The archangel named in the title of the Basque carol “Gabriel’s Message” is Gabriel. The song recounts the Annunciation, when Gabriel tells Mary that she will become the mother of Jesus.
The carol is based on a Basque folk song whose native title is “Birjina gaztetto bat zegoen.” Its text was collected by Charles Bordes and published in 1897. Sabine Baring-Gould later paraphrased it into English, producing the familiar opening “The angel Gabriel from heaven came.”
The melody is related to “Angelus ad Virginem,” a Latin carol from the 13th or 14th century. Edgar Pettman’s 1922 arrangement helped establish the version widely performed in English-speaking choral traditions.
Gabriel is associated with the Annunciation in Luke 1:26–38. Uriel, Raphael, and Michael are also names connected with archangels in various religious traditions, but none is the angel identified in this carol’s title or biblical episode.