original lyrics by J.D. Falk referring not to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but rather to Jesus himself and his day of birth. In English: O, how joyfully; O, how merrily Christmas comes with its grace divine. Grace again is beaming; Christ the world redeeming. Hail, ye Christians, hail the joyous Christmas time! Or, in another English-language rendition: O thou happy, O thou holy, Glorious peace bringing Christmas time. Angel throngs to meet thee; on Thy birth we greet Thee: Hail to Christ, the Son of God, our newborn king! In the 20th century, a group of textual variants commonly known as "O Thou Joyful" became popular in the United States. Although most of these texts are anonymous, one has been attributed to William Glass. By 1835, the tune (with its first half repeated) also came to be used for the English recessional hymn "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing", and by 1945 it appears to have influenced the melody of the American civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome", with a close match between the chantlike first half of both tunes. References External links , The Cathedral Singers, Richard Proulx Christmas carols Hymn tunes Italian Christian hymns Latin-language Christian hymns Marian hymns Music of Sicily