{"id":25168,"date":"2009-12-16T13:54:05","date_gmt":"2009-12-16T17:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/12\/the-greater-antiphons-aka-o-an\/"},"modified":"2009-12-16T13:54:05","modified_gmt":"2009-12-16T17:54:05","slug":"the-greater-antiphons-aka-o-an","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2009\/12\/the-greater-antiphons-aka-o-an\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greater Antiphons (aka ‘O Antiphons’) of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"o-antiphons.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Advent slightly shifts its focus beginning tomorrow (December 17) when the antiphons for Vespers known
\nas the <\/i>Greater Antiphons, but more commonly known as the O Antiphons, are sung.<\/i><\/p>\n

These biblical texts are sung as the verse introducing the
\nMagnificat song at Vespers. Most people know these Great Antiphons as the hymn
\ncalled “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (Veni, Veni, Emmánuël). Each verse of the hymn is a reworded
\nversion of the O Antiphons, with the last being the first verse. Rather unfortunately too many priests and church musicians\/choir leaders have little understanding of why one would hold off from signing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” at Mass until this time of Advent, and even then, why one would spread the verses out over the days ahead. (I wonder if we can get our act together to respect the Liturgy and its history to allow the flourishing of the theology to dig more deeply into our hearts and minds.)<\/i><\/p>\n

Each O Antiphon
\naddresses Jesus with a title which comes from the prophecies of Isaiah that
\nanticipate the coming of the Messiah. The first letters of the titles in the
\noriginal Latin in reverse order spell “Ero Cras,” meaning “Tomorrow, I will
\ncome.”<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

December 17 – O Sapiéntia<\/b><\/i>: O Wisdom Who camest out of the mouth of the
\nMost High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and
\nsweetly: come and teach us the way of prudence.<\/p>\n

December 18 – O Adonái<\/b><\/i>: O
\nAdonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, Who didst appear to Moses in the
\nflame of the burning bush, and didst give unto him the law on Sinai: come and
\nwith an outstretched arm redeem us.<\/p>\n

December 19 – O Radix Jesse<\/b><\/i>: O Root of
\nJesse, Who standest for an ensign of the people, before Whom kings shall keep
\nsilence, and unto Whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication: come to
\ndeliver us, and tarry not.<\/p>\n

December 20 – O Clavis David<\/b><\/i>: O Key of David, and
\nSceptre of the house of Israel, Who openest and no man shutteth, Who shuttest
\nand no man openeth: come and bring forth from his prison-house, the captive
\nthat sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.<\/p>\n

December 21 – O Óriens<\/b><\/i>: O
\nDawn of the East, Brightness of the light eternal, and Sun of justice: come and
\nenlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.<\/p>\n

December 22 – O
\nRex Gentium<\/b><\/i>: O King of the Gentiles and the Desired of them, Thou Corner-stone
\nthat makest both one: come and deliver man, whom Thou didst form out of the
\ndust of the earth.<\/p>\n

December 23 – O Emmánuël<\/b><\/i>: O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,
\nthe Expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advent slightly shifts its focus beginning tomorrow (December 17) when the antiphons for Vespers known as the Greater Antiphons, but more commonly known as the O Antiphons, are sung. These biblical texts are sung as the verse introducing the Magnificat song at Vespers. Most people know these Great Antiphons as the hymn called “O Come, O … Continue reading The Greater Antiphons (aka ‘O Antiphons’) of Advent<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[1827,2261],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}