“O Clavis David”. The Fourth Great O Antiphon Of Advent.

“O Clavis David”. 

The Fourth Great O Antiphon Of Advent.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
   Book 1.
   Advent.

O Clavis David et sceptrum domus Israël, 

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 lead the captive from prison,

Sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.

O Jesus, Son of David ! Heir to his throne and his power ! Thou art now passing over, in Thy way to Bethlehem [Editor: House of Bread], the land that once was the kingdom of Thy ancestor, but now is tributary to the Gentiles.

Scarce an inch of this ground which has not witnessed the miracles of the justice and mercy of Jehovah, Thy Father, to the people of the Old Covenant, which is so soon to end.

The Great O Antiphons.

Plainsong with accompaniment.

Caroline sings the Great O Antiphons,

accompanied by Richard. 

O Emmanuel is sung by CONSORT SW1.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Before long, when Thou hast come from beneath the Virginal cloud which now hides Thee, Thou wilt pass along this same road doing good, healing all manner of sickness and every infirmity, and yet having not where to lay Thy head.

Now, at least, Thy Mother’s womb affords Thee the sweetest rest, and Thou receivest from her the profoundest adoration and the tenderest love.

But, dear Jesus, it is Thine own Blessed Will that Thou leave this loved abode. Thou hast, O Eternal Light, to shine in the midst of this World’s darkness, this prison, where the captive, whom Thou hast come to deliver, sits in the shadow of death.

Open his prison-gates by Thy all-powerful key. And who is this captive, but the human race, the slave of error and vice ? Who is this captive, but the heart of man, which is thrall to the very passions it blushes to obey ?

Oh ! Come and set at liberty the World Thou hast enriched by Thy Grace, and the creatures whom Thou hast made to be Thine own brethren.

In some Countries in The Middle-Ages, another

Great O Antiphon was added to The Angel Gabriel.

O Gabriel !

Nuntius Cœlorum, 

Qui januis clausis ad me intrasti, 

Et Verbum nunciasti; 

Concipies et pares:

Emmanuel vocabitur.

O Gabriel !

The Messenger of Heaven, 

Who camest unto me through closed doors,

And didst announce The Word unto me:

“Thou shalt conceive and bear a Son,

And He shall be called Emmanuel”.

Vigil of Saint Thomas. Apostle. 20 December.

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

Vigil of Saint Thomas.
   Apostle.
   20 December.

Simple.

Violet Vestments.

The tomb of Saint Thomas the Apostle,

Mylapore, India.

Photo: 1 June 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: 

Mathen Payyappilly Palakkappilly 

(User:Achayan).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Like nearly all The Feasts of The Apostles, that of Saint Thomas is preceded by a Vigil, which will enable our Souls to prepare for it in a Holy Manner. The Gospel recalls the vocation of this great Apostle, who had the happiness of hearing continually The Word of Christ and of enjoying His intimacy. "I have called you friends because I have made known to you all that I have heard from My Father."

"God," adds the Epistle, "has chosen him from among all men. He has given him His Commandments, The Law of Life and of Instruction."

Wherefore, the Offertory declares that he had been chosen by Jesus to be one of The Twelve Princes, who would govern His Church: "The Lord has crowned him with glory and honour and has given him authority over the works of His hands."

"The Lord", the Epistle also says, "has given him his share of inheritance among The Twelve Tribes." The Country of The Parthians and Persians was allotted to Saint Thomas when The Apostles divided The World among themselves. Let us prepare for tomorrow's Solemnity in union with The Holy Church.

Mass: Ego autem.

Commemoration: Of The Feria.

Third Collect: Deus qui de beátæ.

If The Vigil falls on one of The Ember Days,  The Mass is that of The Ember Day, with Commemoration of The Vigil, but without its Gospel at the end of Mass.

The Great O Antiphons. 20 December.

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

Madonna with Child, The Holy Spirit and two Cherubims.

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

Vierge à l'Enfant avec le Saint Esprit et deux chérubins.

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.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

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

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.

“Rorate Cæli”.

Gregorian Chant for Advent.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Versicle. Rorate.

“Rorate cæli desuper, et nubes pluant justium . . .”

“Ye Heavens, drop down from above,

and let the clouds rain down The Just One”.

Friday In Ember Week Of Advent.

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

Friday in Ember Week Of Advent.

Station at The Church of The Twelve Apostles.

Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.

Violet Vestments.

Illustration: MATER DEI LATIN MASS PARISH

The Mass of today sums up perfectly the whole spirit of Advent, which is, so to speak, the first act of the great drama of The Incarnation.

It might be called “The Expectation of Christ” and pictured in a Triptych (see vignette, below): On the Left, The Prophets, and, in particular, Isaias, who search the horizon and announce to us The Coming of Christ (Epistle), The Sun of Justice; on the Right, Saint John the Baptist (The Forerunner), who, from the womb of his mother, salutes Jesus (Gospel), and, as the Friend of The Bridegroom, presents Him as The Messias to His Bride, The Church; in the Centre Panel, The Virgin, in her First and Second Joyful Mysteries, The Annunciation and The Visitation, of which we read in the Gospels for The Wednesday in Ember Week, and for today.

Mass: Prope es tu.

The Blessed Virgin Mary,

Saint Gabriel, Prophet Isaias, Saint John the Baptist.

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Artist: René de Cramer.

“Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium”.

Used with Permission.

The Four Seasons of the Year begin with the Liturgical periods known as Ember Weeks. They are known since the 5th-Century A.D., but they were fixed to their present dates by Pope Saint Gregory VII in the 12th-Century.

The Ember Days are Three Fasting Days, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, intended to Consecrate to God the various Seasons in Nature, and to prepare those Priests who are about to be Ordained.

The Gospel recalls Gabriel’s mission to Mary to inform her that she was about to become The Mother of God.

No human voice, but an Angel’s, must make known the Mystery of such message. Today, for the first time, are heard the words: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.” They are heard and believed. “Behold,” says Mary, “The Handmaid of The Lord, be it done to me according to thy word” (Third Lesson). During seven Centuries, now, Isaias had foretold this Virgin Motherhood (Epistle, Communion).

Circa 1950: The Vicar and Sunday School Children 

go out into the fields to Bless the crops. The little boy is carrying a symbolic Tree of Plenty.

Picture Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

Illustration: ABOUT RELIGION

Rogation Days.

Rogation Days, like their distant cousins the Ember Days, are days set aside to observe a change in the Seasons. Rogation Days are tied to the Spring planting. There are Four Rogation Days: The Major Rogation, which falls on 25 April, and Three Minor Rogations, which are Celebrated on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday immediately before Ascension Thursday.

For An Abundant Harvest.

As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, Rogation Days are “Days of Prayer, and formerly, also of Fasting, instituted by The Church to appease God’s anger at man’s transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest.”

Illustration: ABOUT RELIGION

Origin Of The Word.

Rogation is simply an English form of the Latin “Rogatio”, which comes from the verb “Rogare”, which means “to ask.” The primary purpose of the Rogation Days is to ask God to Bless the fields and the Parish (the geographic area) that they fall in.

The Major Rogation likely replaced the Roman feast of “Robigalia”, on which (the Catholic Encyclopedia notes) “the heathens held processions and supplications to their gods.”

While the Romans directed their prayers for good weather and an abundant harvest to a variety of gods, the Christians made the Tradition their own, by replacing Roman polytheism with monotheism, and directing their Prayers to God. By the time of Pope Saint Gregory the Great (540 A.D. - 604 A.D.), the Christianised Rogation Days were already considered an ancient custom.

The Litany, Procession, Mass.

The Rogation Days were marked by the recitation of the Litany of The Saints, which would normally begin in, or at, a Church. After Saint Mary was invoked, the Congregation would proceed to walk the boundaries of the Parish, while reciting the rest of the Litany (and repeating it as necessary or supplementing it with some of the Penitential or Gradual Psalms).

Thus, the entire Parish would be Blessed, and the boundaries of the Parish would be marked. The procession would end with a Rogation Mass, in which all in the Parish were expected to take part.

Sunday School Children Celebrate Rogation Day in 1953.

A photo at Market Lavington Museum, Wiltshire, England.

Illustration: MARKET LAVINGTON MUSEUM

Optional Today.

Like the Ember Days, Rogation Days were removed from the Liturgical Calendar when it was revised in 1969, coinciding with the introduction of The Mass of Paul VI (the Novus Ordo).

Parishes can still Celebrate them, though very few in The United States do; but, in portions of Europe, the Major Rogation is still Celebrated with a Procession. As the Western World has become more industrialised, Rogation Days and Ember Days, focused as they are on agriculture and the changes of the Seasons, have seemed less “relevant.”

Still, they are good ways to keep us in touch with nature and to remind us that The Church’s Liturgical Calendar is tied to the changing Seasons.

Celebrating The Rogation Days.

If your Parish does not celebrate the Rogation Days, there’s nothing to stop you from Celebrating them yourself. You can mark the Days by reciting the Litany of The Saints.

And, while many modern Parishes, especially in The United States, have boundaries that are too extensive to walk, you could learn where those boundaries are and walk a portion of them, getting to know your surroundings, and maybe your neighbours, in the process.

Finish it all off by attending daily Mass and Praying for good weather and a fruitful harvest.

Saint Michael’s Church, Bunwell, Norfolk, England, has always been the centre of Village Life. In this picture, taken on Rogation Sunday, April 1967, the Rector, Rev. Samuel Collins, followed by the Choir, Parishioners, and The New Buckenham Silver Band, walk The Parish and Bless the Stream.

Illustration: BUNWELL HERITAGE GROUP

References in the Liturgy, connecting The Annunciation with Advent, date back to very early times. Many Churches observed this Feast on 18 December, in preference to 25 March, the latter date often falling in Lent.

Furthermore, this First Joyful Mystery of The Blessed Virgin is in keeping with the spirit of joy, which is so characteristic of the second half of the Season of Advent, when The Lord, Who is nigh, is so eagerly awaited (Second Gradual). Who, having appeared in the humility of His First Coming to save us (Collect), will come again like a King, full of glory (First Gradual), to take vengeance on His enemies and to deliver us forever (Offertory).

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

In the Liturgical Calendar of the Western Christian Churches, Ember Days are four separate Sets of Three Days within the same Week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the Year, that are set aside for Fasting and Prayer.

These Days, set apart for Special Prayer and Fasting, were considered especially suitable for the Ordination of Clergy. The Ember Days are known in Latin as the “Quattuor Anni Tempora” (the “Four Seasons of The Year”), or, formerly, as the “Jejunia Quattuor Temporum” (“Fasts of The Four Seasons”).

The Four Quarterly Periods, during which the Ember Days fall, are called the Embertides.

The Midnight Mass Of Christmas 2021. Veillée De Noël Et Messe De Minuit 2021. Church Of Saint Eugène - Sainte Cécile, Paris.

English: Christmas Eve and Christmas Midnight Mass 2021.

Church of Church Of Saint Eugène - Sainte Cécile, Paris.

Français: Veillée de Noël et messe de minuit 2021.

Available on YouTube

HERE

“Christmas Is Coming, The Goose Is Getting Fat”. Have You Finished Your Christmas Baking ? Are All Your Christmas Cards Posted ? Which Mass Are You Going To ?

Illustration: PINTEREST

"Christmas Shopping".

Author: Frank Dadd.

Source: http://www.wikigallery.org/

Permission: Free for non-commercial use. See below.

Click here to report copyright issues.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain

because its copyright has expired.

However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the WikiGallery watermark. This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.

(Wikigallery.org)

"Christmas is coming,

the Goose is getting fat . . ."

Sung by: John Denver and The Muppets.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Artist: Muriel Dawson

(1897-1974).

Illustration: PINTEREST

Found on clickamericana.com

Illustration: PINTEREST

"My Favourite Time of Year".

The Florin Street Band.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Postmen of The British Empire.

English Postman. 1904.

Postcard from the private collection of Jennifer Drury.

Found on mybrightonandhove.org

Illustration: PINTEREST

Found at corbertgauthier.net

Illustration: PINTEREST

Illustration: PINTEREST

Found on flickr.com

Illustration: PINTEREST

“May It Be”. (Enya/Lord Of The Rings). Sung by: VOCES8.

“May It Be”.

(Enya/Lord Of The Rings).

Sung by: VOCES8

Available on YouTube

HERE

Canonisation Of The Martyrs Of Compiègne.

Text and Illustrations: RORATE CÆLI

“Dialogues Des Carmelites”.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Pope Francis yesterday approved the Equipollent Canonisation of the Sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne, who can now be honoured as Saints.

On the day following Her Feast, The Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel would receive her dear French daughters, Martyred for their Faith in Her Son and for their loyalty to His Church.

The revulsion caused in the general populace, by their 

calm acceptance of the guillotine, was so great that their Martyrdom finally put an end to The Reign Of Terror.

Ten days after their death, it was the turn of the 

demonic Robespierre, and the end of the bloodiest 

days of the Satanic Revolution.

O, Glorious Martyrs of Compiègne, Pray for us !

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

The Martyrs of Compiègne were sixteen members 

of The Carmel of Compiègne, France: 

Eleven Discalced Carmelite Nuns; 

Three Lay Sisters;

Two Externs (or Tertiaries).

They were executed by the guillotine towards the end of 

The Reign of Terror, at what is now the Place de la Nation, Paris, 17 July 1794, and are Venerated as 

Martyr Saints of the The Catholic Church. 

Ten days after their execution, Maximilien Robespierre 

himself was executed, ending The Reign of Terror. 

Their story has inspired a novella, a motion picture, a television movie, and an opera, “Dialogues Des Carmelites”, written by French composer Francis Poulenc.[1]

The Great O Antiphons. 19 December.

“Madonna and Child”,

by Michelangelo.

Brügge Cathedral,

“Onze-Lieve-Vrouwkerk”, Belgium.

Photo: 7 February 2005.

Author: Elke Wetzig (elya)

(Wikimedia Commons)

“O Radix Jesse”.

The Great O Antiphon

for 19 December.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

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

19 December: Isaias xi. 10

O Radix Jesse,

qui stas in signum populorum,

super quem continebunt reges os suum,

quem Gentes deprecabuntur:

veni ad liberandum nos,

jam noli tardare.

O Root of Jesse,

Who standest for an ensign of the people,

before Whom Kings shall keep silence,

and unto Whom the
Gentiles shall make their supplication:

come to deliver us, and tarry not.

“Rorate Cæli”.

Gregorian Chant for Advent.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Versicle. Rorate.

“Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant justium . . .”

“Ye Heavens, drop down from above,

and let the clouds rain down The Just One.”

Transmission Of The 2023 Solemn High Mass: Ember Wednesday in Advent. Saint-Eugène - Sainte-Cécile, Paris.

 

2023 Transmission from Paris.

Holy Mass: Ember Wednesday in Advent.

Saint-Eugène - Sainte-Cécile, Paris.

Available on YouTube

HERE

Today’s Mass Booklet available

HERE

The Expectation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. “Nuestra Señora De La O”. The Feast Day Of Our Lady Of O. Feast Day 18 December.

Text is from “The Liturgical Year”,
by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B,
unless stated otherwise.

“The Liturgical Year”.
   Volume 1.
   Advent.

The Expectation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
   “Nuestra Señora De La O.”
   The Feast Of Our Lady Of O.
   Feast Day 18 December.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

“The Annunciation”.

Artist: Francesco Albani (1578–1660).

Date: First half of the 17th-Century.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.

Current location: Hermitage Museum,

Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Author: Francesco Albani (1578–1660).

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Feast, which is now kept not only throughout the whole of Spain but in many other parts of the Catholic World, owes its origin to the Bishops of the Tenth Council of Toledo, in 656 A.D.

These Prelates thought that there was an incongruity in the ancient practice of Celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March, inasmuch as this joyful Solemnity frequently occurs at the time when The Church is intent upon The Passion of Our Lord, so that it is sometimes obliged to be Transferred into Easter Time, with which it is out of harmony for another reason; they therefore decreed that, henceforth, in the Church of Spain, there should be kept, eight days before Christmas, a Solemn Feast with an Octave, in honour of the Annunciation, and as a preparation for the great Solemnity of Our Lord’s Nativity.

In course of time, however, the Church of Spain saw the necessity of returning to the practice of the Church of Rome, and of those of the whole World, which Solemnise the 25 March as the day of Our Lady’s Annunciation and the Incarnation of The Son of God.

But such had been, for ages, the Devotion of the people for the Feast of 18 December, that it was considered requisite to maintain some vestige of it. They discontinued, therefore, to Celebrate the Annunciation on this day; but the Faithful were requested to consider, with devotion, what must have been the sentiments of The Holy Mother of God during the days immediately preceding her giving Him birth. A new Feast was instituted, under the name of “The Expectation of The Blessed Virgin’s Delivery”.

This Feast, which sometimes goes under the name of “Our Lady of O”, or, “The Feast of O”, on account of the Great Antiphons which are sung during these days, and, in a special manner, of that which begins “O Virgo Virginum” (which is still used in the Vespers of The Expectation, together with the “O Adonai”, the Antiphon of the Advent Office), is kept with great Devotion in Spain.

A High Mass is sung at a very early hour each morning during the Octave, at which all who are with child, whether rich or poor, consider it a duty to Assist, that they may thus honour Our Lady’s Maternity, and beg her Blessing upon themselves. 

It is not to be wondered at that the Holy See has approved of this pious practice being introduced into almost every other Country (Editor: Note that Abbot Guéranger was writing circa 1870).

We find that the Church of Milan, long before Rome conceded this Feast to the various Dioceses of Christendom, Celebrated the Office of Our Lady’s Annunciation on the Sixth and Last Sunday of Advent, and called the whole Week following the “Hebdomada de Exceptato” (for thus the popular expression had corrupted the word “Expectato”).

But these details belong strictly to the archæology of Liturgy, and enter not into the plan of our present work; let us, then, return to the Feast of Our Lady’s Expectation, which The Church has established and sanctioned as a new means of exciting the attention of the Faithful during these last days of Advent.

Most Just, indeed, it is, O Holy Mother of God, that we should unite in that ardent desire thou hadst to see Him, Who had been concealed for nine months in thy chaste womb; to know the features of this Son of The Heavenly Father, Who is also thine; to come to that blissful hour of His Birth, which will give Glory to God in The Highest, and, on Earth, peace to men of good-will.

Yes, dear Mother, the time is fast approaching, though not fast enough to satisfy thy desires and ours. Make us re-double our attention to the great Mystery; complete our preparation by thy powerful Prayers for us, that, when the Solemn Hour has come, Our Jesus may find no obstacle to His entrance into our hearts.

Mass: Roráte cœli désuper.
Commemoration: Of the Feria.
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary: “Et te in Expectatione”.

THE GREAT O ANTIPHON TO OUR LADY.

O Virgo Virginum,

quomodo fiet istud ?

quia nec primam similem visa es,

nec habere sequentem.

Filiæ Jerusalem,

quid me admiramini ?

Divinum est mysterium

hoc quod cernitis.

O Virgin of Virgins !,

how shall this be ?

for never was there one like thee,

nor will there ever be.

Ye daughters of Jerusalem,

why look ye wondering at me ?

What ye behold,

is a Divine Mystery.

The following Text is from CATHOLICISM.ORG

18 December is a Feast of long-standing in the Latin Church. Though its Mass and Office will not be offered Liturgically in most places (owing to its not being a Universal Feast), “The Expectation Of The Blessed Virgin Mary” has origins going back at least to 7th-Century A.D. Spain.

The Catholic Encyclopedia has a small entry on the Feast. It tells us of the peculiar name the Feast was given in Spain:

The Feast of 18 December was called, even in the Liturgical Books, “Santa Maria de la O,” because, on that day , the Clerics in the Choir, after Vespers, used to utter a loud and protracted “O,” to express the longing of the Universe for the Coming of The Redeemer (Tamayo, Mart. Hisp., VI, 485). 

The Roman “O” Antiphons have nothing to do with this term, because they are unknown in the Mozarabic Rite. This Feast and its Octave were very popular in Spain, where the people still call it “Nuestra Señora de la O.”

The O Antiphons are works of surpassing beauty in themselves, and worthy of meditation during these days. That they have no formal connection to this Marian Feast of Advent, affirms all the more the common root of O in these Liturgical usages. This common root is the exclamation O as an expression of longing, a sigh of the heart of ancient Israel for the Coming of The Redeemer.

And during Advent’s four weeks, we Christians put ourselves in the place of the Old Testament Faithful who, for four thousand years (according to the Vulgate chronology) awaited the Coming (Advent) of The Messias. As a cry of eager anticipation, the O has an affinity for that other word we see all over the Advent Liturgy (including in the O Antiphons): Veni !!! (Come).

And who better than Mary to show us how to expect Jesus’ Coming ? She, who, in the penetrating phrase of Saint Augustine, “conceived Christ in her mind before conceiving Him in her body,” is the perfect model of Holy “Great Expectations.”

Sancta Maria de la O, ora pro nobis !

“Nuestra Señora de la O,”

Artist: 

Jesuit Priest, Missionary, and Painter, 

Bernardo Bitti

Church of Saint Peter, Lima, Peru.

Abbot Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.

Abbot of Solesmes Abbey, France, from 1837-1875.

Author of “The Liturgical Year”.

Date: 1874.

The Print-Maker was Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard (1834–1887).

This File: 7 May 2007 (original upload date).

Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.

Author: The original uploader was

Ikanreed at English Wikipedia

(Wikimedia Commons)