O Come, Divine Messiah

O Come, Divine Messiah is a popular Christian hymn for the season of Advent before Christmas. It recalls the time of waiting of the people of Israel before the birth of Christ. This song is at the same time a call to adore Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist. The melody is taken from an old Christmas song of the 16th century, Let your beasts graze.

History
O Come, Divine Messiah is adapted from the old traditional French Christmas song Let your beasts graze, attested in the former French province of Bresse in the 16th century. The melody had already been plagiarized for satirical uses. The lyrics are the work of Abbot Simon-Joseph Pellegrin in the first half of the 18th century, who composed for the attention of the young Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr at the Maison royale de Saint-Louis many verses on the songs of the old Christmases of France, in order to modernize the text. The melody was also used by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in his Messe de minuit pour Noël.

Since the 19th century, a modern version of the text, considerably impoverished, and a 4-part harmonization written in 1845 by Abbé Lambert have been in use in Catholic communities in France.

In 1872, the carol was translated into English by Sister Mary of Saint Philip.

Lyrics
The original lyrics of Simon-Joseph Pellegrin (1663–1745) are inspired from Isaiah 4:14, Luke 2:4-14 and John 3:16-18.