The following is a sort of Christmas carol from the Colmar manuscript, dated to the 12th century.
De nativitate domini.
- Fregit Adam interdictum
- et reliquit hoc delictum
- posteris miseris
- poenam culpae veteris;
- libera conditio
- mergitur in vitio,
- viget in natura
- conjectura.
- o quanta miseria!
- Fregit homo pactum dei
- unde sumus omnes rei
- patimur, labimur
- aeternumque morimur
- donec virgo peperit,
- quae naturam praeterit
- sola praeter morem
- pium redemptorem.
- o quanta miseria!
- Hic adjutor opportunus
- a peccato liber unus
- exstitit, restitit
- hosti, qui nos perdidit;
- qui dum petit humilem,
- tentat ut vincibilem,
- satan enervatur,
- vincit, qui temptatur.
- o quanta victoria!
The Latin is weak but the sense is clear. The poem is composed in a triad (a trinity?):
- Part One: Adam broke god’s law, leaving sin as the inheritance of his kind. (O how great is the misery!)
- Part Two: Man suffers and dies until a virgin — contrary to nature — bears a redeemer. (O how great is the misery!)
- Part Three: This redeemer is reduced to a lowly condition and is tempted by Satan, but stands his ground and defeats the enemy of man. (O how great is the victory!)
It’s interesting that Satan isn’t mentioned in the beginning, but everyone must be expected to know how Adam broke the law, and that Satan was involved. It’s also odd that the piece should be titled ‘De nativitate domini’ (‘On the Lord’s birth’), since it’s really about sin.
The logic will always escape me, however, that the sins of the father should be visited upon the children (why are we all guilty, ‘sumus omnes rei’?) until god the father redeems the world through his child.