Catholic Hymn You Should Know: Placare Christe Servulis

Briana Talley

Catholic Hymn You Should Know: Placare Christe Servulis

Placare Christe Servulis is a traditional Catholic hymn that is sung at Vespers on the Solemnity of All Saints’ Day. Pope St. Pius X said, “These qualities [sacredness, beauty, universality] are to be found, in the highest degree, in Gregorian Chant, which is, consequently, the Chant proper to the Roman Church, the only chant she has inherited from the ancient fathers” (Tra le sollecitudini, paragraph 3). In honor of the solemnity, let us sing along with this beautiful hymn and ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all the saints in heaven. As we sing, let us reflect on how all of heaven longs for us to join in the praise of our Lord for all eternity and to encounter never ending bliss!

 

To sing along in Latin, please visit this link and you can follow along with the lyrics. Only the first four stanzas are included in the video.

 

Latin English

Placare, Christe, servulis,

quibus Patris clementiam

tuae ad Tribunal gratiae

patrona Virgo postulat.

O Christ, Thy guilty people spare!

Lo, kneeling at Thy gracious throne,

Thy Virgin-Mother pours her prayer,

Imploring pardon for her own.

Et vos, beata per novem

distincta gyros agmina,

antiqua cum praesentibus,

futura damna pellite.

Ye Angels, happy evermore!

Who in your circles nine ascend,

As ye have guarded us before,

So still from harm our steps defend.

Apostoli cum Vatibus,

apud severum Iudicem

veris reorum fletibus

exposcite indulgentiam.

Ye Prophets and Apostles high!

Behold our penitential tears;

And plead for us when death is nigh,

And our all-searching Judge appears.

Vos, purpurati Martyres,

vos, candidati praemio

confessionis, exsules

vocate nos in patriam

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.

Chorea casta Virginum,

et quos eremus incolas

transmisit astris, Caelitum

locate nos in sedibus.

And ye, O choirs of Virgins chaste!

Receive us to your seats on high;

With Hermits whom the desert waste

Sent up of old into the sky.

Auferte gentem perfidam

credentium de finibus,

ut unus omnes unicum

ovile nos Pater regat.

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.

Deo Patri sit gloria,

Natoque Patris unico;

Sancto simul Paraclito,

in sempiterna saecula. Amen.

To God the Father glory be,

And to His sole-begotten Son;

And glory, Holy Ghost, to Thee,

While everlasting ages run. Amen.