Three Minutes with Newman
The Paraclete, the Fount of Love, St. John Henry Newman
July 7, 2025
(Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, University Church, Dublin)
XIV (4) The Paraclete, the Fount of Love
In John Henry Newman’s meditations on the Paraclete, he presents the Holy Spirit as the “Life of All Things,” the “Life of the Church,” the Life of my Soul,” and now finally, in Chapter XIV, Section 4, “The Fount of Love.”
In doing so, he reaches back in two ways. First he returns to his theme set forth in Meditation X, “God is Love.” There, he prayed:
…There was one attribute of Thine which Thou didst exercise from eternity, and that was Love. [F]rom eternity Thou didst love, for Thou art not only One but Three. The Father loved from eternity His only begotten Son, and the Son returned to Him an equal love. And the Holy Ghost is that love in substance, wherewith the Father and the Son love one another.
God is trinitarian love, but yet, or maybe because of this, we experience the Paraclete as the author of supernatural love in our own hearts.
Secondly, Newman, the lover of antiquity, hearkens back nine centuries to the great, some say the greatest, hymn, Veni Sancte Spiritus (attached in both English and Latin). Composed by the ninth century German monk, Rabanus Maurus, it is sung in the Catholic Church among other liturgical times, at Pentecost, at papal enclaves, and the ordination of bishops and priests. It was sung at Pope Leo XIV’s Pentecost Sunday Mass in this Jubilee Year. Newman would have known Thomas Cranmer’s Anglican version of the hymn (Luther’s as well). Newman prays a portion of that hymn here, “fons vivus ignis caritas” oh font of life, oh fire of love. And we might antiphonally respond veni sancte spiritus.
Externally, Newman notes, God came down like a fire from heaven on the day of Pentecost. He comes in an inward fashion too, as a fire to burn away the dross of sin, and the vanity of hearts. He lights up the pure flame of devotion and affection. “It is Thou,” he says, “who unites heaven and earth by showing to us the glory and beauty of the Divine Nature, and making us love what is in Itself so winning and transporting.”
This uncreated and everlasting fire is a gift of grace from a God who is love. It restores sight to the blind and hard-hearted in spiritual matters; it consumes so as to “new-make” man; to fit him to enjoy what without it he would have no taste for. The Paraclete is the strength of the martyr in the midst of his torments; the stay of the confessor in his long, tedious and humiliating toils; the fire by which the preacher wins souls.
By the fire which kindled the hearts of the martyrs, confessors and preachers, Lord, kindle within me this “ignis caritas,” this “fons vivus” by which alone we are made fit for heaven.
Come Holy Ghost Veni Sancte Spiritus
Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest, Veni Creator Spiritus,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest; Mentes tuorum visita,
Come with Thy grace and heav’nly aid Imple superna gratia,
And fill the hearts which Thou hast made. Quae tu creasti pectora.
To Thee, the Comforter, we cry, Qui Paraclitus diceris,
To Thee, the Gift of God Most High, Donum Dei altissimi
The Fount of life, the Fire of love, Fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
The soul’s Anointing from above. Et spiritalis unctio.
The sev’n-fold gifts of grace are Thine, Tu septiformis munere,
O Finger of the Hand Divine; Dexterae Dei tu digitus,
True Promise of the Father Thou, Tu rite promissum Patris,
Who dost the tongue with speech endow. Sermone ditans guttura.
Thy light to every thought impart Accende lumen sensibus:
And shed Thy love in every heart; Infunde amorem cordibus:
The weakness of our mortal state Infirma nostri corporis
With deathless might invigorate. Virtute firmans perpeti.
Drive far away our wily Foe, Hostem repellas longius,
And Thine abiding peace bestow; Pacemque dones protinus:
If Thou be our protecting Guide, Ductore sic te praevio,
No evil can our steps betide. Vitemus omne noxium.
Make Thou to us the Father known; Per te sciamus da Patrem,
Teach us the eternal Son to own Noscamus atque Filium;
And Thee, whose name we ever bless, Te utriusque Spiritum
Of both the Spirit, to confess. Credamus omni tempore.
And Holy Spirit, with them One; Gloria Patri Domino,
And may the Son on us bestow Natoque qui a mortuis
The gifts that from the Spirit flow! Amen. Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
In saeculorum saecula. Amen
