The Great O Antiphons. 20 December.

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

English: Workshop of The Della Robbia (Early-16th-Century)

Madonna with Child, The Holy Spirit and two Cherubims, enamelled terracotta.

Français: Atelier des Della Robbia (début du XVIe siècle.

Vierge à l'Enfant avec le Saint Esprit et deux chérubins, terre cuite émaillée.

Current location: Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Accession Number: Campana 32.

Source/Photographer: Jastrow (2006).

(Wikimedia Commons)

O Clavis David,

The Great O Antiphon

for 20 December.

Gregorian Chant notation from The Liber Usualis (1961), p. 341.

Latin lyrics sung by The Cantarte Regensburg.

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20 December: Isaias xxii. 22; Apocalypse iii. 7; Luke i. 79.

O Clavis David,
et sceptrum domus Israel;
qui aperis, et nemo claudit,
claudis, et nemo aperit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Key of David,
and Sceptre of the House of Israel,
who openest and no man shutteth,
who shuttest and no man openeth;
come and bring forth from his prison-house,
the captive that sitteth in darkness and
in the shadow of death.

V. Rorate.

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

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