O Wisdom, Which Camest Forth out of the Mouth of the Most High
For Advent
The “Great O” Advent Antiphons
See: Notes on Veni, Veni, Emmanuel
At Even-song During Eight Days Before Christmas
From the Salisbury Antiphonary
Source: John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore, eds., Hymnal Noted - Parts I and II. London: Novello, 1856, pp. 207-209.
O Sapientia
Evening Antiphon for December 16
O Wisdom, Which camest forth out of
the mouth of the Most High,
and reachest from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things;
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
O Adonai
Evening Antiphon for December 17
O Lord and Ruler of the House of
Israel,
Who appearedst unto Moses in a flame of fire in the bush,
and gavest unto him the Law of Sinai:
Come redeem us with a stretched-out arm.
O Radix Jesse
Evening Antiphon for December 18
O Root of Jesse, Who standest for an
ensign of the people,
at Whom Kings shall shut their mouths,
unto Whom the Gentiles shall pray:
Come and deliver us, and tarry not.
O Clavis David
Evening Antiphon for December 19
O Key of David, and Scepture of the
House of Israel,
Thou That openest and no man shutteth, and shuttest, and no man openeth:
Come, and lose the prisoner from the prison house,
and him that sitteth in darkness, from the shadow of death.
O Oriens
Evening Antiphon for December 20
O Orient, Brightest of the Eternal
Light,
and Sun of Righteousness:
Come and lighten them that sit in darkness,
and in the shadow of death.
O Rex Gentium
Evening Antiphon for December 21
O King of the Gentiles, and their
Desire,
the Corner-stone, Who madest both one:
Come and save man,
whom Thou hast made out of the dust of the earth.
O Emmanuel
Evening Antiphon for December 22
O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,
the Desire of all Nations, and their Saviour:
Come and save us,
O Lord our God.
O Virgo Virginum
Evening Antiphon for December 23
O Virgin of Virgins, how shall this
be?
For neither before thee was there any like thee,
nor shall there be after. —
Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me?
The thing that ye behold is a divine mystery.
The Greater Antiphons, pp. 207-209.
Note:
Originally, there were seven “Great O” antiphons. The eighth antiphon, O Virgo virginum, an antiphon to Mary, the mother of Jesus, was added by the liturgiologist Amalarius in the Ninth Century, and is found in the Sarum, York, and Hereford Breviaries, as well as others. See: "Antiphons," John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, 1892, 1907 (Reprinted by Dover in 1957, in two volumes).
According to Professor Albert S. Cook, it is included for the feast of the Expectation of the Virgin, Dec. 18, although The English Hymnal and The Salisbury Antiphony designate it as the reading for Dec. 23. See Albert S. Cook, The Christ of Cynewulf. (Boston: Ginn & Co., 1900). (http://www.archive.org/details/christpoeminthre00cyneuoft ); accessed March 25, 2007.
Sheet Music from
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