Today we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Nativity of Jesus, Son of God, Saviour of the human race. To commemorate such an important date, we at Neumz have chosen the communion chant Viderunt omnes. The text is taken from Psalm 97, the second hemistich of verse 3. It is a psalm that deals with the liberation of God's people from the slavery of Egypt. Since this deliverance was the figure of the Redemption, it is the wonders of the Redemption that it prophesies. Furthermore, since these wonders will only have their fullness in the coming of the Glory, it only has its full meaning if it is understood in the sense of this supreme coming. The Church sings it here, at the moment of communion, with the joy of seeing it fulfilled before her eyes, for it is in the Eucharist that God's Saviour, Christ, is seen, received, and brought by the Church to the ends of the earth.

Sung on Christmas Day, this verse retains all its prophetic meaning. At the time of Christ's birth, what they proclaimed had not happened, nonetheless. However, as the work of Redemption unfolds, what was prophesied becomes more and more real. Today the whole world has seen salvation and that, in making Christ known, God has revealed his righteousness, in the sense that he has granted us what he had promised: Salvation for all nations, from one end of the earth to the other, as they say, from one end to the other end: the unity of Christ is very strong. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God! 

As for the melody, it is composed in mode I, it has a serene and meditative character, it sings at this moment of communion of a reality that has been fulfilled (viderunt, saw) and invites us to savor it in all its richness. For such a great announcement, the composer has chosen the majesty of mode I. The piece begins in a very intimate manner, which agrees perfectly with the atmosphere of serious reflection on which the Church repeats the prophetic words. Viderunt omnes, all shall see, the melodic movement is pure reverence, is bowing down from the Fa, agile rising to the Sol, kneeling between the Fa and the Mi, and prostrating between the Do and the low Re. This is even more apparent in the restored porrectus of the Graduale Novum in the accent of viderunt, Sol-Mi-Da. But immediately the prayerful one raises his gaze and his prayer to the heights where he contemplates that supreme coming of the Saviour. Indeed, in the second incise, fines terrae, the ends of the earth, there is a beautiful movement of joyful contemplation that blossoms from the fundamental, the Re, ascends steadily, with impetus up to the Sol in the accent of fines, settles on the La and from there reaches in the accent of terrae, the Do, the summit of the piece, which resounds twice. From the Do, the prayerful one leans fervently to the Sol in a beautiful leap of a fourth, and in the posttonic syllable, a beautiful musical turn suspends the melody on the Mi. In these first two incises, the melody has encompassed the whole musical space, like the manifestation of God (viderunt omnes) it has been seen by all.

The musical instability, referring to that cadence in the Mi note, prompts one to follow quickly with the object of this vision: salutare Dei nostri, the Salvation of our God. The identical melody to the same textual passage of the communion Revelabitur of the Christmas Vigil Mass: et videbit omnis caro salutare Dei nostri, and all flesh (every being) shall see the Salvation of our God. Once again, the genius of the Gregorian composer appears, in two different contexts, Mass of the Christmas Vigil and Mass of Christmas Day, identical text, but while the Vigil announces what is imminently to come, videbit, will see, with the use of the future, Christmas Day is sung in the third mass of the day, it is sung already in the past tense, viderunt, they saw/have seen, as something that has already happened, realized. In salutare, Salvation, a beautiful melodic arc is traced, Fa-Do-Fa. From the Fa, the melodic movement starts again with impetuous joy towards the La of the word's accent to crown this salvation, once again, at the Do, the point of arrival of the melodic ascent and descent. A climacus subtripunctis resupinus melodically designs a sublime, reverent, recollected inclination and places the melody on the Fa, which is utilized again in the last incise of this magnificent chant. 

From the Fa begins the final cadence of the piece, Dei nostri, of our God, once again encompassing the entire musical range, everything that achieves salvation. From Fa La Do Fa, it moves on to the Fa Re Do low Fa La Re. In a special way, the melody gives a taste of this salvation in the word Dei, for which it has prepared a very ornate and detailed construction, with which it presents the author of salvation: Dei nostri, our God. In the accent of Dei, the melody first bows and prostrates itself again, with great reverence to the Do, as in the incipit of the piece: Fa-Re Fa-Mi-Do, and from there, it makes a fourth leap to the Fa and then to the La, with a majestic torculus of contemplation. From the La, in the posttonic syllable, it descends devoutly to the Fa, and then settles definitively on the Re, in the possessive adjective, our God, culminating in the Lord, our God, and our Saviour.