Infant Holy, Infant Lowly: A Song History

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"Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" is Edith M. G. Reed's English version of "W żłobie leży" ("In a manger lies"), a Polish Christmas carol whose text Hymnary.org lists as attributed to Piotr Skarga.[1] How old the carol is remains uncertain: the Psalter Hymnal Handbook (1988), reproduced on Hymnary.org, suggests it may reach back to the thirteenth or fourteenth century but says it was not printed until 1908, in Spiewniczek Piesni Koscielne.[1] C. Michael Hawn's "History of Hymns" column for Discipleship Ministries gives the same early date as a possibility and names the same 1908 songbook as the one in which Reed found the carol.[2] Hymnals do not all agree, though: The Sing! Hymnal (2025) cites a Śpiewnik Kościelny of 1838 as its source, while Together in Song (1999) gives the thirteenth century only with a question mark.[1]

Woodcut of the Nativity, with Mary kneeling before the Christ Child in a ruined stable

Albrecht Dürer, The Nativity, woodcut, c. 1502–3. A Nativity scene, shown for the carol's subject.

Reed, born in Islington in 1885, trained at London's Guildhall School of Music, made children's music education her life's work, and worked with Percy Scholes on magazines that included Music and Youth.[1] Hawn adds that she was an associate of the Royal College of Organists and wrote a Nativity play, Christmastide (1932), as well as Story Lives of the Great Composers (1925).[2] Both the handbook and Hawn say her translation appeared in Music and Youth in December 1921, but sources differ: Voices Together (2020) traces it instead to the December 1920 issue of Primary Education, a monthly journal for primary teachers.[1][2] Several hymnals, the Baptist Hymnal of 2008 among them, name the Kingsway Carol Book, to which Reed contributed, as a source.[1]

The Psalter Hymnal Handbook, quoted on Hymnary.org, describes the tune, W ZLOBIE LEZY, as an AABA melody held together by a steady mazurka rhythm.[3] Hawn notes that its stately triple time has led some to call it the first polonaise, a comparison he treats with caution.[2] Hymnary.org traces the text through 118 hymnals, among them The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), and Glory to God (2013).[1] Larry Conger sets it in DAD tuning in Christmas Duets For Mountain Dulcimer, a 31-page collection of his mountain dulcimer arrangements that comes with an MP3 recording of each song, published by Fingers Of Steel.[4]

Our book that contains the song "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly"

Sources

  1. Hymnary.org: "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly".
  2. Discipleship Ministries: "History of Hymns: 'Infant Holy, Infant Lowly'" (C. Michael Hawn).
  3. Hymnary.org: "W ZLOBIE LEZY".
  4. Fingers Of Steel: "Larry Conger, Christmas Duets For Mountain Dulcimer".
  5. Image: Albrecht Dürer, The Nativity, woodcut, c. 1502–3. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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