Again, Rejoice! — Our Version of Gaudete, 1582 | Ancient Healing Sounds

One word, sung to a crowd: Gaudete — 'Rejoice ye.' Not rejoice quietly, not rejoice alone — rejoice, all of you, together. The carol was printed in 1582 in the Piae Cantiones, the songbook of the cathedral school at Turku, Finland — the first Finnish music ever printed, compiled by the school's headmaster, Jacobus Finno, and published by his student Theodoricus Petri. If you have heard our 'Let Resound Today,' this is its sister: Personent Hodie stands in the same book, a few pages away. Gaudete is older than its printing — a form of it appears in a Bohemian hymnal around 1420, and the 1582 book gives no music for its verses at all; the tune the world sings comes from still older liturgical books. Its verses tell the feast in four breaths: the time of grace has come; God is made man and the world made new; Ezekiel's shut gate is passed through and light is risen; therefore let the whole assembly sing. The Church loved the word so much she named a day for it — Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, when the purple warms to rose and the candle of joy is lit, because St Paul said it twice: 'Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.' And in 1973, a British folk-rock band, Steeleye Span, sang this carol in Latin, with no instruments at all, and took it to No. 14 in the UK charts — candles on Top of the Pops. This is our own version: new English words for the old command, the doubling kept — rejoice, and again, rejoice. 🎧 Best with headphones, low volume. 🕯️ An original composition — our own new words and music in the spirit of the old carol, created in our studio as a listening space for prayer and reflection; not a historical recording. ▶️ Continue the journey — ALL JOURNEYS playlist:    • All Journeys   🙏 If this journey brought you a moment of peace, a like helps it reach others who are seeking rest — and subscribe to Ancient Healing Sounds for a new sound journey every day. Ancient Healing Sounds offers original sound journeys inspired by the world's sacred music traditions. This is music for rest and reflection; it is not medical treatment.