Angels We Have Heard On High

Many years ago, shepherds tending their flocks in the wintry hills of southern France had a custom of calling to one another on Christmas Eve, each from his own peak, singing "Gloria in excelsis Deo, gloria in excelsis Deo," just as the angels might have first announced the birth of Christ. The traditional tune the shepherds used, probably from a late medieval Latin chorale, is the refrain of "Angels We Have Heard on High." The music for the verse -- probably from the 18th century -- comes from a different source (a popular tune of the time), as does the text itself, a translation of the old French carol "Les Anges dans Nos Campagnes." They were first published together in a carol collection dated 1855.

Translated from French to English by Bishop James Chadwick (1813-1882); Appeared in Holy Family Hymns (1860) and The Crown of Jesus Music (1864, adapted by Henri Friedrich Hémy).