Today, Christmas Day, is the first day in the season of Christmas. The First Day of Christmas, according to a well-known Christmas song, is to be celebrated with the gift of a partridge in a pear tree, is it not? Subsequent days, we learn from that song, should be celebrated with the gifts of assorted birds, five golden rings, and an assortment of drummers, leaping lords, milkmaids, and more!
For each of The Twelve Days in the ecclesial Season of Christmas, however, I will be thinking about various carols. We most likely have had our fill,of all the traditional carols and songs associated with Christmas in the lead-up to the actual day of Christmas; so I will be offering thoughts on carols, mostly lesser-known or unknown in the modern period, that are appropriate for the Season.
For today, I offer the words of a hymn (a very early Christmas carol) composed in Latin and attributed to the fourth century doctor of the church, Hilary, the Bishop of Poitiers. Hilary was sometimes referred to as the “Hammer of the Arians” (Malleus Arianorum) because of his active role in opposing Arian theology in Gaul, and also as the “Athanasius of the West”.
The carol Jesus refulsit omnium (“Jesus illuminates all”) is dated to 368. The words in Latin are:
Jesus refulsit omnium
Pius redemptor gentium
Totum genus fidelium
Laudes celebret dramatum
Quem stella natum fulgida
Monstrat micans per authera
Magosque duxit praevia
Ipsius ad cunabula
Illi cadentes parvulum
Pannis adorant obsitum
Verum fatentur ut Deum
Munus ferendo mysticum.
The English Translation below is by Kevin Hawthorne, PhD
Jesus, devoted redeemer of all nations, has shone forth. / Let the whole family of the faithful celebrate the stories. / The shining star, gleaming in the heavens, / makes him known at his birth and, going before, has led the Magi to his cradle. / Falling down, they adore the tiny baby hidden in rags, / as they bear witness to the true God by bringing a mystical gift.
An Informed Faith 