Prayers · Come, Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit

A traditional Catholic prayer

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

V. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Baptism of Christ (San Silvestro) by Tintoretto, 1580–82, Church of San Silvestro, Venice — *The Baptism of Christ (San Silvestro)*
Tintoretto
1580–82, Church of San Silvestro, Venice
About this painting

In Latin

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.

V. Emitte Spiritum tuum, et creabuntur.
R. Et renovabis faciem terrae.

Oremus. Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti: da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere, et de eius semper consolatione gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Where it comes from

Saint John stands on the rock above the stream and pours water from a shell, and Christ stands below him in the current with His head bowed, while out of a burst of light the Dove comes down between cherubs, so that water and light fall on the same head. Jacopo Tintoretto's canvas hangs in the church of San Silvestro in Venice. The Latin, Veni Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, is the Alleluia verse after the Epistle of the Mass of Pentecost, and a rubric directs all to kneel when it begins, as Christ bows here. The invocation much used in schools and private devotion was built from that Alleluia, the verse Emitte Spiritum tuum and the prayer of the feast, with the words hodierna die left out, so that it belongs to no single day. Its plainsong melody was composed in the eleventh century. Fill the hearts of Thy faithful, it asks; at the Jordan the Spirit came down first upon Christ, and we kneel under the same opened sky.

H. Henry, “Veni Sancte Spiritus Reple”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 15 (1912): newadvent.org

³⁰Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

¹And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: ²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming: and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire: and it sat upon every one of them. ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.

Psalms 103:30 · Acts 2:1–4, Douay-Rheims (Challoner)

More in painting

Pentecost (Katherine Hours) by Jean Bourdichon, c. 1480–1485, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles — *Pentecost (Katherine Hours)*
Jean Bourdichon
c. 1480–1485, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
About this painting

The Baptism of Christ by Paolo Veronese and workshop, about 1580–1588, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles — *The Baptism of Christ*
Paolo Veronese and workshop
about 1580–1588, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
About this painting

The traditional prayers · The Rosary

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