Aurora jam spargit polum

Attributed to St. Ambrose, this Saturday morning hymn is appointed for Lauds in the Roman Breviary for ferial offices from Epiphany to Lent and Corpus Christi to Advent. It is documented in an eighth-century Trier manuscript, a tenth-century Rheinau manuscript, and three eleventh-century British Museum manuscripts. It was widely incorporated into English medieval uses, including Sarum, York, Hereford, and Evesham.

The hymn has been rendered into English by several translators. Robert Campbell translated the Roman Breviary text as "The morn has spread its crimson rays" for his St. Andrew's Hymnal (1850). A translation beginning "Dawn sprinkles all the East with light" appeared in the Hymnal Noted (1852) and was later revised as "Dawn purples all the east with light" in the Protestant Episcopal Church hymnal (1872). John David Chambers provided the translation "Now morn is o'er the zenith spread" in Lauda Syon (1857). Other translations were produced by Richard Mant, Edward Caswall, William John Copeland, and James Macgill.