Christmas Song Story: The Friendly Beasts

The Friendly Beasts is another strong contender as one of the oldest Christmas songs. It was written in French about the animals surrounded Christ at the nativity. The song is about the gifts that five animals {a donkey, cow, sheep, camel and dove} brought to baby Jesus.  The song dates back to the 12th Century. The French lyrics were set to […]

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Christmas Song Story: Of the Father’s Love Begotten

Of the Father’s Love Begotten is another song considered among the oldest Christmas hymns. It started as a Latin poem titled “Corde natus” and was written by the Roman poet Auerlius Prudentius. He wrote it for his Liber Cathemerinon.  The song was paired with the plainchant, Medieval melody “Divinum mysterium”. Over the years the plainchant was musically embellished. The melody first appears in […]

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Christmas Song Story: Jesus Illuminates All

A friend was searching for the oldest Christmas hymns and stumbled upon this hymn. So, it lead me to search out the stories behind these old Christmas hymns. The song was composed in Latin by St. Hilary of Poitiers in the fourth century. The Latin translation is “Jesus refulsit omnium”. The song is said to have been composed after the first […]

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