The Great O Antiphons. 22 December.

Text and Illustrations taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

English: Adoration of the Shepherds (Detail).

Deutsch: Anbetung der Hirten, Detail.

Artist: Guido Reni (1575–1642).

Date: 1630 - 1642.

Current location: Certosa di San Martino, Naples, Italy.

Source/Photographer: http://www.oceansbridge.com/oil-paintings/product/74265/theadorationoftheshepherdsdetailofthegroupsurroundingjesus.

(Wikimedia Commons)

O Rex Gentium.

The Great O Antiphon

for 22 December.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/5GvDvgfLoUo.

 22 December:  Aggeus ii. 8;  Ephesians ii. 14, 20.

O Rex Gentium,

et desideratus earum,

lapisque angularis,

qui facis utraque unum:

veni, et salva hominem,

quem de limo formasti.

O King of the Gentiles,

and the desired of them,

Thou cornerstone that makest both one,

come and deliver man,

whom Thou didst form out of 

      the dust of the earth.

V. Rorate.

"Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant justium . . ."

"Ye heavens, drop down from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One."