Regis Olim Urbe David

Here is today's Latin Christmas carol; you can read one carol per day for the month of December, or see the complete collection all at once. Today's carol is a 19th-century English song by Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander, published in Hymns for Little Children. You can find the English lyrics at the Hymns and Carols of Christmas website, along with a MIDI file and sheet music. The lyrics clearly show that this was a hymn composed for children, mixing traditional nativity motifs but with a special message for little children.

I first found the Latin translation for this hymn at the about.com website. You can also find this hymn in Latin, English, and Japanese (!) online, together with a MIDI file you can play to hear the music.

You can even create an Internet Greeting Card with this song as the accompanying music.

(Translator unknown: does anyone know who prepared this Latin translation?)

Regis olim urbe David,
sub bovili misero,
mater posuit infantem
in praesaepi pro lecto:
Mitis Maria mater,
Iesus Christus eius puer.

De caelo ad nos descendit
Deus, Dominus orbis.
Ei tectum est bovile
et praesaepe pro cunis.
Pauperum virum amator
Sancte vixisti Salvator.

Et puertiam per miram
observanter parebat
Virgini eidem matri,
quae eum pepererat.
Tentent et discipuli
esse similes ei.

Nam exemplum ille nobis:
nostri crescebat instar;
parvus quondam, imbecillus,
flens et ridens nobis par,
particeps tristitiae
idem et laetitiae.

Tandem illum nos cernemus
ex amore aeterno.
Puer enim ille parvus
summo regnat iam caelo,
atque eo nos ducit
quo et ipse praeiit.

Nec in stabulo misello,
bubus prope stantibus,
tunc videbitur, sed celsus,
sedens Deo proximus;
comites tum coronati
circumstabunt candidati.

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Here are the carols I have completed so far:
December 1: Rudolphus
December 2: Angelus ad Virginem
December 3: Aquifolia Ornate
December 4: A Solis Ortus Cardine
December 5: O Viri, Este Hilares
December 6: Conditor Alme Siderum
December 7: Angeli Canunt Praecones

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Bolchazy-Carducci has a Latin Christmas Carol music CD! With 12 songs in Latin, O Abies: O Christmas Tree is available at amazon.com for $17.00

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