In his master’s step he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
It’s lovely, isn’t it? We practised it last night. It’s on the program for a series of concerts we’re doing in January: Dawn Chorus. For four consecutive Saturdays we’ll be singing at dawn at beaches around Sydney as part of the annual summer festival.
Also “Amazing Grace”
or “The House of the Rising Sun”
or the Australian National Anthem
(I could go on like this all day. My husband and I used to collect these…)
Seconding about 75% of the recommendations, and adding:
Love Came Down at Christmas – like In the Bleak Midwinter, another Christina Rossetti
Venite Adoremus (“The snow lay on the ground”) – playful and lively
Duermete, Niño Lindo (A la Ru)
The Huron Carol (“Twas in the moon of wintertime”, to the tune Une Jeune Pucelle)
There’s a really nice little piece I cannot find that I think is known by the terms Polish Carol and W Zlobie Lezy. Anyone with a collection that includes it?
Yep, I’ve got it on a collection done by the MoTab, called just plain “Noel,” under the title “Stars Were Gleaming.” It’s only in English, though. (And incidentally, my girls are learning it in church to sing for Christmas with all the other kids; it’s a fairly popular carol in the children’s hymnal. Though I suspect the words are better in Polish.)
Isn’t this the tune for “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly”?
Not, technically, a Christmas song.
From the files of the sublimely obscure: Forunderligt at sige by Carl Nielsen.
Amen to that. My church, the Assembly of God, of all churches, uses the edited version in it’s official hymnal- and we revel in Cross & Blood songs!
It turns out I also have this carol in a very nice classical guitar version with no words, on a CD called “A Timeless Christmas” by Geslison and Groberg. It’s one of our favorite CDs, but I’m not finding it on Amazon. Here it is. Again, the title is listed as “Stars were gleaming.”
There’s a nice story (possibly apocryphal) that during the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and his followers were throwing out ancient Catholic songs left and right, in favor of newly composed stuff. However, there were a handful of songs so beautiful that they decided to keep them anyways, Catholic or not. In Dulci Jubilo is supposedly one of these.
Here’s a sample (not the whole song, but a good long clip) of the Barra MacNeils singing “O Come Divine Messiah.” Gorgeous.
Yea, so the page was warmer because he didn’t have to slog through snow drifts but could stand behind the king and use him for a windbreak. Those are normal footprints…
blows whistle Thweeeeet!!
If an end is not called to this right now, I suspect that “Did St. Wenceslas III Have Miraculous Footprints?” will become the Yuletide equivalent of “Do Balrogs Have Wings?” around these parts. ‘Tain’t happenin’, y’hear me?! 
But did Wenceslas shoot first?
he could have thrown the first stone (st. stephen reference).
Thank you so much for all these. I have my work cut out for me now, tracking all these songs down!
The Carol Album is my favorite Christmas CD. Some songs you know, some songs you won’t, all gorgeous.
I also love the Weihnachtshistorie of Heinrich Schutz.
And finally, Christmas With the Clancy Brothers, but that’s long out of print.
Come on…
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
It’s winter- the ground would probably have been very cold if not frozen. The lyrics say nothing about St/Kg W blocking the wind but very clearly say that heat came up from the Earth where he had stepped.
Another vote for Miracle Footprints!