24 December 2010

'Adeste Fideles' on this 'Holy Night'!



Growing up as a Catholic boy in Dublin I just loved 'Adeste Fideles', which we sang in Holy Family Church, Aughrim Street, during Christmas. I've always loved it as a rousing, manly hymn. John McCormack's version was played every year on the radio coming up to Christmas. And being a 'Good Irish Catholic', I have never warmed to the English version, 'O Come, all ye faithful', which I've always seen as somewhat 'Protestant'. Give me the original Latin anyday!

Andrea Bocelli has the backing of a choir and orchestra here, which the hymn calls for. I found two different videos of Andrea singing this. This one has more of 'the works'. Being Italian, he follows the Roman pronunciation of Latin, which the Church uses, with a soft rather than a hard 'g'.

I'm not familiar with the second and fourth stanzas below. Only the first two stanzas are sung here, with everyone singing the first again after the second.

Adeste Fideles
Laeti triumphantes
Venite, venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte
Regem angelorum
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Dominum


En, grege relicto,
humiles ad cunas,
vocati pastores approperant;
et nos ovanti gradu festinemus.
Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus
Dominum


Cantet nunc io
Chorus angelorum
Cantet nunc aula caelestium
Gloria, gloria
In excelsis Deo
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Dominum


Ergo qui natus
Die hodierna
Jesu, tibi sit gloria
Patris aeterni
Verbum caro factus
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Dominum



I don't remember hearing 'O Holy Night' growing up in Ireland until the early 1960s, when I was in the seminary, when an Irish singer named Tommy Drennan recorded it. But now everyone in Ireland knows it. It is also enormously popular here in the Philippines, though I don't think that this wonderful recording by Leontyne Price - the very best version in my opinion - is known here. If the various stations of RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, didn't play this version every December there might be an uprising!

O Holy Night!
O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

In Ireland we say 'Happy Christmas!' rather than 'Merry Christmas!' In the language of my ancestors: 'Nollaig shona daoibh!' And in the language of the people among whom I live here in Bacolod City, Philippines: 'Malipayon nga Pascua sa inyo nga tanan!'

8 comments:

Frances said...

Dear Father Sean
Happy Christmas to you and your people in the philipines. O Holy Night seems to be one of those 'sounds' that stir the soul. Many people have recorded it including Susan Boyle which I have downloaded onto my iphone as it is helfpul when visiting the frail eldelry, but the sung version which touched me the most was sung by Michelle McManus several years ago on Pop Idol, she had a wonderful voice...if only she had recorded it!Once again Happy Christmas and may we all experiecne a family Christmas through the Birth of God's Son, Jesus, his wonderful mother Mary and St Jospeh. God Bless Love and Prayers Frances Molloy.

Fr Seán Coyle said...

Lovely to hear from you, Frances. May God continue to bless the 'frail elderly' whom you serve so well and in a pioneering way in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. They will be in the spotlight when Simeon and Anna appear later in the Christmas season.

A Happy Christmas to you an your family!

Crux Fidelis said...

Fr Seán: I'm not familiar with the words of the second stanza of 'Adeste Fideles'. At that point we would normally sing:

Deum de Deo / Lumen de lumine / Gestant puellae viscera / Deum verum / Genitum non factum / Venite etc.

I have to agree with you on the 'Protestant' English version. When I was at Glasgow University we students from the Catholic chaplaincy centre at Turnbull Hall would attend the interdenominational carol service at the University Chapel (Church of Scotland). When it came to 'O Come All Ye Faithful' we would sing it in Latin. Puerile perhaps but iuvenes tum eramus.

Fr Seán Coyle said...

Thanks, Crux Fidelis. I found these lyrics, with which you and I are familiar, on Wikipedia:

Adeste fideles laeti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte Regem angelorum.
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Gestant puellae viscera.
Deum verum, genitum non factum.
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.

Cantet nunc 'Io', chorus angelorum;
Cantet nunc aula caelestium,
Gloria! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.

Ergo qui natus die hodierna.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Patris aeterni Verbum caro factum.
Venite adoremus (ter)
Dominum.

Wikipedia also gives John Francis Wade (1711 – 16 August 1786) as the probable composer. He was an English Catholic layman who 'fled to France after the Jacobite rising of 1745 was crushed. As a Catholic layman, he lived with exiled English Catholics in France for the rest of his life. There, he taught music and worked on church music for private use'.

Crux Fidelis said...

Father: Sorry to be a doubting Thomas but doesn't that Filipino greeting have something to do with Easter rather than Christmas? It's the 'Pascua' bit that leads me to think that.

Fr Seán Coyle said...

Crux Fidelis, you have a sharp eye! In the languages of the Philippines that I'm familiar with the Spanish word 'Pascua', 'Pasko' in some languages here, is used for both Christmas and Easter. The full name for Christmas in Hiligaynon is 'Pascua sang Pagkatawo' or 'Pasch of the Nativity', and Easter is 'Pascua sang Pagkabanhaw' or 'Pasch of the Resurrection'. But 'Pascua' or 'Pasko' by itself always means Christmas. I'm not sure how this came about.

Fr Seán Coyle said...

Crux Fidelis, I've done a bit of research since my previous comment. It seems that 'Pascua de Resurrección' and 'Pascua de Navidad' are used in Spain and, I assume, in other countries where Castellano is spoken. (In Latin America the language is referred to as 'Castellano'.) So the 'Pascua' or 'Pasko' here in the Philippines, referring to Christmas, is derived then from the Spanish terms. In a discussion I came across at http://wais.stanford.edu/Religion/religion_pascua(020504).htm it says that 'Pascua' is used for a number of feasts as part of their name. So, as often happens with language, a word that means a specific feast in one language has come to mean a number of feasts in another language which, in turn, has led to that word referring almost exclusively to a different feast in another set of languages!

A Spanish-English online dictionary says that 'pascua' can colloquially refer to any church festival lasting three days: http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/pascua

Crux Fidelis said...

Thanks for that, Fr Seàn.