Cherished Christmas Carols from Sister Mary Matthias Ward

As a special way to celebrate Advent in 2022, the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph were asked to name their favorite hymn or song for the Christmas season, and why they like it. We’ll be bringing you their replies until Christmas in “Cherished Christmas Carols.”
 
Our first participant is Sister Mary Matthias Ward, whose mother taught in a public school in her hometown of Clementsville, Ky.
 
“’O Come All Ye Faithful’” is my favorite. It was most likely the one I knew by heart first. When I was in grade school, my brother and I enjoyed going to my mom’s school. We could go on Holy Days when the Catholic school was closed, and the public school was open. It was December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception), and the teacher’s kids were coming. We felt like hot stuff. Irvin and I decided to sing for the students. I would sing ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ and he would sing ‘Adeste Fideles’ at the same time. Now I am pretty much a non-singer, but I sang my part. He did his all at the same time. The kids clapped and clapped for us. And indeed, we had done a stunt … a bilingual hymn and we had no idea what we were doing.”
 
Here are versions of both songs for you to enjoy:

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