Scripture Verse

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Emmanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Introduction

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Edward Caswall (1814–1878)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: Cae­li­us Se­du­li­us, 5th Cen­tu­ry (A So­lis Or­tus Car­di­ne). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Ed­ward Cas­wall, Ly­ra Ca­tho­li­ca, 1849.

Music: Yale W. How­ard Doane, 1884 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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W. Howard Doane (1832–1915)

Lyrics

From the far blaz­ing gate of morn
To earth’s re­mot­est shore,
Let ev­ery tongue con­fess to Him
Whom ho­ly Mary bore.
Lo! the great Mak­er of the world,
Lord of eter­nal years,
To save His crea­tures, veiled be­neath
A crea­ture’s form ap­pears.

A spot­less maid­en’s vir­gin breast
With heav’n­ly grace He fills;
In her pure womb He is con­ceived,
And there in secr­et dwells.
That bo­som, chas­ti­ty’s sweet home,
Becomes, oh, blest re­ward!
The shrine of Heav’n’s im­mor­tal king,
The tem­ple of the Lord.

And Ma­ry bears the Babe, fore­told
By an arch­an­gel’s voice;
Whose pre­sence made the Bap­tist leap,
And in the womb re­joice.
A man­ger scant­ly strewn with hay
Becomes th’Eter­nal’s bed;
And He, who feeds each small­est bird,
Himself with milk is fed.

Straightway with joy the heav’ns are filled,
The hosts an­gel­ic sing;
And shep­herds hast­en to adore
Their shep­herd and their king.
Praise to the Fa­ther! praise to Thee,
Thou vir­gin’s ho­ly Son!
Praise to the Spi­rit Pa­ra­clete,
While end­less ages run.