Advent Music Day 14
Advent Music Dy 14: O Sapientia
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other mightily,
and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
Today is the beginning of the wonderful Great O Antiphons, the seven (or eight) ancient Advent antiphons for the last week leading up to Christmas, sung before and after the Magnificat at Vespers (evening prayer). Their significance is twofold: Each one highlights a title for the Messiah: Wisdom, Lord, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Rising Sun, King of the Nations, God With Us. Also, each one refers to the prophecy from Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah.
What's that you say, O Sapientia is for December 17th? Well yes. And no. There's another to add to the usual set of seven, O Virgo Virginum, which I'm going to post in its English medieval place on the 23rd, which means we get to start with O Sapientia today! In fact there are even more...
- More about the O antiphons here https://chantblog.blogspot.com/.../12/great-o-antiphons.html
- Chant, in Latin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F73KJTHgvrA
- A modern arrangement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRYGC5auQ0
Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash