If you want a simple way to sing the ‘O antiphons’ for the days of Advent from 17th to 23rd December, read on. Of course, you could go to Evensong at King’s Cambridge or find them on YouTube. Fifty years ago we students at the Theological College at Kelham though nothing of singing them each day before and after the Magnificat, but I suppose they would be too ‘difficult’ nowadays.
Here are the antiphons for each day. They date from around the 6th century, and address the Lord Jesus by a series of titles from the Old Testament of the long-awaited Messiah.
17 December: O Sapientia – O Wisdom
18 December: O Adonai
19 December: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
20 December: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
21 December: O Oriens (O Dawn of the East)
22 December: O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)
23 December: OEmmanuel
The Roman lectionary uses the O Antiphons as the Gospel Acclamations at the Mass for each of these days. And in most parishes the Acclamation would be said (which is almost as bad as saying the Alleluia – a word which should only ever be sung in the Christian liturgy). But here is a simple way of singing the ‘O’s.
The hymn ‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’ is a metrical version of the Advent antiphons. Most hymn books do not have all seven antiphons, but the full version is to be found at n° 14 in the Revised English Hymnal . Print a sheet for the people with one verse for each day between 17th and 23rd. For the correct order, begin with verse 2, and finish with verse 1.
For the chorus sing Alleluia four times instead of Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel etc. This fits perfectly well, but you will need two notes on the -le of the second and fourth alleluia. And there you have your Great O Gospel Acclamations for the latter part of Advent.
Formerly an Anglican priest (ordained 1975) received into the Catholic Church in February 2012, and ordained to the Diaconate on 27th July 2013. I took early retirement, and divide my time between London and northern France. I am deeply committed to the Ordinariate as a gift of the Holy Spirit in the search for unity. Like many Ordinariate members I feel a personal gratitude to Pope Emeritus Benedict, together with loyalty to our Holy Father, Pope Francis. My blog tries to make a small contribution to the growth of the Ordinariate by asking questions (and proposing some answers) about the 'Anglican Patrimony'.
I have always been fascinated by the whole issue of growth and decline, and therefore concerned for appropriate means of evangelisation in western Europe. I believe that the Holy Spirit is constantly renewing the People of God and that we must be open to him.
On Saturday 19th October 2013, I was ordained to the Priesthood at Most Precious Blood, Borough, by the Most Revd Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark, for the service of the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham. I continued to serve the Ordinariate group and Parish at Most Precious Blood until the end of 2014. Subsequently, I helped in the care of the Ordinariate Groups at Hemel Hempstead and Croydon, and in the Archdiocese of Southwark, until the beginning of September 2015. With the agreement of my Ordinary, , the Bishop of Amiens appointed me Administrator of the Parish of Notre Dame des Etangs (Pont Remy) in Picardie, France.
After nine years as parish priest, with wonderful and supportive parishioners, I decided that the time had come to retire and return to the UK. A nasty accident four years ago and contracting COVID has left me physically rather feeble! I shall be ever grateful for the years in France, a wonderful ending to the years of parish ministry. So here I am back in the UK, taking a long rest, setting up home, coping with all the new Safeguarding procedures - and wondering what next.
Ordinariate Pilgrim 