O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

(a.k.a. Veni, Veni, Emmanuel)

Latin:


Latin and English:


Veni, veni, Emmanuel
Captivum solve Israel,
Qui gemit in exsilio,
Privatus Dei Filio.

Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,
Nascetur pro te Israel!

Many have sung this Latin chant over the centuries. Though it is somewhat unclear when it was written, it either comes from the 8th Century Gregorian chants, or from the 15th Century Franciscan order of nuns, according to Wikipedia. In any case, it is traditionally sung during the Advent season, the four weeks leading up to Christmas. It wasn't until the 19th century that John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin translated it into English. It is a plea for Emmanuel, "God with us," to come and save us from our our bondage. Prophets such as Isaiah foretold of a Messiah who would be called Emmanuel, who would save Israel. Through the years, Israel went through bondage to Babylon and Assyria, and then later to Rome. The Jews longed for their promised Messiah to come. (Many Jews still do today.)

The first verse pleads with Emmanuel to come and ransom Israel, who is groaning in exile. The second verse asks for wisdom. The third verse asks the Lord to come, and it remembers the Law that He presented to Moses on Mt. Sinai with "majestic glory" (literal translation of the Latin). The fourth verse, from what I can tell, appears to be an appeal to God to use the shepherd's staff of Jesse (David's father) to catch the enemy (Satan and sin) and hurl him into the cavernous pit of hell. The fifth verse asks the metaphorical Key of David (Jesus was prophesied to be a descendant of David) to unlock the way to heaven and lock the way to hell. The sixth verse asks for comfort, and to get rid of the darkness of death. The last verse appeals to the King of the Nations and Redeemer of all (God) to come and save the people on earth who are slaves to sin.

Due to the challenges of translating a song into English, some of the ideas in the verses were lost or adjusted. The English lyrics must still fit in the tune and rhyme, so it is much more difficult to get a literal translation than, say, translating a book. One line I find interesting was the line Noctis depelle nebulas, Dirasque mortis tenebras in the sixth verse. The official English translation is "Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death's dark shadow put to flight." The last two words, mortis tenebras, mean "death's darkness." Accordingly, the notes in the tune go down on the staff in the same way the meaning of the words goes downwards to the depths of dark death. So it's interesting that the English moves those words to earlier in the sentence and, with the notes going downward on the staff, has the words "put to flight."

Some of the prophecies that it mentions were fulfilled when Jesus came, "God with us", was born, lived, and gave His life as a ransom for the bondage that we had to sin. Jesus conquered death when He rose from the dead. Many Orthodox Jews who don't believe that Jesus was the Messiah are still waiting for Messiah to come and do this. However, some of the prophecies have not yet been fulfilled, and both Christians and Jews cry out for Christ to come and save us from our bondage. One day Jesus will return and conquer death once and for all. His sacrifice on the cross about 2000 years ago freed us who believe from sin, but as humans, we still suffer temptation and death. Someday that will be no more. Someday, Satan will be flung into the pit of hell where he can't torment and tempt us any more.

So with the Jews of old, I cry out to God:

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

Good King Wenceslas

December 26 is a somewhat underappreciated day. Many people just know it as the day after Christmas. Stores are starting their post-Christmas sales and getting ready for the New Year celebration. Some folks are suffering from hangovers after their Christmas parties last night. This being Sunday, many people have just been to church.

December 26 is also known for its own celebrations. According to tradition, it is the first day after Christmas, the day the singer of The Twelve Days of Christmas got a partridge in a pear tree. Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries are celebrating Boxing Day, and many folks are celebrating the Feast Day for St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Shortly after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, Jesus' disciples started fearlessly preaching the Gospel. They were so busy preaching that the widows started complaining that their needs were being neglected. The apostles thus appointed seven men to take care of the widows and the needy. Among them was a man named Stephen. In addition to helping the needy, he preached the good news that Christ was the promised Messiah. This didn't sit well with the Jewish authorities, who felt that Jesus was a blasphemer. They thus put Stephen up for trial, and he gave an eloquent speech detailing the history of Israel, going through the prophecies of the Messiah, and explaining how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. At the end of his speech, Stephen looked up to heaven and saw a vision of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. When he told the Jewish authorities what he saw, they had heard enough. They dragged him out of the city and stoned him. As he died, he echoed Jesus' words on the cross, praying that God forgive his murderers, and committing his spirit into God's hands. The men who stoned him took off their coats and asked a Pharisee named Saul to hold them for them. This event had a strong impact on Saul's life, as he would later be stopped in his tracks by a blinding light from God and turn his life over to God. Saul became Paul, one of the greatest apostles, whose ministry spanned several decades and several countries around the Mediterranean region--present-day Israel, Turkey, Greece and Italy, possibly even Spain.

You probably weren't expecting a paragraph summarizing the book of Acts in a post on Good King Wenceslas, were you? :-)

Wenceslas was born near Prague, now the capital of the Czech Republic, then part of Bohemia, around the year AD 907. His father died when he was 13, and he succeeded him as duke. Until his father's death, Wenceslas was raised by his grandmother Ludmila. At that point, his mother Drahomira took over as regent, due to Wenceslas' young age. Drahomira proceeded to persecute Bohemian Christians, and it is believed that she ordered the murder (by strangulation) of Ludmila. She didn't allow Ludmila and Wenceslas to see each other out of fear that they would conspire to overthrow her. Wenceslas did indeed overthrow his mother when he was 18, and he ruled in a much more just manner. He was good to the poor, and he stopped the persecution. He even did a lot to spread Christianity in Bohemia, much to the displeasure of the nobility. He was assassinated in AD 935 by his brother Boleslav and some of Boleslav's supporters. After his death, Wenceslas was canonized as a saint, and he became the patron saint of Bohemia, and later of the Czech Republic. His feast day is September 28. Emperor Otto I of the Holy Roman Empire later granted him the title of King, thus the title of the song. However, during his lifetime, Wenceslas was only a duke.

Engraving by Brothers Dalziel, 1879

Another thing...the title of the song kind of makes it sound like he might be a wizened king...perhaps in his 50s or 60s...which is how I have always pictured him. However, doing the math, I just realized that he was about 28 when he was martyred. Wenceslas actually lived a relatively short life (although I think the life expectancy was shorter back then).

According to Wikipedia, the tune of "Good King Wenceslas" comes from a 13th-century Latin song called Tempus adest floridum (It is Time for Flowering), and the lyrics were published by John Mason Neale in 1853, a translation from a poem by Czech poet Václav Alois Svoboda in Czech, German and Latin.

I think it's significant (and intentional) that the song tells the story of something Wenceslas did "on the Feast of Stephen." Both Wenceslas and Stephen used the gifts and talents they had to serve the poor, and both were sainted after their deaths.

The carol itself is fairly well-known, but until now, I have only really known the first verse. This song tells the story of a time when Wenceslas saw a lowly peasant out gathering firewood on a bitterly snowy St. Stephen's Day evening. It turned out that the peasant in question lived a fair distance away, and would have a difficult time getting home in the deep snow and frost. Wenceslas took his page, and the two of them went to bring the peasant to the castle to dine at his table and get warm. The page started complaining that he couldn't go any farther in the snow, or he would freeze to death. Wenceslas thus told him to follow behind him, and step in his footsteps. The duke (or king) then led on until they got to the poor man. The last verse is a challenge to all of us to serve the poor, and in so doing, we will not only be blessing the poor, but also ourselves.

This has all the marks of a legend, and I'm not sure if it's entirely a true story, but Wenceslas was a historical figure, and true or not, I think we can all learn from this selfless act of a duke who had every right to stay in his warm and cozy castle, but instead looked out and had pity on a man who likely would have frozen to death if he hadn't stepped in.