Sleep, Holy Babe (Free Christmastide Hymn)

A marvelous hymn recently came to my attention: Sleep, Holy Babe, by Fr. Edward Caswall (1850). This hymn is curious in its meter, which is irregular, and yet marvelous in its imagery, which recalls the ‘reason for the season’ ie—that Christ was born to suffer for our sins.

There is an excellent blog article over at Mother of Mercy Catholic Hymns, all about this text and its history. There are a few obscure melodies that have been paired with this text, and while I found myself somewhat partial to one of them, I feel secure in the assumption that these melodies are practically unknown within wider catholicism, even if particular parishes know a certain melody here or there.

It was my goal, therefore, to find some sort of familiar melody to which the text could be sung more comfortably by all. As previously mentioned, the text is a rather irregular meter (so far as hymn poetry is concerned), which made this a challenge. To my surprise and delight, however, I discovered that with a minor rhythmic tweak, it is possible to adapt the famous Coventry Carol to work with the text. This melody is fairly well known, and seems rather appropriate when you consider the latter half of this text, and the original context of the Coventry Carol.

So without further ado, I present to you my adaptation, which I offer to all, free of charge. You are welcome to use/share this adaptation. This text deserves to be better-known!