Catholic Chant
Keeping the Faith through Music
Rorate Caeli


Latin English
Rorate caeli desuper,
Et nubes pluant justum.

1. Ne irascaris Domine,
Ne ultra memineris iniquitatis:
Ecce civitas Sancti facta est deserta:
Sion deserta facta est:
Jerusalem desolata est:
Domus sanctificationis tuae
Et gloriae tuae,
Ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.
Rorate.

2. Peccavimus, et facti sumus
Tamquam immundus nos,
Et cecidimus quasi folium universi:
Et iniquitates nostrae
Quasi ventus abstulerunt nos:
Abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis,
Et allisisti nos
In manu iniquitatis nostrae.
Rorate.

3. Vide Domine afflictionem populi tui,
Et mitte quem missurus es:
Emitte Agnum dominatorem terrae,
De Petra deserti
Ad montem filiae Sion:
Ut auferat ipse
Jugum captivitatis nostrae.
Rorate.

4. Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus:
Cito veniet salus tua:
Quare maerore consumeris,
Quia innovavit te dolor?
Salvabo te, noli timere,
Ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus,
Sanctus Israel, Redemptor tuus.
Rorate.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above
And let the clouds rain the Just One.

1. Do not be angry, O Lord,
Nor remember iniquity forever:
Behold the Holy City is made a desert,
Zion has been made a desert,
Jerusalem is desolate:
The house of thy holiness and thy glory,
Where our fathers praised thee.
Refrain


2. We have sinned, and we are made
Like unto our uncleanness,
And we have all fallen like a leaf:
And our iniquities
Have carried us away like the wind.
Thou hast hidden thy face from us
And thou hast crushed us
In the hand of our iniquity.
Refrain

3. See, O Lord, the suffering of thy people,
And send the One who was to be sent:
Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth,
From the Rock of the desert
To the mountain of the daughter of Zion
That the same One may carry away
The yoke of our captivity.
Refrain

4. Be comforted, be comforted, my people:
Thy salvation will come quickly:
Why art thou consumed with grief,
Why is sorrow renewed in thee?
I will save thee, be not afraid,
For I am the Lord thy God,
The Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Refrain

Season: Advent

Use: General hymn for Mass, processions or private prayer


The first 3 verses are the penitence of the suffering sinner, the desolation of Jerusalem.  The fourth is the tender response of the One offended, now pacified, granting forgiveness and hope as we approach the great joy of Christmas.