O Blessed Day, When First Was Pour'd

Feast Of The Circumcision
January 1

Compare: Oh, Happy Day, When First Was Poured (from John Chandler, 1837)
O Happy Day, When First Was Poured (from Percy Dearmer, 1906)

Words: John Chandler and Compilers
From the Latin Felix dies, quam proprio of Abbé Sebastien Besnault, d. 1724

Music: "Alfreton," Supplement to the New Version, 1708
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF
Meter: LM

Source: Monk and Steggall, eds., Hymns Ancient and Modern. London: William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1889, #71, p. 70.

1. O blessed day, when first was pour'd
The Blood of our Redeeming Lord:
O blessed day, when first began
His sufferings borne for sinful man!

2. Scarce enter'd on this life of woe,
His Infant Blood begins to flow;
A foretaste of His death He feels,
An earnest of His love reveals.

3. From Heav'n descending to fulfil
The bidding of His Father's Will,
A Victim even now He lies
Before the day of sacrifice.

4. For love of us His woes begin;
The sinless suffers for our sin;
The Law's great Maker for our aid
Obedient to the Law is made.

5. The wound His through the Law endures
Our freedom from that Law secures;
Henceforth a holier law prevails,
The law of love which never fails.

6. Lord, circumcise our hearts, we pray,
And take what is not Thine away;
Write Thine own Name within our hearts,
Thy law upon our inmost parts.

7. O Lord, the Virgin-born, to Thee
Eternal praise and glory be,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Ghost for evermore.

Sheet Music From Thomas Helmore and Thomas Morley, eds., Music of the Appendix to the Hymnal Noted. Containing nearly 250 Tunes for Long, Common, Short, and Peculiar Metres; together with several Gregorian Hymns and Antiphons; the Eight Gregorian Tones; the music of the Reproaches; the Seven Last Words; and Litany Tunes; &c. Second Edition. (Novello, Ewer & Co., No Date, ca. 1870), #130, p. 140. Also known as "The Tune Book as Used at St. Albans, Holborn."

See and play the Noteworthy Composer score if you have installed the NoteWorthy Composer Browser Plug-in Alfreton Das walt - O Happy Day, When First Was Poured Only tested by Noteworthy for Netscape, Opera, and IE Browsers (Versions 4 or 5) In my experience, it also works with Firefox.

Editor's Note:

January 1 is the Octave of Christmas, and the start of the New Year. This is also the feast of the Circumcision of Christ, His first spilling of His blood for all mankind. Especially since the Second Vatican Council, the emphasis has changed to celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of Christ, and as a day of prayer for world peace.

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