Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
The writer of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is unknown. He was no doubt a monk or priest who penned the words before 800 A.D,
In its original form, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” was known as a song of the “Great Antiphons” or “Great O’s.”
O Antiphons are ritualitic chants that are used in Catholic church services in the week leading up to Christmas. During the seven nights leading up to Christmas, the church would sing a verse of the song.
The beginning of each verse in “O Come O Come Emmanuel” echoes each O Antiphon. The song’s original fives verses coincide with the first five O Antiphons–
– “Veni, veni Emmanuel!” = “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
– “Veni, O Jesse Virgula” = “O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse”
– “Veni, veni, O Oriens” = “O come, Thou Dayspring, from on High”
– “Veni, clavis Davidica” = “O come, Thou Key of David, come”
– “Veni, veni, Adonai” = “O come, Adonai, Lord of might”
At an unknown point later, the remaining two O Antiphons were adapted into two more verses enticing “Wisdom” and “Desire of Nations” to come. [The last O Antiphon actually reads “King of Peoples.”]
Put together, the first letter of the second word of each antiphon spells SARCORE. If read backwards, the letters form a two-word acrostic, “Ero cras,” meaning “I will be present tomorrow.”
British hymnologist J.R. Watson provides a context for the antiphons included on the second page after the hymn in the UM Hymnal: “The antiphons, sometimes called the ‘O antiphons’ or ‘The Great O’s’, were designated to concentrate the mind on the coming Christmas, enriching the meaning of the Incarnation with a complex series of references from the Old and New Testaments.”
The initial Latin text, framed in the original seven different verses, represented the different biblical views of the Messiah. One verse per day was sung or chanted during the last seven days before Christmas.
So the story of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is really a condensed study of the Bible’s view of the Messiah—who he was, what he represented, and why he had to come to Earth.
The song owes its worldwide acceptance to a man named John Mason Neale. Born on January 24, 1818, this Anglican priest was educated at Trinity College in Cambridge. Neale was brilliant, a man who could write and speak more than twenty languages. However, at the time he was considered too much of a free thinker (a proponent of the Oxford Movement) to be allowed to influence the masses. of England in 1842. His health was always quite a challenge.
So rather than get a pastorate in London, Neale was sent by the church to the Madiera Islands off the northwest coast of Africa. On a meager salary, he established the Sisterhood of St. Margaret. From this order, he began an orphanage, a school for girls, and a house of refuge for prostitutes,
When he wasn’t involved in those pursuits, he was engaged in reading not only scriptures but scripture-based writing.
It was during these studies that he came across the Latin chant, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” in a book called Psalteroium Cantionum Catholicarum. Seizing on the importance of the song’s inspired text, Neale translated the words into English. Interestingly, in his initial work, the lyrics began, “Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel.”
The tune that went with Neale’s translation had been used for some years in Latin text versions of the song.The origin of the melody is unknown, but evidence shows it was referenced in a 15th century document, so we can be sure it’s existed for a long time. O Come, O Come Emmanuel’ was originally written in Latin with the title of ‘Veni, Veni, Emmanuel’.
“Veni Emmanuel” was a fifteenth-century processional that originated in a community of French Franciscan nuns living in Lisbon, Portugal. It wasn’t until the 1960s musicologist Mary Berry sourced the 15th-century work. Neale’s translation of the lyrics coupled with “Veni Emmanuel” was first published in the 1850s in England.
Within twenty-five years, Neale’s work later cut to five verses and called “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which grew in popularity throughout Europe and America. The full English translation with all seven verses appeared in an Episcopal hymnal in 1940. < /p>