Back to andrewdownes.com

Music Education
Resources by Paula Downes, a lot of music by Andrew Downes

Once in Royal David's City Free Animation!

Watch all our Christmas Carol Videos on one continuous playlist:

Lyrics

Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy.

And through all His wondrous childhood
He would honor and obey,
Love and watch the lowly maiden,
In whose gentle arms He lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.

For he is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day, like us He grew;
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above,
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him; but in heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high;
Where like stars His children crowned
All in white shall wait around.

Activities

Imagine Jesus is a pupil in your class at your school a write an account of a typical school day with Jesus.

Design a Christmas Card based on this Carol.

Sing the first verse as a solo to your friends and family.

History

This Christmas Carol was originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander and was published in 1848 in Miss Cecil Humphreys' hymnbook Hymns for little Children. A year later, the English organist Henry John Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music.  Since 1919, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at the King's College Chapel Cambridge has begun its Christmas Eve service, with Dr Arthur Henry Mann's arrangement of this carol as the Processional hymn.  In this arrangement, the first verse is sung by a solo chorister.

Home>Christmas Carols>Once In Royal David's City

Music Education
Resources by Paula Downes, a lot of music by Andrew Downes

Back to andrewdownes.com

Follow Cynthia Downes on Instagram to keep up-to-date with her blog posts.