Christmas Novena Memories

One of my fondest memories from my high school years at St Francis in Watsonville was our participation in the Christmas novena each year. This began on the evening of 16 December and continued until Christmas Eve. Of course we were all home usually by the Saturday before Christmas, so those few days in which we were able to join in that prayer service were intense.

As I remember it, during the first year that I participated, as a freshman, the vice-principal (we called him the Prefect of Studies) explained the celebration to us. This was part of his role. He was the member of the school administration to bring the new boys, freshmen and others, into the traditions of the school and of the Salesian world. My first year the Prefect of Studies was particularly keen on doing this, perhaps because he was a natural-born storyteller. I'm speaking of Fr Larry, who was 40 years old at the time. 

Winter scene of St Francis, inner courtyard, back in the day

Anyway, according to the authoritative and loquacious Fr Larry, the novena that we were singing was originally composed in Latin and came, not from Rome, but from Turin (Torino). We would be singing the same verses and praying the same prayers that St John Bosco and his boys sang and prayed 100 years before us. This was very impressive to me, as a fourteen-year old. That Don Bosco himself said these words: whoa! Of course, the words were all from Scripture, but Fr Larry did not tell us that, and it did not occur to me that we would be praying the words pronounced by Isaiah and the prophets and the psalmists as we sung the evening novena… therefore, the words that the Jewish and Christian community had cherished for thousands of years. Maybe Fr Larry was more Bosconian than scriptural, or maybe he thought this would be too much for us to fathom or appreciate. Who knows? In fact, 100 years were enough for me. 

Saints John Bosco and Dominic Savio: old polychrome statue now at Camp St Francis, Aptos

The first time I joined in and sang these prayers, I imagined the spirits of the boys from Don Bosco's first Oratory sitting with us in the benches, singing the same words, praying that the Savior would come without delay. The opening refrain for the singing of the prophecies was melodic and pleading but joyful at the same time: 

The Lord our King is drawing near: o come, let us adore Him! 

Two of the fourth-year boys sang the prophecies in a duet, and we all responded with the refrain. By the end of the first evening, I knew the refrain by heart, both the melody and the words. It has remained with me until this day. 

Remembering the words and the melody is very good, because this year in Rome, as in every year that I have been here, the three communities of the professors will join together in the evening to sing the same novena. We will sing it in Latin and Italian, but the content of the texts and the melodies are the same. 

Regem venturum Dominum, venite adoremus.

The Lord our King is drawing near: o come, let us adore Him!