En, Nocte Venit Media

Today's selection is the English carol "It Came Upon The Midnight Clear," which was first published in 1849. You can find the English lyrics with MIDI files and sheet music at the Hymns and Carols of Christmas website. There is also a Wikipedia article about this carol.

I found online this Latin translation by Robert J. M. Lindsay:

En, nocte venit media
antiquum canticum,
terraeque lyris angeli
civere sonitum:
"Pax orbi et hominibus;
a Deo gratia!"
Audivit summo reverens
silentio terra.

Adhuc nunc alis devolant
per caelum expansis;
adhuc et cantus dispergunt
mortalibus fessis,
et tristes atque desertos
campos pervolitant,
semperque mundi strepitum
canentes superant.

Bellis peccatisque diu
hic mundus laesus est.
Annorum duo milia
iniusta passus est,
nec hoc amoris canticum
bellantes audiunt.
Tumultuosi, silete,
dum angeli canunt!

Nam dies mox approperant
praedicti prophetis,
cum redit aetas aurea
volventibus annis,
cum pax antiquam gloriam
terris obiciet,
et carmen, quod nunc angelis
canunt, orbis reddet.

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You can sing along with Norah Jones:

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(about this image)

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