O my! O Antiphons!

December 17th is the traditional start date for the Great O Antiphons of Advent. What are the Great O Antiphons? Good question!

Let's start with what an antiphon is. An antiphon is "a refrain-like verse from Scripture that begins and concludes a psalm or canticle. Sometimes it is also interspersed within a psalm. " Or so claims the LCMS Liturgical Dictionary. The church music kids writing on Wikipedia give a more comprehensive definition, and point out that antiphon is essentially "a response, usually sung in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or some other part of a religious service, such as at Vespers or at a Mass."

The Great O Antiphons are the seven antiphons recited or chanted before and after—although such are standards these days that often they're chanted only before—the singing of the Magnificat during Vespers (Evening Service). If you want to be extra solemn about it, you can chant the antiphons 3 times, "once before the canticle and before and after the Gloria Patri." The Great O Antiphons are sung on the days leading up to Christmas, starting on the 17th of Dec and ending on the 23rd. (The liturgically inclined Roman Catholics know this as "the Octave before Christmas.") The Anglicans got it in their heads at some point to start O Antiphoning on the 16th of December, but I really can't be responsible for what the Anglicans do, can I?

No one knows how old the O Antiphons are. Apparently Boethius (c. 480-524), when he wasn't consoling himself with philosophy, mentioned them. Others say by the 8th or 9th century they were being used in worship in Rome. Still others give props to Gregory the Great. But no matter really, what is clear is that the Great O Antiphons have been part of the liturgical celebration of Advent since the early church.

There are actually divers O Antiphons, but "by the end of the Middle Ages their number had been almost universally fixed at seven, the key words of which, when reversed in order, form an acrostic that beautifully fits the Advent season: "Ero cras"-"I shall be tomorrow."" Except in England, which as an island didn't get the message from Continent in time, so they went with eight antiphons and the acrostic "vero cras", which shows you that either they weren't so hot with the Latin or with the acrostics. (This is why the Anglicans start the O Antiphons on the 16th, so they can fit their last one, "O Virgo Virginum" in on the 23rd. (I'm still not responsible for what the Anglicans do.))

And now let me quote some more from someone who sounds like he knows what he's talking about:

"The importance of “O Antiphons” is twofold: Each one highlights a title for the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel. Also, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah."

You think you don't know the O? Actually, you probably do. That clever clogs, John Mason Neale, popped them all into a hymn known as "O come, O come, Emmanuel." If you've ever sung that, you've sung the O Antiphons.

So there you have it: the dealio with the O. I shall post one each day, but I promise I shan't add anything beyond the scripture references. You don't need me to give thoughts on the texts O Antiphons. You do some thinking for yourself.

And so, as the monks used to say to each other: "Keep the O!" (No really they did. I'm not making that up.)



The interesting and literate bits of the above come from "The Great O Antiphons of Advent" by Carl Schalk and "What Are the ’O Antiphons’?" by Fr. William Saunders. The annoying bits are solely mine.