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CV NEWS FEED // In the cold French Canadian winter of 1642, Fr. Jean de Brébeuf, SJ, had his missionary work cut out for him: The local Huron tribe to whom he ministered were often suspicious of his religion, slow to convert, and quick to blame him for catastrophes. The Jesuit priest had to become immersed in their culture in order to make Christianity accessible.
According to the Jesuits’ website, the future saint spent two years alone learning the Huron’s native language, Wyandot. He studied their culture, translated a catechism and wrote a phrase book. One year, he used his talent for language for writing hymn lyrics for the tribe.
In 1642, Fr. Brébeuf penned the famous Huron carol in Wyandot, using Huron imagery to communicate the birth of Jesus, according to the New York Festival of Song website. He set the poem to a French tune called “Une Jeune Pucelle.”
The song sets the Nativity in the Canadian woods, where hunters, instead of shepherds, visit the Baby Jesus, who is wrapped in “a ragged robe of rabbit skin.”
The song was later translated into French and English, and is still sung around the world.
The lyrics in English are as follows:
1. ‘Twas in the moon of winter-time
When all the birds had fled,
That mighty Gitchi Manitou
Sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim,
And wandering hunter heard the hymn:
Refrain:
“Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
In excelsis gloria.”
2. Within a lodge of broken bark
The tender Babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin
Enwrapp’d His beauty round;
But as the hunter braves drew nigh,
The angel song rang loud and high. Refrain
3. O children of the forest free,
O sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and heaven
Is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant Boy
Who brings you beauty, peace and joy. Refrain
Fr. Brébeuf lived for 20 years in Canada, also known as New France, working to convert the Hurons, before he was martyred by the Iroquois in 1649. Pope Pius XI canonized Fr. Brébeuf in 1930, declaring him one of the patron saints of Canada.
