New Year's Eve

Today is the last day of 2017-- huzzah and good riddance to it! All the good and pleasant things that it brought, were easily over-weighted by the unpleasant and downright burdensome things that came along with it. However, not to be discouraged: Here's to 2018, and my it bring us joy!

Today is the Sunday withing the Octave of Christmas, and therefore, the Feast Day of the Holy Family. So today, you get a set by the New Christy Minstrels. It contains an old German carol, Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine, which seems a very good song for the Feast of the Holy Family, and it has a wassail song to finish, which seems fitting given that it is New Year's Eve..... As always, I think these sorts of tunes benefit from a bit more of a robust treatment, such as the Clancy Brothers are want to do. But alack and alas, we are left with a good arrangement, but a little heavy on fluty women singers:

The Sixth Day of Christmas

Today is the feast day of St. Egwin of Worcester-- an Anglo Saxon saint about whom little is known. I thought it would be appropriate to post a wassail song, in honour of St. Egwin; yesterday's song is one of the oldest specifically Christmas song. However, the tradition of wassailing predates Christianity and its roots are Anglo Saxon. I thought this version of The Apple Tree Wassail to be rather good - and, perhaps, a welcome and robust change from the more chant and polyphony sort of things that have been featured here of late:

The Fifth Day of Christmas

Today is the feast day of St. Thomas a'Becket, Bishop and martyr. St. Thomas is an excellent saint for our times. Unlike many of the early martyrs, his was not a straightforward case of dying for God and/or the Faith. St. Thomas died (much like St. Thomas More after him) for a principle regarding the Faith. To whit, that the Church, being founded by God, had certain rights, upon which the state must not impinge. Furthermore, he is a wonderfully human saint, prone to ambition, love of ease, swayed by desire to retain power and friendship-- and yet, when he became Archbishop of Canterbury, at the request of his friend, Henry II, willing to renounce it all, in order to serve God fully. There was a good deal of personal cost associated with this. It eventually cost him his friendship with the King, and at long last, his life. It is important for us to remember in our increasingly secular society, in which Christian morality, philosophy and virtue are under attack (at least passively), that we are called to witness, not only to God and the Faith of God, but to truth as well. I strongly recommend you read the account of his life on Catholic Online

I thought it would be good to post a carol that dates back to the time of St. Thomas a'Becket. It took me a little while to find one that fit the bill.... Indeed, when I found one, I was quite astonished by what it was. In Latin, it is Orientis Partibus, which sounds braw, and Latinish. But according to Hymns and Carols of Christmas.... it is the earliest version of a very childish little carol, The Friendly Beasts!

I am including the English translation below, but you really ought to read the article yourself. It is has the modern lyrics, the Latin lyrics, and the following translation:

From the East the donkey came,

Stout and strong as twenty men;

Ears like wings and eyes like flame,

Striding into Bethlehem.

Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!

Faster than the deer he leapt,

With his burden on his back;

Though all other creatures slept,

Still the ass kept on his track.

Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!

Still he draws his heavy load,

Fed on barley and rough hay;

Pulling on along the road --

Donkey, pull our sins away!

Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!

Wrap him now in cloth of gold;

All rejoice who see him pass;

Mirth inhabit young and old

On this feast day of the ass.

Heh! Sir Ass, oh heh!

Childermass

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. It is a very bittersweet feast. If one looks at it from the over-arching viewpoint of Last Ends and Eternity, then it is a happy feast day, for the little martyrs of Israel attained heaven after very brief lives, in which they were spared the sort of suffering and sinfulness that the rest of us must endure-- however bitter the deaths they died. But from the human point of view, what pain for their mothers, and fathers, and sisters and brothers... One of the most heartbreaking lines in the Bible (or, indeed, any written work) is the line which Jeremiah spoke in prophecy: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 

I thought of trying to find another version of The Coventry Carol to post today, it being the song of the Holy Innocents, but it seemed worthwhile to try finding something a little different. So I present to you Salvate Flores Martyrum:

And I strongly recommend you visit Traditional Catholic Priest for the Latin lyrics and the English translation. 

I am also, rather shamelessly, going to post a poem which I wrote today. It is in a for called ottava rima, an Italian form, consisting of 8 lines. You can use the 8 lines as stanzas and add to it, but I love the challenge of getting big ideas into a few words, so I keep to the ottava bit:

REFLECTIONS UPON THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS

Oh Little Ones, whom the World deems,

But dedritus, to be thrown away,

Lest you upset the selfish dreams

Of modern Herods, bent on play:

They are desolate. For all their schemes

they die alone-- Yet on this day,

The Little Martyrs of the Infant King,

Stand before His throne-- and sing

The Feast of St. John the Evangelist

Poor St. John gets even shorter shrift than St. Stephen. This was not always the case. According to the Hymns and Carols of Christmas website, there are a number of songs in his honour, at least well known enough to have been collected, once upon a time. But can we find a recording of any of those songs.... not on your life.

So you get something a bit odd, with disclaimers attached. To begin with, I cannot find out anything about it. I am fairly sure it is an Orthodox, rather than an Eastern Rite hymn. It was recorded by a group called the Psalmopevtsy Ensemble (about whom, apparently, nothing is known), on a CD called The Alphabet: Psalms by Archimandrite German. An archimandrite is apparently the head of a monastery, or of several monasteries, at least, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. I cannot find a thing about Achimandrite German, though the cover of their CD states that he died in 1682. I am guessing it is Russian Orthodox, rather than Greek, as it was recorded in the Refectory Chambers of the Resurrection Monastery of New Jerusalem, Istra, Moscow Region. Some of the sites which sell this CD give it a more complete title of  "The Orthodox Tradition Of Singing The Alphabet" which simply adds to the mystery of the whole production. Nor, for that matter, in spite of the fact that the title of this pieces is given in English: Accept Our Hymn, St. John the Theologian, can I find the words-- certainly not in English, and I don't seem to be getting anything in Russian or Greek either, though, given that both those languages are entirely outside my area of knowledge, I might have found them and not realised it.... 

Still, it is mighty beautiful, and I liked it, so you get to hear it too:

St. Stephen's Day

To my surprise, finding a song for today was far easier than anticipated. Generally, I struggle to find decent hymns or carols for St. Stephen. They exists. I have come across mention of them. I have read the words to some of them, and I have even heard one or two.... but weirdly, despite the fact that a great many medieval and Renaissance hymns and carols have been recorded, St. Stephen seems to get short shrift as often as not. However, this is a very fine little carol-- and Middle English macaroni carol, which may have benefited from a more Clancy Brother-ish treatment, but is still worth listening to:

And lyrics as well, because I am nice that way... and I want to call attention to the first word, so long as I am at it: eia. A cursory glance into the usual suspects (Etymology Online, I tip my hat to you.) I cannot find any definite etymology for this Middle English word. I suspect it is related to the Old English 'eala', which occurs in a poem by Cynewulf: "Eala Earendel"-- which inspired Tolkien's Earendil legend. Of course, the greeting in Tolkien is "Ayia Earendil"... which word bears a striking similarity to 'eia'. (And, incidentally to Latin 'eho' and Greek 'eia'-- and if we're getting thoroughly word-nerd, Modern English 'hey', which in turn goes back to a Middle English word, 'hai' or 'hei'.) Which just goes to show: Tolkien was very clever in using real-world languages to give his own invented languages a sense of history and connection. 

 Eia, Martyr Stephane

Pray for us, we pray to thee.

To this martyr praise be given,

    Qui triumphavit hodie,

And did gain the bliss of heaven,

    Dono coelestis gratiae.

Stoned he was with stones great,

    Fervore gentis impiae.

Then saw he Christ for thine enemies,

    O martyr invictissime!

Then pray for us that high Justice

    Ut nos purget a crimine. Amen.

Christmas Day

It is that time of year again, in which I troll ze interwebs in a gallant effort to bring you some of the best Christmas music I can find. I thought we'd start with a series of carols by a group called Clamavi De Profundis. They get bonus points for that name-- especially as their tagline is "Music from the Deep." If I were really on top of it, I would have posted this yesterday, along with the poem.... but I was not really on top of it, so you get it today instead. For your listening pleasure, a Christmas Medley:

Christmas Eve

WAITING FOR CHRISTMAS


Who sings with Winter, at the door,
Bright against the darkening year
With Voice as warm as bonfire-roar?

And burns, like sun on frost and hoar-
Flame and holly are in His hair-
Who sings with Winter, at the door,

Like ease to sorrow, balm to sore,
The Daystar rising, sweet and clear,
And Voice as warm as bonfire-roar?

(Come, Thou Long-Expected Lord,
To gladden with Thine advent here!)
Who sings with Winter, at the door?

Oh, my soul, unbolt the door,
And sing in face of dark and fear!
His Voice, as warm as bonfire-roar

Bids me stand, and wassail pour,
Courage take, and make good cheer!
Who sings with Winter, at the door
With Voice as warm as bonfire-roar?

O Emmanuel

Look at me! I managed to get through the entire series of O Antiphons without missing a post. Today is the last one. O Emmanuel - O, God with us! So I am rushing the season and doing a Christ Child illustration. I thought that the following was rather charmingly shot, so you get a very straight forward chant by two monks:

And, as usual, the reflection on the Antiphon

O Rex Gentium

O King of the Gentiles and their Desired One! I am not sure if it is this one, or O Sapientia that is my second favourite. I love that Christ is referred to, specifically, as the King of the Gentiles. I have found a rather lovely version of it, sung by a lady for a change:

Do take a moment to listen to the reflection advupon this Antiphon. 

O Oriens

This is my favourite of the Antiphons. There are so many gorgeous translations for the first word: O, Oriens! O Radiant Dawn! O Daystar! I love that description of our Lord. (When I looked up pictures for it, since that is the quickest way to find the Latin text, one of the suggestions that came up was Earendil.... which delighted me excessively.) I came really, really close to posting the long-threatened polyphony today. I found one that started out with the chant, and then added harmonies afterwards. I liked it... and then I didn't. However it seems a pity not to encourage you all to here it, so if you want to skip the superiour chant posted below, and listen this instead, you may. But really, the chant is better. There are bells:

And, of course, you should check out the video with the explanation and meditation upon this great Antiphon. (It gets bonus points for starting with what might possibly be my favourite Bible verse ever... it is certainly my favourite line in the Mass :-)

O Clavis Daid

Ok. So technically, I missed yesterday..... which is rather vexing, as I did the sketch. But the evening was busy in a very good and Christmasy way, and since my only means of taking pictures is with a crappy little camera phone, they tend to need a bit of cleaning up before I can post them. (And even then, they are never great pictures.) I did not have a chance to do that until this morning, so you are getting yesterday's Antiphon today, and I hope to post today's Antiphon this evening.

Here is the chanting of the Antiphon. I again toyed with the idea of a polyphonic arrangement, but they seem a bit over-wrought to me, and I think the prayers benefit from the understated chant:

And, as has been my custom during this series, I am providing an additional link for those interested in learning more about this particular antiphon, and/or having a little thoughtful meditation upon it.

O Radix Jesse

Oh, Root of Jesse. I've always liked the Tree imagery associated with our Lord. This line has become part of the hymn O, Come, O, Come, Emmanuel. There is also an old Christmas song called, Christ, the Apple Tree, and the liturgy gets a good deal of mileage out of the idea that "He who conquered by a tree, on a tree was conquered." (In other words, the Devil caused the fall of the Human race, by tempting with the fruit of the forbidden tree, and Christ, in turn, conquered the Devil by His death on the Cross.) 

I seriously considered doing an elaborate, celtic-knotty tree for this, but ultimately decided on a simple, and slightly Tolkienesque one instead. I also considered posting a polyphonic version of the Antiphon, but I really like the chant, so chant it is:

And, as usual, for those of you who are interested in knowing more about this particular Antiphon, I provide this link here.

O Adonai

Look at me, managing two sketches and two blog posts in a row! This is the second day of the O Antiphons, and we great Christ as Adonai, as Lord. I really like the word "adonai". It is fun to say. It looks enough like Latin to sneak by, but it is Hebrew, and has a good deal more meaning packed into it than either our English word "lord"or the Latin word, "domino".  

Here is the Antiphon, sung beautifully plain, and by a single voice:

And if you want to have the next in the series of explanations which I posted yesterday, by all means do.

O Sapientia

Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent-- Guadete Sunday. It is also, by a happy coincidence, the 17th of December, and therefore, the day on which the Catholic Church begins singing the Great O Antiphons in preparation of the coming feast. There is a beautiful Latin version here (and I highly encourage you to listen to it) but I am, posting the following video, which features it in English, and also has a short explanation of the Antiphon.

Last year, I expressed my determination to post the Antiphon for each day, and failed, of course. I am going to attempt again this year, because they are beautiful and ancient, and I love them.