O very God of very God

O very God of very God.  John Mason Neale* (1818-1866). This is from Neale’s Hymns for Children, Third Series (1846), for 21 December, based on the Antiphon for that day, ‘O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae ’ (for the ‘greater Antiphons’ of Advent, see ‘O come, O come Emmanuel’*). It is a hymn that was written in simple language, but the metaphors of light and sun were suitable for children who could appreciate the figurative diction of the hymn. The first stanza echoes the language of the ‘Credo’ from the Mass: ‘Deum de Deo, Lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo’. It was headed ‘December 21, called O Oriens’:  O very God of very God,  And very Light of Light, Whose feet this earth’s dark...