Carol Service – Order of Service

Welcome

God has been worshipped in this place through the prayers and praises of countless generations. Worship lies at the heart of our life as Christians and we express our theology and belief through our liturgy. It is through these liturgical patterns of words and actions that we are formed and transformed.

Should you wish to translate this order of service into another language, please choose your language in the bottom right. There is a guest wireless network available within the Cathedral for those without a mobile data connection.

Please note that this service may be live streamed for our online congregation. By participating in this service, you acknowledge that you may be visible or audible. If you are uncomfortable about this possibility, please speak to a steward or verger, who will be able to advise further.

The ministry of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is made possible entirely through the support of individuals like you. The donations which we receive from people all over the world support our worship and music tradition, education programmes, and community outreach work, as well as contributing towards the vast cost of maintaining this historic building. Should you wish to donate online, please tap the donate button.

Please note that this service is broadcast live on RTÉ Radio One. Follow the instructions of staff and stewards regarding arrangements before and after the service.

You are invited to say or sing the text in bold in English.

Please stand as the Minister, at the West End of the Cathedral, sings

Let us pray.

Please remain standing whilst the Choir and Clergy process to the Stalls.

The Choir alone sings the

Hymn

Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

All sing

And through all his wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love, and watch the lowly maiden,
In whose gentle arms he lay;
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as he.

For he is our childhood’s pattern,
Day by day like us he grew,
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew;
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him; but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
When like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.

Henry John Gauntlett (1805–76) & Arthur Henry Mann (1850–1929)
David Willcocks (1919–2015)

Bidding Prayer

Beloved in Christ, be it this Christmastide our care and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the babe lying in the manger.

Therefore let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious redemption brought by this Holy Child: and let us make this cathedral church, dedicated in honour of his Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Patrick, glad with our carols of praise.

But first, let us pray for the needs of the whole world; for peace and good will over all the earth; for unity within the Church he came to build, especially in this city of Dublin.

And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us remember at this time in his name the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn,
the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.

Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us but upon another shore, and in a greater light; that multitude which no-one can number, whose hope was in the Word made Flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.

These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us:

Our Father, who art in heaven: hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Almighty God bless us with his grace; Christ give us the joys of everlasting life; and unto the fellowship of the citizens above may the King of angels bring us all. Amen.

Please be seated as the Choir sings the

Carol

Good people all, this Christmas time, consider well and bear in mind what our good God for us has done, in sending His belovèd Son. With Mary holy we should pray to God with love this Christmas Day; In Bethlehem upon the morn there was a blest Messiah born.

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep; To whom God’s angels did appear which put the shepherds in great fear. Prepare and go, the angels said, to Bethlehem, be not afraid; For there you’ll find, this happy morn, a princely babe, sweet Jesus born.

Irish traditional carol, c.12th Century
Mack Wilberg (b.1955)

Please remain seated for the

First Lesson

Genesis 3

God announces in the Garden of Eden that the son of a woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.

Read by a Boy Chorister.

Please remain seated as the Choir sings the

Carol

Adam lay ybounden, bounden in a bond; four thousand winter thought he not too long. And all was for an apple, an apple that he took, as clerkes finden written in their book. Ne had the apple taken been, ne had never our Lady a been heavene queen. Blessed be the time that apple taken was: therefore we moun singen Deo Gracias! (Glory to God!)

Anonymous, 15th Century
Philip Ledger (1937-2012)

Please remain seated for the

Second Lesson

Genesis 22

God promises to faithful Abraham that in his seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

Read by a Girl Chorister.

Please remain seated as the Choir sings the

Carol

In dulci iubilo Let us our homage show; Our heart’s joy reclineth In praesepio And like a bright star shineth, Matris in gremio. Alpha es et O. O Iesu parvule! I yearn for thee alway! Hear me, I beseech thee, O puer optime! My prayer let it reach thee, O princeps gloriae! Trahe me post te! O Patris caritas, O nati lenitas! Deeply were we stained Per nostra crimina; But thou hast for us gained Coelorum gaudia. O that we were there! Ubi sunt gaudia If that they be not there? There are angels singing, Nova cantica, There the bells are ringing In regis curia: O that we were there.

German 16th Century, trans. Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795–1856)
Stuart Nicholson (b.1975)

Please remain seated for the

Third Lesson

Isaiah 9

The prophet foretells the birth of Christ.

Read by a Vicar Choral.

Please stand to sing the

Hymn

Unto us is born a Son,

King of choirs supernal:

See on earth his life begun,

Of lords the Lord eternal.

The Choir alone sings

Christ, from heav’n descending low,

Comes on earth a stranger:

Ox and ass their Owner know

Becradled in the manger.

Men alone sing

This did Herod sore affray,

And grievously bewilder;

So he gave the word to slay,

And slew the little childer.

Women alone sing

Of his love and mercy mild

This the Christmas story:

And O that Mary’s gentle child

Might lead us up to glory!

All sing

O and A and A and O

Cum cantibus in choro,

Let our merry organ go,

Benedicamus Domino.

Puer nobis nascitur

arr. David Willcocks (1919–2015)

Please be seated for the

Fourth Lesson

Isaiah 11

The Prophet foretells the Messiah’s Kingdom of Peace.

Read by the Master of the Music.

Please remain seated as the Choir sings the

Carol

A spotless rose is blowing, sprung from a tender root, of ancient seer’s foreshowing; of Jesse promised fruit. Its fairest bud unfolds no light amid the cold, cold winter, and in the dark midnight. The rose which I am singing, whereof Isaiah said, is from its sweet root springing in Mary, purest maid. For through our God’s great love and might, the blessèd Babe she bare us in a cold, cold winter’s night.

Herbert Howells (1892–1983)

Please remain seated for the

Fifth Lesson

Luke 1

The Prophet foretells the Messiah’s Kingdom of Peace. The angel Gabriel visits the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Read by the Principal Teacher of the Cathedral Grammar School.

Please remain seated as the Choir sings the

Carol

Bŏgŏroditsye Dyevo, raduissya, Blagŏdatnaya Mariye, Gósspod (s) Tŏboyu. Blagŏslŏvyenna Tyi v zhenách, I blagŏslŏvyen Plod chryeva Tvŏyégó, jáko Sspássa rŏdilá jeessí dush náshikh.

(Rejoice, O Virgin Mother, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls.)

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943)

Please remain seated for the

Sixth Lesson

Luke 2

Saint Luke relates the birth of Jesus.

Read by the Dean’s Vicar.

Please stand to sing the

Hymn

O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by;

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight.

O morning stars, together

Proclaim the holy birth,

And praises sing to God the King,

And peace to men on earth.

For Christ is born of Mary;

And, gathered all above,

While mortals sleep, the angels keep

Their watch of wondering love.

The Choir alone sing

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is giv’n!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of his heav’n.

No ear may hear his coming;

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him, still

The dear Christ enters in.

All sing

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

descend to us we pray;

cast out our sin, and enter in,

be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels

the great glad tidings tell:

O come to us, abide with us,

our Lord Emmanuel.

arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)

Please be seated for the

Seventh Lesson

Luke 2

The shepherds go to the manger.

Read by a Prebendary.

Please remain seated as the Choir sings the

Carol

Going through the hills on a night all starry
on the way to Bethlehem,
Far away I heard a shepherd-boy piping
on the way to Bethlehem.

Angels in the sky brought this message nigh:
‘Dance and sing for joy that Christ the new-born King
is come to bring peace on earth,
And he’s lying cradled there at Bethlehem’.

‘Tell me, shepherd-boy piping tunes so merrily
on the way to Bethlehem,
who will hear your tunes on these hills so lonely
on the way to Bethlehem?’

‘None may hear my pipes on these hills so lonely
on the way to Bethlehem;
but a King will hear me play sweet lullabies
when I get to Bethlehem.’

‘Where is this new King, shepherd-boy piping merrily,
is he there at Bethlehem?’
‘I will find him soon by the star shining brightly
in the sky o’er Bethlehem.’

‘May I come with you, shepherd-boy piping merrily,
come with you to Bethlehem?
Pay my homage too at the new King’s cradle,
is it far to Bethlehem?’

John Rutter (b.1945)

Please remain seated for the

Eighth Lesson

Matthew 2

The wise men are led by the star to Jesus.

Read by a Dignitary.

Please remain seated as the Choir sings the

Carol

Star of the East that long ago

brought wise men on their way

where, angels singing to and fro,

the Child of Bethlehem lay –

above that Syrian hill afar

thou shinest out to-night, O Star!

Star of the East, the night were drear

but for the tender grace

that with thy glory comes to cheer

earth’s loneliest, darkest place;

for by that charity we see

where there is hope for all and me.

Star of the East! Show us the way

in wisdom undefiled

to seek that manger out

and lay our gifts before the child –

to bring our hearts and offer them

unto our King in Bethlehem!

Eugene Field (1850–1895)

Ernest Dines (b.1986)

At the end of the carol, please stand for the

Ninth Lesson

John 1

Saint John unfolds the great mystery of the Incarnation: how the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Read by the Dean.

Please remain standing to sing the

Hymn

1. O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant;
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the King of angels: