Puer Natus Est Nobis (“Bright and joyful is the morn”)
Based on the Introit for the Christmas Daytime Mass, which comes from Isaias 9.6.
Third Tune: “Culbach” • 77 77
Page 674
Page 675
Puer Natus Est Nobis (“Bright and joyful is the morn”)
Text only—can be used with any 77 77
Page 684
“Forty Days And Forty Nights” by George Hunt Smyttan
Tune: “Aus Der Tiefe” • 77 77
Page 678
Stille Nacht (“Silent Night, Holy Night”)
This German text was composed by Fr. Josef Mohr, a Catholic priest who died in 1848. He should not be confused with a Jesuit priest, Fr. Josef Hermann Mohr (d. 1892), who published many German hymnals. The English translation (“Silent Night”) was composed by John Freeman Young.
Tune: “Stille Nacht” • 66 88 66
Page 654
Jordanis Oras Praevia (“On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry”)
Translation: Fr. Charles Coffin
Tune: “Winchester New” • 88 88 (LM)
Page 659
O Heiland Reiss Die Himmel Auf (“The heavens, Savior, open tear”)
German text based on Isaias by Fr. Father Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld, SJ (d. 1635); English translation by Fr. Dominic Popplewell.
Tune: “O Heiland Reiss” • 88 88 (LM)
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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.