Despite the decreasing relevance of the Latin language in the modern world, the sound of sung Latin still seems to embody a kind of magical reverence unmatched among other Western musical languages. In this setting of the traditional « O Magnum Mysterium, » I have juxtaposed the original Latin with an English paraphrase in the hope that contemporary listeners will be able to experience the awe of the « great mystery » hundreds of years after the prayer was first penned, and millennia after its story is said to have taken place.

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O magnum mysterium
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
jacentem in praesepio.
O beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt
portare Dominum Jesum Christum.
Alleluia.

– Anonymous, c. 10th century

O great mystery
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should behold the new-born Lord
lying in a manger.
O blessed Virgin, whose womb bore
our saviour Christ the Lord.
Alleluia.

– Paraphrase by the composer