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"O Holy Night" ("Cantique de Noël") is a well-known Christmas Carol, composed by Adolphe Adam, in 1847, to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians), by a wine merchant and poet, Placide Cappeau (1808–1877).
In Roquemaure, France, at the end of 1843, the Church Organ was renovated. To celebrate the event, the Parish Priest asked Cappeau, a native of Roquemaure, to write a Christmas poem. Cappeau did it, although being a professed Anti-Cleric and Atheist.
Soon after, Adam wrote the music. The Carol was premiered in Roquemaure, in 1847, by the Opera Singer Emily Laurey.
Unitarian Minister John Sullivan Dwight, Editor of "Dwight's Journal of Music", created a singing edition, based on Cappeau's French Text, in 1855. In both the French original, and in the two familiar English versions of the Carol, the Text reflects on The Birth of Jesus and of Humanity's Redemption.
The Word, begotten from all Eternity by The Father, has raised, into personal union with Himself, The Blessed Fruit of The Virginal Womb of Mary; in other words, the human and Divine natures are joined in Our Lord in the unity of a single Person - The Second Person of The Blessed Trinity.
Further, since when we speak of a son we mean a person, Jesus must be called The Son of God, because, as The Son of God, He is a Divine Person. From this it follows, that Our Lady is called The Mother of God; not that she has begotten The Word, but because from her is derived the humanity that The Word has united to Himself in The Mystery of The Incarnation.
Of this Mystery, the first manifestation to the World was The Birth of Our Lord at Bethlehem [Editor: In Hebrew, Bethlehem means "House of Bread"]. Whence, we see the reason why, every year at Christmas, The Church says "Puer natus est nobis et Filius datus est nobis". "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." [Introit, Alleluia.]
It is The Son of God, God begotten of The Father in the one day of Eternity (Ego hodie genui te), Who is now begotten of The Father as Man in the day of The Incarnation; Ego hodie genui te. "By the taking of the Manhood into God," says Saint Athanasius, The Son of Mary is born to The Divine Life. As it was at Midnight that Our Lady brought her first-born Son into the World and laid Him in a Cradle, so Mass is Celebrated at Midnight in Saint Mary Major, Rome, where the Relics of The Crib are kept.
"With great Devotion," says Saint Leo, "has The Incarnate Word given Himself to win for us the fight against Satan, for not in His Divine Majesty, but in the weakness of our flesh, He waged war against this cruel enemy." [Fifth Lesson.] The Victory which He has gained, in spite of His weakness, shows Him to be God.
It is "God of God, Light of Light," (Credo) Who disperses the darkness of sin. "Christ is The True Light Who comes to enlighten the World, plunged in darkness" (Collect). "By The Mystery of The Word made Flesh," says the Preface, "the light of Thy Glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind; so that, while we acknowledge Him as God seen by men, we may be drawn by Him to the love of things unseen."
"The Grace of God Our Saviour hath appeared to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires . . . that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, and zealous in good works" (Epistle).
He is made like unto us that we may become like unto Him (Secret), and by His example may be enabled to live a holy life (Postcommunion). Thus, shall we "live soberly, justly, and godly in this World, looking for the Blessed hope and coming of the Glory of The Great God and Our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Epistle).
As we saw in Advent, The First Coming of Our Lord prepares us for the Second Coming.
Mass: Dóminus dixit ad me. Credo: Is Said or Sung. Preface: For Christmas. (This is Said each day until The Epiphany, except on The Octave of Saint John.)
The Tradition of a Midnight Vigil on the Eve of Christmas began in The East, and was observed in the Late-4th-Century A.D. in Jerusalem. The Tradition reached The West in 430 A.D. under Pope Sixtus III in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.[1]
By the 12th-Century, the practice of Midnight Mass had become more widespread, as all Priests had been granted the faculty of Celebrating three Masses on Christmas Day (previously reserved to the Pope), provided the three different Propers were Celebrated at their appropriate times of Midnight, Dawn and Day.[1]
On Sunday, many newspapers announced that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had solemnly proclaimed that he had been compelled to cancel Christmas.
I found this amusing and wondered if he had sent a negotiating team by time travel to the reign of Caesar Augustus, tasked by Her Majesty’s Government to persuade the High Priest, to petition God the Father to delay the incarnation for the time being. An anonymous spokesman from 10 Downing Street would then brief the media that although saving the human race was important, it was necessary first of all to save the NHS.
Of course the Prime Minister didn’t really mean that and we may have sympathy for him in making difficult decisions. We should pray for him and for all those who hold civil power.
Unfortunately, however Christmas for many is far removed from the celebration of the incarnation of the second person of the Blessed Trinity. It may seem that Christmas has indeed been cancelled for anyone who has been preparing the way for the turkey without thinking about preparing the way for the Lord.
And yet the feast of Our Saviour’s birth is still a part of the culture. We may give thanks for that, and hope that for some at least, the sad mitigation of the human good of families gathering together, may be softened by having a sense, even if dimmed by secular concerns, that something much greater is left intact.
In today’s Magnificat antiphon at Vespers, we pray:
O Emmánuel, Rex et légifer noster, exspectátio géntium, et Salvátor eárum: veni ad salvándum nos, Dómine, Deus noster.
O Emmanuel, our King and our Law-giver, expectation of the peoples, and their Saviour: come to save us, O Lord our God !
At our Christmas Masses, we will rejoice that the One who was longed for over centuries of preparation by priest and prophet, has indeed come to save us. The beautiful liturgy of Holy Mother Church allows us to bask in this great truth through the office of the feast and its Octave, the great celebration of the Word made flesh being shown to the Jews and the Gentiles, all the way through to His Baptism and the beginning of His public life with miracles that had never been seen before, teaching that had never been heard before, and the inauguration of the Kingdom that will have no end.
May the infant Christ bless us, and His Holy Mother help us to take these mysteries to our heart once again with greater fervour and deeper love in return to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost who have loved us first and loved us with such great benevolence.
“At length,” says Saint Peter Damian, in his Sermon for this Holy Eve, “at length we have come from the stormy sea into the tranquil port;
hitherto, it was the promise, now, it is the prize;
hitherto, labour, now rest;
hitherto, despair, now hope;
hitherto, the way, now our home.
“The heralds of The Divine Promise came to us; but they gave us nothing but rich promises. Hence, our Psalmist himself grew wearied and slept, and, with a seemingly reproachful tone, thus sings his lamentation to God: “But, Thou hast rejected and despised us; Thou hast deferred the coming of Thy Christ.” [Psalm LXXXVIII].
At another time, he assumes a tone of command and thus Prays: “O, Thou, that sittest upon the Cherubim, show Thyself !” [Ibid. LXXIX].
Seated on Thy High Throne, with myriads of adoring Angels around Thee, look down upon the children of men, who are victims of that sin, which was committed indeed by Adam, but permitted by Thy Justice. Remember what my substance is; [Ibid. LXXXVIII].
Thou didst make it to the likeness of Thine own; for though every living man is vanity, yet inasmuch as he is made to Thy image, he is not a passing vanity [Ibid. XXXVIII].
Bend Thy Heavens and come down, and turn the eyes of Thy Mercy upon us, Thy miserable supplicants, and forget us not unto the end !
“Isaias”, also, in the vehemence of his desire, thus spoke: “For Sion's sake, I will not hold my peace, and, for the sake of Jerusalem, I will not rest, till her Just One come forth as Brightness. Oh !, that Thou wouldst rend The Heavens, and wouldst come down !”.
So, too, all the Prophets, tired of the long delay of the coming, have Prayed to Thee, now with supplication, now with lamentation, and now with cries of impatience. We have listened to these their Prayers; we have made us of them as our own, and, now, nothing can give us joy or gladness, till Our Saviour come to us, and, kissing us with the kiss of His lips, say to us: “I have heard and granted your Prayers.”
“But, what is this that has been said to us: “Sanctify yourselves, O, ye children of Israel, and be ready; for, on the morrow, The Lord will come down” ? We are, then, but one half day and night from the grand visit, the admirable birth of The Infant God !
Hurry on your course, ye fleeting hours, that we may the sooner see The Son of God in His crib, and pay our homage to this world-saving birth. You, brethren, are the children of Israel, that are sanctified and cleansed from every defilement of Soul and body, ready, by your earnest Devotion, for tomorrow's Mysteries.
Such, indeed, your are, if I may judge from the manner in which you have spent these Sacred Days of Preparation for The Coming of your Saviour.
“Bur, if, notwithstanding all your care, some drops of the stream of this life's frailties are still on your hearts, wipe them away and cover them with the Snow-White Robe of Confession. This, I can promise you from the Mercy of The Divine Infant; He that shall confess his sins and be sorry for them, shall have born within him The Light of The World; the darkness that deceived him shall be dispelled; and he shall enjoy the Brightness of The True Light.
For, how can Mercy be denied to the miserable this night, in which the merciful and compassionate Lord is so mercifully born ? Therefore, drive away from you all haughty looks and idle words, and unjust works; let your loins be girt, and your feet walk in the right paths; and then come, and accuse The Lord, if this night He rend not The Heavens, and come down to you, and throw all your sins into the depths of the sea.”
This Holy Eve is, indeed, a Day of Grace and Hope, and we ought to spend it in Spiritual Joy. The Church, contrary to her general practice, prescribes that, if Christmas Eve fall on a Sunday, the Fasting alone shall be Anticipated on The Saturday; but that The Office and Mass of The Vigil should take precedence of The Office and Mass of The Fourth Sunday of Advent.
How Solemn, then, in the eyes of The Church, are these few hours, which separate us from The Great Feast ! On all other Feasts, no matter how great they may be, the Solemnity begins with First Vespers, and, until then, The Church restrains her joy, and Celebrates The Divine Office and Sacrifice according to The Lenten Rite.
Christmas, on the contrary, seems to begin with The Vigil; and one would suppose that this morning's Lauds were the opening of The Feast; for the Solemn Intonation of this portion of The Office is that of a Double, and the Antiphons are sung before and after each Psalm or Canticle.
The Purple Vestments are used at The Mass, but all The Genuflections peculiar to The Advent Ferias are omitted; and only one Collect is said, instead of the three usually said when The Mass is not that of a Solemnity.
Let us enter into the spirit of The Church, and prepare ourselves, in all the joy of our hearts, to meet The Saviour Who is coming to us. Let us observe with strictness the Fast which is prescribed; it will enable our bodies to aid the promptness of our spirit. Let us delight in the thought that, before we again lie down to rest, we shall have seen Him born, in the Solemn Midnight, Who comes to give Light to every creature. For, surely, it is the duty of every Faithful child of The Catholic Church to celebrate with her this Happy Night, when, in spite of all the coldness of Devotion, the whole Universe keeps up its Watch for the arrival of its Saviour.
It is one of the last vestiges of the piety of ancient days, and God forbid it should ever be effaced !
Let us, in a spirit of Prayer, look at the principal portions of The Office of this beautiful Vigil. First, then, The Church makes a mysterious announcement to her children. It serves as the Invitatory of Matins, and as the Introit and Gradual of The Mass.
They are the words which Moses addressed to the people of God when he told them of The Heavenly Manna, which they would receive on the morrow.
We. too, are expecting our Manna, our Jesus, The Bread of Life, Who is to be born in Bethlehem, which name means “The House of Bread”.
If a handmaid is she, who, with intent and with complete attention, beholds her Lord, then, again, The Most-Holy Virgin is the first among The Handmaids of The Lord.
[. . .] She did not care to please the World, but only God; nor did she care to justify herself before the World, but only before God. She herself is obedience; she herself is service; she herself is meekness.
The Most-Holy Virgin could in truth say to the Angel of God: "Behold The Handmaid of The Lord".
The greatest perfection, and the greatest honour that a woman can attain on Earth, is to be a handmaid of The Lord. Eve lost this perfection and honour in Paradise without effort, and The Virgin Mary achieved this perfection and this honour outside Paradise with her efforts.
“My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord”.
(Luke 1:46).
Brethren, we have in total only a few words spoken by The Most-Holy Theotokos recorded in the Gospels.
All of her words pertain to The Magnification of God. She was silent before men, but her Soul conversed unceasingly with God. Every day and every hour, she found a new reason and incentive to Magnify God.
If only we were able to know and to record all her Magnifications of God throughout her whole life, oh, how many books would it take !
But, even by this one Magnification, which she spoke before her kinswoman, Elizabeth, the mother of the great Prophet and Forerunner, John, every Christian can evaluate what a fragrant and God-Pleasing Flower was her Most Holy Soul.
This is but one wonderful Canticle of The Soul of The Theotokos, which has come down to us through the Gospel. However, such Canticles were without number in the course of the life of The Most-Blessed One.
Even before she heard the Gospel from the lips of her Son, she knew how to speak with God and to glorify Him in accordance with the teaching of the Gospel.
This knowledge came to her from The Holy Spirit of God, whose Grace constantly poured into her, like clear water into a pure vessel.
Her Soul Magnified God with Canticles throughout her whole life, and therefore God Magnified her above The Cherubim and The Seraphim.
Likewise, small and sinful as we are, the same Lord will Magnify, in His Kingdom, us, who Magnify her, if we exert ourselves to fill this brief life with the Magnification of God in our deeds, words, thoughts, and Prayers.
O Most-Holy, Most-Pure and Most-Blessed Theotokos, cover us with The Wings of Thy Prayers.
Nikolai Velimirovich (1880-1956; Orthodox Church):
The Vigil of Christmas is impregnated with Holy Cheerfulness, and, if it were not for the Vestments of Penance and Fasting [Editor: Violet Vestments] one would imagine that The Feast had begun.
The Church joyfully awaits the twofold Coming of her Redeemer (Collect), Who "saves His people from their sins" (Gospel) and Who is The Shepherd of Israel (Gradual), that is The Church, of whom all are Members who have Faith in Jesus Christ.
Thus, Isaias foretells that "all flesh shall see The Salvation of God" and Saint Paul adds that he has been chosen to be The Apostle of The Gospel, "for obedience to The Faith in all Nations for His Name."
With the help of today's Mass, we may prepare to Celebrate the anniversary of "The Adorable Birthday" of The Only-Begotten Son of God (Secret and Postcommunion), The Son of David, Whom the spouse of Joseph brought into the World (Gospel) and Who, "born as man" according to the seed of David, has, by His Resurrection, proved, beyond all question, that He was God (Epistle).
Since this Resurrection was, for Christ, the prelude to His Glorious Reign, for us, it is the pledge of our own glorification and resurrection at The End of Time; thus, today's Liturgy prepares us for The Second Coming of Our Lord. "Today", the Introit and the Gradual say, "you shall know that The Lord will come and save us; and, in the morning, you shall see His Glory." "Sanctify yourselves and be ye ready," says The First Response at Matins, "for tomorrow, you shall see The Son of God in your midst."
By these two days, today and tomorrow," explains Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, "are meant that of the present life, which is short and gloomy, and that of Eternity amidst the splendours of The Saints. Our learning here below consists in remembering that The Lord is coming; and it is The First Coming of The Son of God which enlightens us about His Second Coming. It calls forth contrition, blazes forth in correction, shines through our zeal and renews us within and without.
Meditate on the marvels of The Lord's Mercy vouchsafed in His Incarnation, that, when the last morning dawns, we may contemplate those of His Glory.
"Tomorrow", says the Alleluia,"shall the iniquity of the Earth be abolished; and The Saviour of the World shall reign over us." Almighty God, The Creator of all things," adds the Psalmist, "is, indeed, The King of Glory, having snatched man from the power of Satan, receives him into His Heavenly Jerusalem [Editor: Versicle of Intercession, Offertory]. "Then shall The Glory of The Lord be manifested" (Communion).
Let us, therefore, prepare ourselves "with Holy Joy, Celebrating The Coming of The Only-Begotten Son of God, Who comes as Redeemer at Christmas, in order that we may be able to contemplate Him with assurance, when He shall come as Judge at The End of The World" (Collect).
The Introit passage is from Exodus and refers to Moses' promise to the Hebrews, concerning The Manna from Heaven, and The Liturgy applies it to Our Lord, Who is The True Bread from On High.
"The Church," says Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, "inspired by Almighty God, has put these words in today's Office whence they acquire a strength of meaning corresponding to the distance between symbol and reality and between light and shade."
"It was all the more fitting," says Saint Gregory,, "that The Lord should have been born at Bethlehem, since Bethlehem means "House of Bread"; for it was He Who said "I am The Living Bread, Which came down from Heaven"."
"The place, where The Lord was born, was, of old, called "House of Bread", because it was there that He was to appear in the flesh, Who, one day, would interiorly satiate the Souls of His Elect" (Matins),
Mass: Hodie sciétis.
Collect: Deus, qui nos redemptionis. This is the only Collect said, unless The Vigil falls on The Fourth Sunday of Advent: In which case, a Commemoration (Collect) is made of that Sunday.
Creed: Is Said, or Sung, if The Vigil falls on a Sunday.
Preface: The Common Preface.
Preface: Of The Most Holy Trinity, if The Vigil falls on a Sunday.
