"" (O most holy) is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, seeking the prayers of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, and often sung in various languages on her

feast days The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

. The earliest known publication was from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1792, presenting it as a traditional song from

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

; no original source or date has been confirmed for the simple melody or poetic text. The tune is often called "Sicilian Mariners Hymn" or similar titles, referring to the seafarers' nightly invocation of Mary as maternal protector: The editor identified the article's author in his obituary:

Our Lady, Star of the Sea Our Lady, Star of the Sea is an ancient title for Mary, the mother of Jesus. The words ''Star of the Sea'' are a translation of the Latin title . The title has been in use since at least the early medieval period. Purportedly arising from a sc ...

. The tune has been notably reused for the German

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

" O du fröhliche" (O, how joyful) and the English recessional hymn "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing", and appears to have been adapted as the first half of the American Civil Rights anthem " We Shall Overcome". Similar Latin lyrics have been set to entirely different tunes since the 1500s, by notable composers and arrangers including Leonhard Kleber (probably editing another composer), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, E.T.A. Hoffmann,

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

, and Fritz Kreisler (using a melody of

Arcangelo Corelli Arcangelo Corelli (, also , ; ; 17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an List of Italian composers, Italian composer and violinist of the middle Baroque music, Baroque era. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of Sonata a ...

Latin lyric and English translation

Below is a common version of the text; many other versions exist. The first lines of the Latin text are similar to the final line of the 12th-century prayer '' Salve Regina'': "O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria." An 1820 book claims, without verification, that these words were already engraved at

Speyer Cathedral Speyer Cathedral, officially ''the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen'', in Latin: Domus sanctae Mariae Spirae (German: ''Dom zu Unserer lieben Frau in Speyer'') in Speyer, Germany, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bish ...

at the time of

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist. (; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order. Bernard was ...

(1090–1153). A 1612 book also associates the saint and the cathedral with these words, without claiming they were already engraved there during his lifetime.

Widening circulation

"O sanctissima" was published as "The Prayer of the Sicilian Mariners", with text and music for voice and harp, in Edward Jones's ''Miscellaneous Collection of French and Italian Ariettas''. His undated publication is sometimes estimated as 1785, but his cited position as Bard to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales did not begin until "about 1790". The hymn was published anonymously by '' European Magazine'' in 1792 and then by an American magazine in 1794. By the early 1800s, "O sanctissima" was spreading widely in multiple languages. J.G. Herder included the song posthumously in his prominent book of traditional folksongs (', 1807), while

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

( Hob. XXIIIc:F2) and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

( WoO 157:4) each wrote choral

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

s of the Latin hymn. A German-language version (" O du fröhliche", c.1816) became a well-known

, with original lyrics by J.D. Falk referring not to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but rather to

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

himself and his day of birth. In English: O, how joyfully; O, how merrily Christmas comes with its grace divine. Grace again is beaming; Christ the world redeeming. Hail, ye Christians, hail the joyous Christmas time! Or, in another English-language rendition: O thou happy, O thou holy, Glorious peace bringing Christmas time. Angel throngs to meet thee; on Thy birth we greet Thee: Hail to Christ, the Son of God, our newborn king! In the 20th century, a group of textual variants commonly known as "O Thou Joyful" became popular in the United States. Although most of these texts are anonymous, one has been attributed to William Glass. By 1835, the tune (with its first half repeated) also came to be used for the English recessional hymn "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing", and by 1945 it appears to have influenced the melody of the American civil rights anthem " We Shall Overcome", with a close match between the chantlike first half of both tunes.

References

External links

* *, The Cathedral Singers, Richard Proulx {{Authority control Christmas carols Hymn tunes Italian Christian hymns Christian hymns in Latin Marian hymns Music of Sicily