Hymn Guide: Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming
“Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” is perhaps the most lovely of all Advent hymns. The image of a rose blooming in winter, emerging from a tender stem, reflects both the beauty and the vulnerability of baby Jesus and his mother Mary. As we sing in awe of God’s humility and of Mary’s faith, we are also aware that a rose can only live so long. Just as the petals of a rose inevitably fall, so Jesus will only flourish for a time before he dies.
The hymn derives from an anonymous medieval German text, probably written for the observance of O Radix Jesse (meaning “O Root of Jesse”), the third of the O Antiphons. It was subsequently adapted by both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic communities, with Lutheran versions placing greater emphasis on Jesus and Roman Catholic versions on Mary. We don’t know who wrote the original tune, but Praetorius wrote a harmonization in 1609 that is still used today.
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Verse by Verse
Verse 1
Lo, how a rose e’er blooming,
From tender stem hath sprung.
Of Jesse’s lineage coming,
As seers of old have sung;
It came, a blossom bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.
The first verse uses an envelope structure, beginning with a blooming rose and returning to it at the end. The rose is vulnerable in both references, but in different ways. First, the rose has come from a tender stem, which makes us wonder about its inner strength. Second, the rose has blossomed in the cold, which makes us wonder about an external threat. The two threats, both internal and external, create a feeling of both wonder and concern for this beautiful but vulnerable flower.
Notice that in this first verse, there is still no reference to Jesus or Mary. Like the seers of old, this verse sees the shape of the messiah to come, but does not grasp all the details. What it does know is that this rose comes from the lineage of Jesse, which is to say, he descends from the father of David.
Verse 2
Isaiah ’twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind,
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind;
To show God’s love aright,
She bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.
The second verse makes the story more explicit. First, it refers directly to Isaiah, the seer of old, who wrote about the root of Jesse and the fruit it would bear.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse
Isaiah 11:1
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
This is where the Roman Catholic and the Lutheran traditions diverge. The Roman Catholic of the second verse identifies Mary as the rose, the little flower. In the Lutheran version, the rose is the Savior, Jesus, who is beheld together with Mary.
Anglicans follow the Lutheran understanding here, seeing Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of the Root of Jesse. But this is not meant as a sleight to Mary. Anglicans do hold a high view of Mary, especially in our understanding that Mary is theotokos, the mother of God.
As the mother of Jesus, Mary was intimately connected to his flourishing. If Jesus is the blossom, Mary was the bud, and her swelling body was the sign of hope in the midst of our cosmic winter.
Verse 3
O Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispel with glorious splendour
The darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God,
From Sin and death now save us,
And share our every load.
Once a rose emerges from its bud, it yields a sweet and glorious fragrance that attracts people to itself. So it was with Jesus, whose every word was true and whose ministry was magnetic. Yet in the moment a rose gives itself, we already know it is approaching its end. We know its petals will fall. So too with Jesus.
The last lines of the hymn point forward to the hope that Jesus’ death will be of greater consequence than the ending of a rose. But how is this possible? How can a flower save us from sin and death? Only if it is both creature and creator, both human and divine.
Imagine a rose that is crushed to make perfume, but which, on the third day, miraculously blossoms again.
On Video
The first video is a brilliant choral rendition by Richard Proulx and the Cathedral Singers. The second is a contemplative contemporary rendition featuring both acoustic and electric guitar by Jess Ray and Langdon.
Image: photo by aybecen from Getty Images, courtesy of Canva. Digitally edited by Jacob Davis.
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