Hymn • “A Solis Ortus Cardine” (In English)

ANY PEOPLE BELIEVE the “Abecedarius” of Sedulius to be the greatest hymn of all time. Volumes could be written about this poem, but for the time being, let me just mention that the Divine Office contains sections—little bits of pieces—from it. What has become known as a Christmas hymn is the section called “A Solis Ortus Cardine.”  The Brébeuf hymnal has a bunch of different versions of this hymn.

Here is one example, found on page 12:

You can hear the individual tracks if you visit the Brébeuf website and scroll to #012.

N.B. In the coming weeks, I will have much more to say about the the beautiful melody.