Many of our Christmas hymns and carols involve a re-telling of the nativity story from the biblical narrative. And that’s true of the Medieval folk carol “Good Christian Men, Rejoice.” It sings of the excitement in the hearts of those who first saw the incarnate Savior, as recorded in Luke 2. The hymn text originated with a German Dominican friar named Heinrich (Henry) Amandus von Berg Suso (sometimes spelled Seuse), a popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth century and one of the chief German mystics and leaders of the Friends of God, a circle of devout ascetic Rhinelanders who opposed contemporary evils and sought a closer association with God.
“Good Christian Men, Rejoice” is rather unusual in that the original song was in two languages, some phrases in Latin and some in German. The technical term for this is macaronic, meaning Latin plus the vernacular language. These were most certainly not sung as a part of the medieval Roman Catholic liturgy for at least three reasons: only Latin would have been sung in the Mass at this time; macaronic carols used dance-like rhythms in contrast to unmetered flow of plainsong chant; and folk instruments including percussion were often used to accompany these songs, instruments usually not permitted in the Mass. Folk carols were music the people used in everyday civic and domestic festival celebrations outside of the liturgical structure of the Mass, sometimes in seasonal parade-like processions through the streets of the towns. The music for this carol is in the style of a folk dance that was a well-known musical form of medieval song of the common folks, different from the staid plainsong melodies that we know as Gregorian Chant, following the “approved” musical style for worship flowing from the liturgical patterns set by Pope Gregory I (540-604).
Suso (March 21, 1295 – January 25, 1366) was born near Lake Constance into a noble family. He joined the Dominicans as a novitiate at the age of 13. After a year of probation, he entered into studies in philosophy and theology. After five years of that discipline, he experienced a profound religious awakening to a deep personal spirituality. He continued his studies in Strasbourg between 1319 and 1321 and then studied in Cologne under Meister Eckehart and Johannes Tauler, celebrated mystics. In 1327 Suso wrote his first work in defense of Eckehart whose teachings about “Eternal Wisdom” had led to charges of heresy. That resulted in Suso being removed from his professorship, though he was not personally condemned. He was prior of the Constance convent from 1330 to 1334, and had numerous followers in subsequent years, especially among religious communities of women. He continued preaching throughout Switzerland and the upper Rhine in subsequent years, and died in Ulm.
In his autobiography he claimed that one year on the “Angel’s Night,” which precedes Michaelmas, he lay ill and experienced a vision of rare, entrancing power in which a host of beautiful, stately angels came in a heavenly dance towards him, took him by the hand, and evoked in him a feeling of having been transported to the awesome and incomprehensible depths of the divine mystery. The leader of the angels is said to have sung a joyous carol of the little Child Jesus which Suso later set down as the basis of the carol we know as “Good Christian Men, Rejoice.” Folklore has it that supposedly this transcendent experience made him forget all about his illness and pains and join the angels’ dance.
Interestingly enough, the original Latin does not refer to “men” or people at all. It repeats the opening phrase of the medieval Latin which has become the tune name, IN DULCI JUBILO. A literal translation of the original stanza follows, coming from Methodist hymnologist Guy McCutchan’s text, “Our Hymnody” (1937). In it you see a reflection of the macaronic original with two languages evident in the final repeated phrase that would have been in Latin, Alpha es et O, coming from the Greek Alpha and Omega. These are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, ascribed to Jesus in Revelation 1:8 and 22:13 as the one in whom all things consist forevermore. Many hymnals today have removed the word “men” from the 19th century Neale translation and replaced it with either “folk” or “all.”
In sweet jubilation Now sing and be joyful!
The joy of our hearts Lies in a manger
And shines like the sun In the lap of his mother
Alpha and Omega!
A second unusual feature about this macaronic carol is the atypical change in meter that is found in its early part: “News, news!” As it turns out, this interjection is the result of an error. John Mason Neale’s translation was first included in his own collection, “Carols for Christmas-tide” (1853). According to Methodist hymnologist Carlton Young, Thomas Helmore, serving as the music editor for the volume, “incorrectly transcribed the tune from the old notation and added two notes after each third phrase. To accommodate the change in meter Neale added ‘News, news,’ ‘Joy, joy,’ and ‘Peace, peace.’” A popular choral work, “Christmas Day,” by the famous British composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934) incorporates this carol with the “error” and, though some hymnals omit it, the inclusion of “News, news!” has become a standard version for many.
The Oxford Movement of 19th-century England was a movement of many Anglicans to return to the liturgical forms and sacramental theology of the Roman Catholic Church. It resurrected many ancient Greek and Latin hymns and translated them for modern use. The chief proponent of this movement was John Mason Neale (1818-1866). It is no accident that one may sing Neale’s translations throughout the entire Christian year (including “Of the Father’s Love Begotten;” “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel;” “All Glory, Laud, and Honor;” “The Day of Resurrection,” “O Sons and Daughters, Let Sing;” and “Jerusalem, the Golden”) since the observance of the Christian calendar was part of the revival of the Oxford Movement. It is from the translation and setting by John Mason Neale that the carol is best known and most often sung today. As Reformed hymnologist Bert Polman has written, Neale’s life is a study in contrasts. “Born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly temperament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody.”
He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842 after studies at Trinity College, Cambridge, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackville College in East Grinstead, a retirement home for poor men. There he served the men faithfully and expanded Sackville’s ministry to indigent women and orphans. He also founded the Sisterhood of St. Margaret, which became one of the finest English training orders for nurses. Laboring in relative obscurity, Neale turned out a prodigious number of books and articles on liturgy and church history. Neale contributed to church music by writing original hymns, including two volumes of “Hymns for Children” (1842, 1846), but especially by translating Greek and Latin hymns into English. Because a number of Neale’s translations were judged unsingable, editors usually amended his work, as evident already in the 1861 edition of “Hymns Ancient and Modern.”
The carol, both in its lyrics and its music, is filled with the spirit of celebration. Notice how each of the three stanzas begins with the same phrase: “Good Christian men, rejoice, with heart and soul and voice.”
Stanza 1 sets before us the sight at the manger to hear the good news and celebrate “with heart and soul and voice” and to see the amazing sight of “ox and ass” bowing before the incarnate God lying a manger. If this was the reaction of mere animals, how much more should that be the reaction of saints?
Good Christian men, rejoice, With heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say: Jesus Christ is born today;
Ox and ass before Him bow; And He is in the manger now.
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!
Stanza 2 sets before us the purpose of Christ’s coming into the world. It was to open “heaven’s door,” previously closed to us because of our sin, barring us from the presence of this holy God. But now it has been thrown wide open, welcoming us into “endless bliss” because of the stable that led to the cross.
Good Christian men, rejoice, With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye hear of endless bliss: Jesus Christ was born for this!
He has opened heaven’s door, And man is blessed forevermore.
Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!
Stanza 3 sets before us the future confidence we have that death will not be the end. We “need not fear the grave” since Jesus has put death to death, as the great 17th century puritan John Owen described it. And Christ has done that with joy, not only permitting us to come, but earnestly calling us “to gain His everlasting hall.”
Good Christian men, rejoice, With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave: Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all, To gain His everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!
The carol has proven to be very popular through the 700 years of its place in Christian worship. Composers from Johann Sebastian Bach to Robert Shaw have included it in their Christmas music. It will be found in virtually every hymnal today.
Here is a recording of the carol in the famous festive organ setting by Bach.
Here it is with words that show the macaronic character of the text.
Here it is as part of Robert Shaw’s frequently performed “The Many Moods of Christmas.”
And here is a link to the carol as sung in King’s College Cambridge Lessons and Carols in an anthem setting.