The World is Quiet Here

We come to the last of the O Antiphons, for tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the Vigil of the Nativity. I mentioned yesterday that the O Antiphons were arranged backwards into the song Veni, Veni Emmanuel. This was by design, for the Antiphons themselves are a backwards acrostic. The first letters of the Messianic titles — Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, […]

With Christmas literally days away, we hear the penultimate O Antiphon this evening. I mentioned a couple of days ago that the antiphons might sound vaguely familiar to you. In the 12th Century, an unknown songwriter compiled versions of the O Antiphons into a single Advent hymn, called Veni, Veni Emmanuel. You know the English version as O Come, O […]

Short, sweet, and on the solstice. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” (Isaiah 9:1[2]) Today is also the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle in the old calendar. O Oriens,splendor lucis ætérnae, et sol justítiæ:veni, et illúmina sedéntes in ténebris, et umbra […]

Continuing on, we come closer and closer to the birth of the Messiah, “the holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open” (Rev. 3:7). If you are interested in learning more about the O Antiphons, I recommend Fr. Zuhlsdorf’s site here. The format is […]

By now some of you might be thinking that the O Antiphon words might be sounding kind of familiar, even though you’re not really up on your Gregorian Chant. In fact, these antiphons are some of the earliest attested antiphons in the Divine Office, being mentioned in passing in the works of Saint Boethius in the early sixth century. The […]

Last night was the first time Francine and I had prayed Vespers in community since shortly after leaving our former parish. Sam joined us. The lack of practice really showed – we were disjointed and could not even chant the opening or the Magnificat correctly. Tonight, we’ll trot out some of our old books and see if we can’t put […]

As Advent draws to its end, we begin the “O” antiphons at Vespers. Last year, we attempted to chant vespers every night during this period at my old parish. A series of snowstorms disrupted that plan, though I do have warm and gracious memories of Francine and I alone in the parish chapel chanting one cold, dark night. Sadly after […]