O SÅNTOS NA ESPIRITU

 

Perhaps it was 1992 or 1993 when I was stationed in Saipan. I walked into the sanctuary at Kristo Rai Church in Garapan to start the 6AM Mass and was startled when the singers began the entrance hymn because I hadn't even reached the altar yet when I thought they were singing to me!

The line they sang went, "Pot kuentos Påle' ina ham...." "Through Father's words enlighten us...."

What were they referring to?

So I asked them to tell me the whole verse. It ended up being a prayer to the Holy Spirit to teach the people through the priest's words. More about that later, but here is the audio and lyrics, with English translation.

O Såntos na Espiritu, i kandet Tåta, må'gas Yu'us.

(O Holy Spirit, light of the Father, great God.)

Pot kuentos Påle' ina ham, doktrinan Yu'us fanå'gue ham.

(Through the words of the priest enlighten us, teach us the doctrine of God.)

ORIGIN

This little verse was introduced to Saipan by the German Capuchin missionaries who were in the Northern Marianas from 1906 to 1919. It appears in a little hymnal they published in 1915. It's possible that the melody is borrowed from a German hymn.

It's such a short verse that it was probably composed to be sung outside of Mass (which was said in Latin). It would have been an appropriate verse to sing right before catechism or before the priest preached a sermon. In the old days, sermons were not preached just during Mass. Sermons were preached as a stand-alone event, or as part of a devotion, such as a novena or the Stations of the Cross.

In fact, an old custom, not done all the time, was to put a dove above the pulpit where the priest preached. The idea was, as long as the priest was teaching the doctrine of the Church, he was teaching what the Holy Spirit ensured was God's truth. You can see in the picture at the top of this post a dove above the pulpit.