Te Lucis Ante Terminum — Latin hymn of Compline

Latin liturgical hymn of Compline (the last canonical hour of the day), anonymous, probably composed in the 6th or 7th century. It has accompanied the Divine Office for more than fourteen hundred years: chanted by monks, priests and religious before retiring at night, it asks God to drive away the dreams and phantasms of the night — images which Tradition reads as temptations of the evil one — and to guard the body of the one who sleeps. The hymn is also recited by lay people as the night prayer before the Nunc Dimittis. It was included in the Roman Breviary of St Pius V (1568) and retained in the present Liturgy of the Hours (1971), without substantial modification.

Latin original (Roman Breviary):

Te lucis ante terminum,
rerum Creator, poscimus,
ut solita clementia
sis praesul ad custodiam.

Procul recedant somnia,
et noctium phantasmata;
hostemque nostrum comprime,
ne polluantur corpora.

Praesta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice,
cum Spiritu Paraclito
regnans per omne saeculum.
Amen.

English (literal translation):

To Thee, before the close of light,
Creator of all things, we pray
that with thy wonted clemency
thou mayest be our guardian and protector.

Far away depart the dreams
and the phantasms of the night;
restrain our enemy,
that our bodies may not be defiled.

Grant us, most loving Father,
and Thou, Only Son equal to the Father,
with the Spirit Paraclete,
who reignest throughout every age.
Amen.