining, but alas, the clouds hid everything. The long northern winter makes one very conscious of the moon and stars in the night sky: creation itself seems to echo the great Advent theme of light piercing the gloom. I think the Advent Vesper hymn, Conditor alme siderum, with its dancing plainsong melody, captures this sense of light-in-darkness to perfection. I haven't been able to find a really good recording we can legally share with you, but here are the words in Latin and English (translation 19th century). The text is probably as old as the seventh century. It is warming to think of its being sung by the nuns of Winchester and Romsey over a thousand years ago and by their successors at Hendred today.

CONDITOR alme siderum,
aeterna lux credentium,
Christe, redemptor omnium,
exaudi preces supplicum.

CREATOR of the stars of night,
Thy people's everlasting light,
Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
and hear Thy servants when they call.

Qui condolens interitu
mortis perire saeculum,
salvasti mundum languidum,
donans reis remedium,

Thou, grieving that the ancient curse
should doom to death a universe,
hast found the medicine, full of grace,
to save and heal a ruined race.

Vergente mundi vespere,
uti sponsus de thalamo,
egressus honestissima
Virginis matris clausula.

Thou camest, the Bridegroom of the Bride,
as drew the world to evening tide,
proceeding from a virgin shrine,
the spotless Victim all divine.

Cuius forti potentiae
genu curvantur omnia;
caelestia, terrestria
nutu fatentur subdita.

At whose dread Name, majestic now,
all knees must bend, all hearts must bow;
and things celestial Thee shall own,
and things terrestrial Lord alone.

Te, Sancte, fide quaesumus,
venture iudex saeculi,
conserva nos in tempore
hostis a telo perfidi.

O Thou whose coming is with dread,
to judge and doom the quick and dead,
preserve us, while we dwell below,
from every insult of the foe.

Sit, Christe, rex piissime,
tibi Patrique gloria
cum Spiritu Paraclito,
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.

To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, Three in One,
laud, honour, might, and glory be
from age to age eternally. Amen.