Why This Dark, Ancient Lullaby Still Belongs in Christmas: The Story of ‘The Coventry Carol’

“I have a kind of a theory that if Matthew was writing a Gospel today, he’d be using hypertext in it for his quotations,” Cooke added. “Because I think often what we find with these quotations that appear in Matthew’s Gospel is that there’s much more to them and much greater depth of meaning than we often have noticed.”

Regarding Matthew’s quote of Jeremiah, Cooke pointed out, “If you trace it back actually to the Book of Jeremiah, the thing that jumps out at you is that that verse is the only one that is about sadness and mourning. All the rest of the chapter is about hope and looking to the future.” 

“I think what Matthew’s trying to do is to point out to us that even in the depths of that despair, actually there is hope,” he said. “And the point about it in a way is the Herods of this world don’t ultimately win, however much pain and suffering we go through. And that is quite an important Christmas message, actually.”

“The Coventry Carol” has more than once survived nearly being destroyed and lost to history, “first through Henry VIII’s destruction of Catholic churches and monasteries and his suppression of Catholic coded arts,” said Van Dorn, and second from a fire at a library in Birmingham. Both times, the song was preserved “by an ordinary tradesman” who transcribed the carol. It was after the fire that “The Coventry Carol” was “rebranded as a Christmas carol,” Van Dorn said.

During the episode, Van Dorn spoke to Rachel Mahon, director of music at Coventry Cathedral about the musical construction of the song. Van Dorn also talked to Carvell about the special connection “The Coventry Carol” has with the medieval Coventry Cathedral, which was demolished in an air raid in the middle of World War II. After the attack, Provost Richard Howard inscribed on the back of the ruins the words, “Father forgive.” The cathedral has since been rebuilt. 

“For five centuries, this song and this space were intertwined. And at various points in history, each was consumed in flames,” said Van Dorn. “And more than just a storied connection, maybe singing this tale of lamentation allowed people to grieve and make space for the seeds of forgiveness to grow.”

“I think ‘The Coventry Carol’ is a remarkable carol because Christmas is a time we associate with joy, with family, often with children,” Rev. Kate Massey, the cathedral’s minister for arts and reconciliation, told Van Dorn. “And it is a time that can seem uncomplicatedly happy. But actually, that’s not the world we live in. And that’s not the world that Jesus came into.”

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“I think what breaks my heart even more when I think of this carol,” said Massey, “is that there are mothers and fathers and aunts and godparents around the world today who are soothing their children who are hungry.”

They “are soothing their children who are living through conflicts, [and they] cannot keep them safe from the world’s dangers but still are loving them and comforting them in that space,” she said. “I think it’s an incredibly powerful carol from that point of view.”

In 1947, Coventry Cathedral lived out Howard’s call to forgiveness and established its first relationship with a church in Germany. This partnership grew into “a worldwide network” known as the Community of the Cross of Nails.

“I think if Jesus is prepared to step into that space, it just brings home that knowledge that no matter where you are, no matter how difficult things are, there is no place where God isn’t,” said Massey.

“And God doesn’t leave us in these places of suffering and struggle,” she said, “but inhabits them with us.”