Candlemas
February 2, 2022
TODAY, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, or Candlemas, is the last day of the liturgical Christmas season.
The angel-lights of Christmas morn,
Which shot across the sky,
Away they pass at Candlemas,
They sparkle and they die.
Comfort of earth is brief at best,
Although it be divine;
Like funeral lights for Christmas gone,
Old Simeon’s tapers shine. (Source)
Above is one more beautiful carol for the season.
It is based on the story of King Cnut, also known as Canute, and his visit to Ely Abbey on Candlemas in the eleventh century. Canute, of Denmark, was famous for his brutality in his invasion of England. “He came as an invader and ruthless destroyer, and by a change of temperament as remarkable as it was far-reaching in its effects, remained to rule, in justice and peace, a people whose part he wholly espoused. ” (Source)
The Clerk of Oxford tells the story:
“King Cnut was making his way to Ely by boat, accompanied by Emma, his queen, and the nobles of the kingdom, desiring to celebrate solemnly there, in accordance with custom, the Purification of St Mary, starting from which date the abbots of Ely are accustomed to hold, in their turn, their position of service in the royal court. When they were approaching the land, the king rose up in the middle of his men and directed the boatmen to make for the little port at full speed, and then ordered them to pull the boat forward more slowly as it came in. As he turned his eyes towards the church which stood out at a distance, situated as it was at the top of a rocky eminence, he heard the sound of sweet music echoing on all sides, and, with ears alert, began to drink in the melody more fully the closer he approached. For he realised that it was the monks singing psalms in the monastery and chanting clearly the Divine Hours. He urged the others who were present in the boats to come round about him and sing, joining him in jubilation. Expressing with his own mouth his joyfulness of heart, he composed aloud a song in English the beginning of which runs as follows:
Merie sungen ðe muneches binnen Ely
ða Cnut ching reu ðer by.
Roweþ cnites noer the lant
and here we þes muneches sæng.
[Merry sang the monks in Ely
When Cnut the king rowed by;
‘Row, men, near the land
And let us hear these monks sing.’]
Here is the “Carol of King Cnut” set to music by Benjamin Britten:
Carol of King Cnut
O merry rang the hymn
Across the fenlands dim;
O joy the day!
When Cnut the king sailed by,
O row my men, more nigh
And hear that holy cry,
Sing Gloria!
From Ely Minster then
Rang out across the fen
O Gloria!
The good monks’ merry song
That rolled its aisles among,
And echoed far and long :
Sing joy the day!
It was the Christmas morn
Whereon the child was born
(O joy the day!)
On lily banks among
Where fragrant flowers do throng
For maiden posies sprung?
Ah nay! ah nay!
It was the winter cold
Whereon the tale was told
(O joy the day!)
What hap did then befall
To men and women all
From that poor cattle stall,
O Gloria!
The shepherds in a row
Knelt by the cradle low,
O joy the day!
And told the angel song
They heard, their sheep among,
When all the heavenly throng
Sang gloria!
Glory to God on high,
Who bringeth men anigh,
O Gloria!
And war’s black death did ban,
And peace on earth began
And Christ the Word made man!
Sing joy the day!
Sing joy, my masters, sing,
And let the welkin ring,
O Gloria!
And Nowell! Nowell! cry
The Child is King most High
O sovran victory!
Sing joy the day!
