The Great O Antiphons. 20 December.

Text and Illustrations taken 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)

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."