Lyrics

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Words: 15th Century carol; translated by Theodore Baker, 1894; John C. Mattes, 1914
Tune: Es Ist Ein Ros', Alte Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesang (Koln, Germany, 1599)

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Isaiah 11:1

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

O Savior, Child of Mary, Who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory, Who dost our weakness know;
Bring us at length we pray, to the bright courts of Heaven,
And to the endless day!