“The First Noël The Angel Did Say”
Tune: “The First Nowell” • 88 88 R
Page 676
Page 653
Veni Veni Emmanuel (“O come, O come, Emmanuel”)
Translation: Msgr. Ronald A. Knox
Tune: “Veni Veni Emmanuel” • 88 88 R
Page 671
“Adeste Fideles, Laeti Triumphantes” by John Francis Wade
Translation: Textus originalis Latinus
Tune: “Adeste Fideles” • 11 9 11 R
Page 670
Adeste Fideles, Laeti Triumphantes (“God rest you merry, Gentlemen”)
Translation: Fr. Frederick Oakeley, Canon of Westminster Cathedral
Tune: “Adeste Fideles” • 11 9 11 R
Page 669
“God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”
The meaning of “God rest you merry” is “God keep you merry.” Note the archaic use of the word rest (“keep”)—indeed, this carol probably dates from the 16th century.
Tune: “God Rest You Merry” • 86 86 86 R
Page 667
Quem Vidistis Pastores? Dicite (“Angels we have heard on high”)
Translation: Most Rev’d James Chadwick, Bishop of Hexham
Tune: “Gloria” • 77 77 R
Page 662
Huron Carol of St. Jean de Brébeuf (“Upon the birth of Jesus”)
Translation: Fr. Dominic Popplewell
Tune: “Une Jeune Pucelle” • 86 86 88 R
This famous Christmas carol was possibly written around 1642AD, when Saint Brébeuf was in Quebec, recuperating from a broken collarbone, which had left him in excruciating pain for many months.