Eia mea anima, Bethlehem eamus. J. Mauburn. [Christmas.] In his Rosetum exercitiorum spiritualium et sacrarum meditationum, N. P. 1494 [Brit. Mus.], this is found at folio 104 b, as a Rosary on the Birth of Christ, in 13 stanzas of 10 lines. The full text is also in Wackernagel, i. No. 402. Three stanzas, beginning with stanza iv., "Heu quid jaces stabulo," passed into many of the older German hymn-books, and are found as a separate hymn in Rambach, i., p. 371; Daniel, i., No. 481; and Trench, 1864, p. 114. These stanzas have also been translated from the Latin into English, as "Dost Thou in a manger lie," by Mrs. Charles, 1858, p. 174. Also in the Hymnary, 1872.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
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Eia mea anima , p. 1561, ii. The full text of this hymn is also in Dreves, xlviii., p. 515. Another translation of the "Heu quid jaces" text is "Ah! Lord God, the world's Creator," by G. R. Woodward in his Songs of Syon, 1904. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
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