3. To thank Christ for the Eucharist, which He instituted in the evening of His earthly life, ... "and they prepared the Pasch. But when it was evening (vespere autem) He sat down with His twelve disciples" (St. Matthew, xxvi. 20). At this vesper meeting He gave to priests the power to offer the sacrifice of the Mass, to change bread and wine into His body and blood. At this vesper service, too, Christ and His apostles celebrated the divine praises, "Hymno dicto" (St. Matthew xxvi. 30). 4. In the evening our Lord's body was taken down from the cross. 5. At the approach of evening Christ appeared to His disciples at Emmaus and revealed to them His divinity. "Stay with us because it is towards evening (_advesperascit_) and He went in with them. He took bread and blessed and brake and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they knew Him" (St. Luke xxiv. 29-30). At Vespers we thank God for the Eucharist. The hymns at Vespers date for the most part from the sixth century. They are of great beauty and have the peculiar characteristic of telling of the days of creation. Thus St. Gregory's (?) fine hymn, _Lucis Creator optime_, in Sunday's Vespers, refers to the creation of light; Monday's hymn, _Immense coeli Creator_, refers to the separation of land and water; Wednesday's hymn (written probably by St. Ambrose), _Coeli Deus sanctissime_, refers to the creation of the sun and moon; the hymns for Thursday's vespers, _Magnae Deus potentiae_, refers to the creation of fish and birds; Friday's hymn, _Hominis superne conditor_ (St. Gregory), refers to the creation of the beasts of the earth; Saturday's hymn (St. Ambrose) is an exception, as it refers to the Trinity. All these hymns have been beautifully translated into English and the text and translations repay study. Sunday's hymn, _Lucis Creator optime_, stands thus in translation:-- "O blest Creator of the light, Who makest the day with radiance bright, And o'er the forming world didst call The light from chaos first of all. Whose wisdom joined in sweet array The morn and eve and named them day, Night comes with all its darkening fears; Regard Thy people's prayers and tears, Lest sunk in sin, and whelmed with strife, They lose the gift of endless life; While thinking--but the thoughts of time, They weave new chains of woe and crime. But grant them grace that they may strain The heavenly gate and prize to gain; Each harmful lure aside to cast, And purge away each error past. O Father, that we ask be done, Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son; Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee, Doth live and reign eternally. Amen." (Translation by Dr. J.M. Neale).