Puer natus est nobis, et fílius datus est nobis: cujus impérium super húmerum ejus: et vocábitur nomen ejus magni consílii Angelus...

Concéde, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut nos Unigéniti tui nova per carnem Natívitas líberet; quos sub peccáti jugo vetústa sérvitus tenet. Per eúndem Dóminum.

Statio ad Sanctam Mariam majorem

Introitus. Is. 9, 6. Puer natus est nobis, et fílius datus est nobis: cujus impérium super húmerum ejus: et vocábitur nomen ejus magni consílii Angelus. Ps. 97, 1. Cantáte Dómino cánticum novum, quia mirabília fecit. ℣. Glória Patri.

Kyrie, Gloria.

Oratio. Concéde, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut nos Unigéniti tui nova per carnem Natívitas líberet; quos sub peccáti jugo vetústa sérvitus tenet. Per eúndem Dóminum.

Léctio Epístolæ beáti Pauli Apóstoli ad Hebrǽos.
Hebr. 1, 1-12.
Multifáriam multísque modis olim Deus loquens pátribus in Prophétis: novíssime diébus istis locútus est nobis in Fílio, quem constítuit herédem universórum, per quem fecit et sǽcula: qui cum sit splendor glóriæ, et figúra substántia? ejus, portánsque ómnia verbo virtútis suæ, purgatiónem peccatórum fáciens, sedet ad déxteram majestátis in excélsis: tanto mélior Angelis efféctus, quanto differéntius præ illis nomen hereditávit. Cui enim dixit aliquándo Angelórum: Fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te? Et rursum: Ego  ero illi in patrem, et ipse erit mihi in fílium? Et cum íterum introdúcit Primogénitum in orbem terræ, dicit: Et adórent eum omnes Angeli Dei. Et ad Angelos quidem dicit: Qui facit Angelos suos spíritus, et minístros suos flammam ignis. Ad Fílium autem: Thronus tuus, Deus, in sǽculum sǽculi: virga æquitátis, virga regni tui. Dilexísti justítiam et odísti iniquitátem: proptérea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, óleo exsultatiónis præ particípibus tuis. Et: Tu in princípio, Dómine, terram fundásti: et ópera mánuum tuárum sunt cœli. Ipsi períbunt, tu autem permanébis; et omnes ut vestiméntum veteráscent: et velut amíctum mutábis eos, et mutabúntur: tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non defícient.

Graduale. Ps. 97, 3 et 2. Vidérunt omnes fines terræ salutare Dei nostri: jubiláte Deo, omnis terra. ℣. Notum fecit Dominus salutare suum: ante conspéctum géntium revelávit justitiam suam.

Allelúja, allelúja. ℣. Dies sanctificátus illúxit nobis: veníte, gentes, et adoráte Dóminum: quia hódie descéndit lux magna super terram. Allelúja.

At Saint-Eugène, the Sequence from the Proprium Parisiense.

Votis Pater annuit:
Justum pluunt sidera:
Salvatorem genuit
Intacta puerpera:
Homo Deus nascitur.

Superum concentibus
Panditur mysterium:
Nos mixti pastoribus
Cingamus præsepium
In quo Christus ponitur.

Tu lumen de lumine
Ante solem funderis:
Tu numen de Numine
Ab æterno gigneris,
Patri par progenies.

Tantus es! et superis,
Quæ te premit caritas,
Sedibus delaberis:
Ut surgat infirmitas
Infirmus humi jaces.

Quæ nocens debueram
Innocens exequeris:
Tu legi quam spreveram,
Legifer subjiceris:
Sic doces justitiam!

Cœlum cui regia,
Stabulum non respuis;
Qui donas imperia,
Servi formam induis:
Sic teris superbiam.

Nobis ultro similem
Te præbes in omnibus:
Debilibus debilem,
Mortalem mortalibus:
His trahis nos vinculis!

Cum ægris confunderis,
Morbi labem nesciens;
Pro peccato pateris
Peccatum non faciens:
Hoc uno dissimilis.

Summe Pater, Filium
Qui mittis ad hominem,
Gratiæ principium,
Salutis originem,
Da Jesum cognoscere.

Cujus igne cœlitus
Caritas accenditur,
Ades, alme Spiritus:
Qui pro nobis nascitur,
Da Jesum diligere. Amen. Alleluia.

✠ Initium sancti Evangélii secúndum Joánnem.
Joann, 1, 1-14.
In princípio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in princípio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt: et sine ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est: in ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hóminum: et lux in ténebris lucet, et ténebræ eam non comprehendérunt. Fuit homo missus a Deo, cui nomen erat Joánnes. Hic venit in testimónium, ut testimónium perhibéret de lúmine, ut omnes créderent per illum. Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimonium  perhibéret de lúmine. Erat lux vera, quæ illúminat omnem hóminem veniéntem in hunc mundum. In mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognóvit. In própria venit, et sui eum non recepérunt. Quotquot autem recepérunt eum, dedit eis potestátem fílios Dei fíeri, his, qui credunt in nómine ejus: qui non ex sanguínibus, neque ex voluntáte carnis, neque ex voluntáte viri, sed ex Deo nati sunt. [Hic genuflectitur] Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitávit in nobis: et vídimus glóriam ejus, glóriam quasi Unigéniti a Patre, plenum grátiæ et veritátis.

Credo.

Offertorium. Ps. 88,12 et 15. Tui sunt cœli et tua est terra: orbem terrárum et plenitúdinem ejus tu fundásti: justítia et judicium præparátio sedis tuæ.

Secreta. Obláta, Dómine, múnera, nova Unigéniti tui Nativitate sanctífica: nosque a peccatórum nostrórum máculis emúnda. Per eúndem Dóminum nostrum.

Præfatio de Nativitate.

Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutáre, nos tibi semper et ubíque grátias ágere: Dómine sancte, Pater omnípotens, ætérne Deus: Quia per incarnáti Verbi mystérium nova mentis nostræ óculis lux tuæ claritátis infúlsit: ut, dum visibíliter Deum cognóscimus, per hunc in invisibílium amorem rapiámur. Et ídeo cum Angelis et Archángelis, cum Thronis et Dominatiónibus cumque omni milítia cæléstis exércitus hymnum glóriæ tuæ cánimus, sine fine dicéntes:

Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei.

Communio. Ps. 97, 3. Vidérunt omnes fines terræ salutáre Dei nostri.

Postcommunio. Præsta, quǽsumus, omnípotens Deus: ut natus hódie Salvátor mundi, sicut divínæ nobis generatiónis est auctor; ita et immortalitátis sit ipse largítor: Qui tecum vivit et regnat.

In fine hujus Missæ legitur Evangelium Cum natus esset Jesus, quod habetur in Festo Epiphaniæ. I.e., the Last Gospel does not ever repeat the Gospel lesson of the day so another suitable lesson replaces it.

✠ Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Matthǽum.
Matt 2:1-12.
Cum natus esset Jesus in Béthlehem Juda in diébus Heródis regis, ecce, Magi ab Oriénte venerunt Jerosólymam, dicéntes: Ubi est, qui natus est rex Judæórum? Vidimus enim stellam ejus in Oriénte, et vénimus adoráre eum. Audiens autem Heródes rex, turbatus est, et omnis Jerosólyma cum illo. Et cóngregans omnes principes sacerdotum et scribas pópuli, sciscitabátur ab eis, ubi Christus nasceretur. At illi dixérunt ei: In Béthlehem Judæ: sic enim scriptum est per Prophétam: Et tu, Béthlehem terra Juda, nequaquam mínima es in princípibus Juda; ex te enim éxiet dux, qui regat pópulum meum Israël. Tunc Heródes, clam vocátis Magis, diligénter dídicit ab eis tempus stellæ, quæ appáruit eis: et mittens illos in Béthlehem, dixit: Ite, et interrogáte diligénter de púero: et cum invenéritis, renuntiáte mihi, ut et ego véniens adórem eum. Qui cum audíssent regem, abiérunt. Et ecce, stella, quam víderant in Oriénte, antecedébat eos, usque dum véniens staret supra, ubi erat Puer. Vidéntes autem stellam, gavísi sunt gáudio magno valde. Et intrántes domum, invenérunt Púerum cum María Matre ejus, hic genuflectitur et procidéntes adoravérunt eum. Et, apértis thesáuris suis, obtulérunt ei múnera, aurum, thus et myrrham. Et respónso accépto in somnis, ne redírent ad Heródem, per aliam viam revérsi sunt in regiónem suam.

✠   ✠   ✠

From Neumz, the commentary is on the Communio, which is evidently unchange at this Mass in the Pauline Rite. 

Today we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Nativity of Jesus, Son of God, Saviour of the human race. To commemorate such an important date, we at Neumz have chosen the communion chant Viderunt omnes. The text is taken from Psalm 97, the second hemistich of verse 3. It is a psalm that deals with the liberation of God’s people from the slavery of Egypt. Since this deliverance was the figure of the Redemption, it is the wonders of the Redemption that it prophecies. Furthermore, since these wonders will only have their fullness in the coming of the Glory, it only has its full meaning if it is understood in the sense of this supreme coming. The Church sings it here, at the moment of communion, with the joy of seeing it fulfilled before her eyes, for it is in the Eucharist that God’s Saviour, Christ, is seen, received, and brought by the Church to the ends of the earth.

Sung on Christmas Day, this verse retains all its prophetic meaning. At the time of Christ’s birth, what they proclaimed had not happened, nonetheless. However, as the work of Redemption unfolds, what was prophesied becomes more and more real. Today the whole world has seen salvation and that, in making Christ known, God has revealed his righteousness, in the sense that he has granted us what he had promised: Salvation for all nations, from one end of the earth to the other, as they say, from one end to the other end: the unity of Christ is very strong. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God!

As for the melody, it is composed in mode I, it has a serene and meditative character, it sings at this moment of communion of a reality that has been fulfilled (viderunt, saw) and invites us to savor it in all its richness. For such a great announcement, the composer has chosen the majesty of mode I. The piece begins in a very intimate manner, which agrees perfectly with the atmosphere of serious reflection on which the Church repeats the prophetic words. Viderunt omnes, all shall see, the melodic movement is pure reverence, is bowing down from the Fa, agile rising to the Sol, kneeling between the Fa and the Mi, and prostrating between the Do and the low Re. This is even more apparent in the restored porrectus of the Graduale Novum in the accent of viderunt, Sol-Mi-Da. But immediately the prayerful one raises his gaze and his prayer to the heights where he contemplates that supreme coming of the Saviour. Indeed, in the second incise, fines terrae, the ends of the earth, there is a beautiful movement of joyful contemplation that blossoms from the fundamental, the Re, ascends steadily, with impetus up to the Sol in the accent of fines, settles on the La and from there reaches in the accent of terrae, the Do, the summit of the piece, which resounds twice. From the Do, the prayerful one leans fervently to the Sol in a beautiful leap of a fourth, and in the posttonic syllable, a beautiful musical turn suspends the melody on the Mi. In these first two incises, the melody has encompassed the whole musical space, like the manifestation of God (viderunt omnes) it has been seen by all.

The musical instability, referring to that cadence in the Mi note, prompts one to follow quickly with the object of this vision: salutare Dei nostri, the Salvation of our God. The identical melody to the same textual passage of the communion Revelabitur of the Christmas Vigil Mass: et videbit omnis caro salutare Dei nostri, and all flesh (every being) shall see the Salvation of our God. Once again, the genius of the Gregorian composer appears, in two different contexts, Mass of the Christmas Vigil and Mass of Christmas Day, identical text, but while the Vigil announces what is imminently to come, videbit, will see, with the use of the future, Christmas Day is sung in the third mass of the day, it is sung already in the past tense, viderunt, they saw/have seen, as something that has already happened, realized. In salutare, Salvation, a beautiful melodic arc is traced, Fa-Do-Fa. From the Fa, the melodic movement starts again with impetuous joy towards the La of the word’s accent to crown this salvation, once again, at the Do, the point of arrival of the melodic ascent and descent. A climacus subtripunctis resupinus melodically designs a sublime, reverent, recollected inclination and places the melody on the Fa, which is utilized again in the last incise of this magnificent chant.

From the Fa begins the final cadence of the piece, Dei nostri, of our God, once again encompassing the entire musical range, everything that achieves salvation. From Fa La Do Fa, it moves on to the Fa Re Do low Fa La Re. In a special way, the melody gives a taste of this salvation in the word Dei, for which it has prepared a very ornate and detailed construction, with which it presents the author of salvation: Dei nostri, our God. In the accent of Dei, the melody first bows and prostrates itself again, with great reverence to the Do, as in the incipit of the piece: Fa-Re Fa-Mi-Do, and from there, it makes a fourth leap to the Fa and then to the La, with a majestic torculus of contemplation. From the La, in the posttonic syllable, it descends devoutly to the Fa, and then settles definitively on the Re, in the possessive adjective, our God, culminating in the Lord, our God, and our Saviour.