Per Te Mundus Laetabundus (“Thou, when deepest night infernal”)
Translation: Fr. Edward Caswall, Oratorian
Tune: “Domhnach Trionoide” • 87 87 D
Page 770
Page 771
Mater Facta, Sed Intacta (“Mother, yet a stainless Virgin”)
Translation: Based on Thomas Isaac Ball
Tune: “Hymn To Joy” • 87 87 D
Page 727
“Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All”
Translation: Fr. Frederick William Faber, Oratorian
Tune: “Sweet Sacrament” • 88 88 R
Page 676
“The First Noël The Angel Did Say”
Tune: “The First Nowell” • 88 88 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.
Page 657
Venez Divin Messie (“O come, Divine Messiah”)
Translation: Sister Mary of Saint Philip
Tune: “Venez, Divin Messie” • 78 76 R
Page 653
Veni Veni Emmanuel (“O come, O come, Emmanuel”)
Translation: Msgr. Ronald A. Knox
Tune: “Veni Veni Emmanuel” • 88 88 R