The Fourth Sunday of Advent 2025: O Oriens

Introit Isa. 45 Rorate, caeli, désuper, et nubes pluant justum: aperiátur terra, et gérminet Salvatórem. V. ibid. Et justitia oriátur simul; ego Dóminus creávi eum. Gloria Patri... Rorate. (The introit of the 4th Sunday of Advent.) 

Introit. Isa. 45 Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Savior. V. And let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him. Glory be... Drop down.

Note that in this recording, the Dominicans sing the introit not with the first verse of Psalm 18, as is found in the Roman Missal, but with the rest of the verse of Isaiah (45, 8.) This was a common practice with this particular introit in the Middle Ages, and is also found, e.g., in the Sarum Use.

Since it is the 21st of December, the following O Antiphon is sung at Vespers.

O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Morning Star, splendor of eternal light and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Mosaic of Christ the Pantocrator in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople; after 1261.

Durandus on the Ember Saturday of Advent

The following excerpts are taken from book VI, chapter 10, of William Durandus’ great commentary on the liturgy, the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum. As is usually case, I have slightly paraphrased him in a few places. It must be remembered that the Saturday Ember days are not just fast days, but also the traditional days for the conferring of all seven ranks of the Sacrament of Order.

On Saturday there are four lessons from the Old Testament (Isa. 19, 20-22; 35, 1-7; 40, 9-11; 45, 1-8) before the reading “The Angel of the Lord,” (Dan. 3, 47-51) … four, because there are four orders of those who bless God, namely, prelates, clergy, religious and laity. These does the prophet (David) enumerate, saying (Ps. 134, 19-20), “O house of Israel, bless the Lord,” this is the people; “O house of Aaron, bless the Lord,” this is the prelates; “O house of Levi, bless the Lord,” this is the ministers; “O ye who fear the Lord, bless the Lord,” through this is understood the religious. Therefore, the first reading pertains to the people, the second to the prelates, the third to the ministers, the fourth to all religious. In these readings, therefore, those who are to be ordained are instructed that, following the example of the holy fathers of the same four orders, they may bless the Lord with them, and their blessing come upon them.

The Prophet Isaiah, painted by Raphael in the basilica of St Augustine in Rome in 1512. On his scroll is written in Hebrew, from chapter 26 of his book, verses 2-3, “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Whose mind is stayed on thee, Thou wilt keep him (in perfect peace).” The dedicatory inscription in Greek above reads “To Anne, the mother of the Virgin, to the virginal Mother of God, and to Christ the Redeemer, John Goritz” (hellenized as ‘Joannes Corycios’). Goritz, a merchant from Luxembourg, commissioned both the painting, which is on one of the pillars of the basilica, and the altar to St Anne originally located beneath it. The influence of Michelangelo, who was completing the Sistine Chapel ceiling when Raphael painted this, is very strong in this work; a famous story claims that when Goritz complained to Michelangelo about the price of it, he replied, “The knee alone is worth the price!”

Another reason why four lessons are read is that he who fasts must have the four cardinal virtues; namely, temperance, because fasting itself belongs to the temperate; prudence, for which reason the Apostle says (Rom. 12, 1), “Let your service be reasonable”. Regarding fortitude, Proverbs says (31, 17) about the strong woman, that is, the Church, “she girded her loins with strength,” since we must labor much to this end, that our flesh may be pure; and because this is a great battle, because the flesh is very corrupt, and brings forth thorns and thistles, (Gen. 3, 18) and only with much attrition is it restored to brightness like flaxen. Last is justice, of which Isaiah says, speaking of Christ in His members, “And justice shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith the girdle of his reins.”

When justice is done upon the earth, thieves depart; likewise, when justice is done by us, wicked impulses depart, and do not overcome us, even though they dwell within us. But if justice is not done, they do not depart, whence Isaiah also says, “And peace shall be the work of justice.” But faith is the girding of his reins, because as Gregory says, “The despising of earthly things restrains the billows of carnal desires.” (This is not an authentic citation of St Gregory.)

A Greek icon from the second half of the 18th century, signed by the painter, Konstantinos Adrianoupolitis, now in the Benaki Museum in Athens. The whole lower part of the image shows the episodes of the third chapter of the book of Daniel: the adoration of the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue, and the Three Children in the Furnace. In the upper right, the representation of the Three Children follows the opening words of Psalm 136, “Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion: on the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.” To the left of them, and further back within the image, is the episode of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, with the Prophet Habakkuk bringing him food.

Wherefore, if you fast from the foods of the body, you must also fast from the foods of the demon, and eat the foods of the mind. And he that so fasts will not be harmed by the fire of tribulation nor the fire of the world, as the three boys were not harmed by the fire of the furnace of Babylon, and therefore there follows the reading from Daniel, “The Angel of the Lord.”

Now before this reading comes the ordination of clerics, to signify that no one rightly can come to consecration, unless first he passed through the furnace, and in the furnace bless God, according to that saying of Ecclesiasticus (27, 6) “The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.” Those who come to the sacred ministry must be tried in the furnace of many tribulations and temptations, as the Apostle says (1 Tim. 3, 10), “And let them first be tried, and so minister.” It is read for the sake of the ordinands, to signify that they must live in such a way that no fire of the king of Babylon, that is the devil, harm them, as it did not harm the three children. And there follow the blessings, that is the hymn, “Blessed art thou, o Lord,” because after the trying they are crowned, and shall be blessed by the Lord.

… At the prayer which is said after this reading, the Church does not kneel as at the prayers of the other readings … to show that it is like the three children. For Nebuchadnezzar made the statue, and forced all to adore it, but the three children with Daniel would not bend the knee before the statue. Such must they be who are to be ordained, men who do not kneel before the statue, that is, before the glory of the world.

The Golden Mass of Ember Wednesday

When examined as a group, the Gospels for the Masses of Advent may seem to be ordered in a rather peculiar way. They are in fact arranged chronologically backwards. On the First Sunday of Advent, the Church reads from St Luke Christ’s account of the signs that will precede His return in glory at the end of the world. (21, 25-33) This sets a theological note that will be repeated throughout the season; the first coming of Christ to redeem the world is often contrasted to the second coming, when He shall return to judge it. On the Second Sunday, John the Baptist, imprisoned by King Herod, sends his disciples to ask Christ if He is indeed the Redeemer whose coming the world has long awaited. His answer is that the signs of the first coming are already happening, as foretold in the prophets. (Matthew11, 2-10). The Gospel of the Third Sunday recounts an episode from the early days of John’s ministry, before his imprisonment. When men were moved to ask him if he was the Messiah, John confessed that he was but the Forerunner of another who stood in their midst; Christ Himself does not appear or speak in this Gospel. (John 1) The Gospel of the Fourth Sunday is the very beginning of John’s mission, St Luke speaks once again, and draws us further back in time, to the prophets who foretold not only the coming of Christ, but also that of the Forerunner. This is the only Gospel of the liturgical year in which Christ Himself makes no appearance at all. (3, 1-6) (Pictured right: St John the Baptist, from the St Bavo altarpiece by Jan van Eyck, 1430-32)

If we were to consider only the Sunday Gospels, it would almost appear that Christ is drawing away from us as we come closer to the day of His Nativity. However, this backwards motion from the end of the world to the days of the Old Testament places in even greater relief the importance of today’s Mass, the Ember Wednesday of the Advent season. On this day, the Church reads the Gospel of the Annunciation (Luke 1, 26-38), at which point, the beginning of mankind’s redemption, the story begins to move forward. On Friday, there follows the Gospel of the Visitation. (Luke 1, 39-47) In the Breviary homily of that day, St Ambrose calls to our attention the first meeting of the Word Incarnate with His Forerunner, while both are still in their mothers’ wombs; “We must consider the fact that the greater one comes to the lesser, that the lesser may be aided: Mary to Elisabeth, Christ to John.” Having announced the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Visitation, the Church then anticipates on Ember Saturday the Gospel of the followed day, the Fourth Sunday of Advent. In the three Ember Day Gospels together, therefore, God becomes Incarnate, goes to the last of His prophets, and sends him forth “to prepare His way.”

The “Missa Aurea – Golden Mass”, as it was often called, no longer enjoys the prominence which it once held; even Dom Guéranger, the founder of the original Liturgical Movement, does not include the text of the Mass in his “Liturgical Year” because it was so rarely celebrated in his time. The Breviary and Missal of St. Pius V permitted more or less any feast to impede it, but in the Middle Ages, it was very often the custom to transfer feasts away from it. This custom was partially restored (for a very brief time) by the rubrical reform of 1960.

In the traditional Roman Missal, all four sets of Ember Days have the same stations appointed at major Roman churches. On Wednesday, the station is at Saint Mary Major, on Friday at the church of the Twelve Apostles, and on Saturday at St. Peter’s Basilica. This last was originally the traditional day for ordinations in the church of Rome; the seven readings (five prophecies, Epistle and Gospel) correspond to the seven orders. The medieval liturgical writer Rupert of Tuy (1075-1129) offers this beautiful commentary on the choice of Mary Major for this day.

“On the first day of the (Ember) fast, the station is fittingly appointed at Mary Major; for it is clear that the whole office of that day, properly belongs to that temple of the Lord… in which God entire, dwelling for nine month, deigned to become man. Indeed, from the Gospel is recited the Annunciation or Incarnation of the Lord, that was proclaimed beforehand by the trumpets of the prophets, brought to be present by the Angel, received by the faith of the blessed Virgin, completed and brought forth by Her incorrupt womb.”

Rupert also notes how all of the texts of the Mass are chosen in reference to the Gospel. The Introit is the famous text Rorate caeli, from the forty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, sung in several different places in the liturgy of Advent. These words prophesy the coming of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, the belief of the Virgin, and Her reception of the Word Incarnate. The two Epistles (Isaiah 2, 2-5 and 7, 10-15), chosen for their traditional association with the Virgin Mary, “doubly refresh the souls of those who are fasting.”

In non-Roman Western rites, it was the custom to celebrate the feast of the Annunciation shortly before Christmas; the Ambrosian liturgy keeps the last Sunday of Advent as the “feast of the Incarnation”, while the Mozarabs fix the Annunciation to December 18th. In a similar vein, some churches in the Middle Ages used white vestments for the Ember Wednesday Mass instead of violet, with the deacon and subdeacon in dalmatic and tunicle, the vestments of joy, rather than the penitential folded chasubles. This manner of treating the day almost as a second feast of the Annunciation was observed at Paris, for example, well-known for its strong devotion to Our Lady; it was retained in the neo-Gallican revision of the Parisian liturgy, and continued in use until Paris adopted the Roman liturgy in 1873.

In many places, it was also the custom to sing the Gospel with special solemnity on this day. Mario Righetti notes in his Storia Liturgica that at Bayeux, the Gospel was sung by a priest (rather than a deacon) wearing a white cope, holding a palm branch in his hand. It was also a common custom to ring the Angelus bell during the singing of the Gospel.

The Annunciation, the central panel of the Mérode Altarpiece, by Robert Campin, ca 1425

In the use of Sarum, the reading of the Gospel and Homily at Matins was the subject of a particularly beautiful ritual. “The deacon proceeds with the subdeacon, (both) dressed in white,…bearing a palm from the Holy Land in his hand, with the thurifers and torch-bearers…and he incenses the altar. And so he proceeds through the middle of the Choir to the pulpit, to proclaim the Exposition of the Gospel, …with the torch-bearers standing to either side of (him), …and he holds the palm in his hand while he reads the lesson.” The Sarum Rite further underlines the festive quality of the day by omitting most of the penitential features of the Divine Office at Lauds, such as the ferial prayers and the prostrations. Some art historians believe that the dress of the Angel Gabriel as represented in paintings of the Annunciation reflects the local liturgical use observed in the celebration of the “Missa aurea.”

The Gospel of the Annunciation is not, of course, entirely absent from the traditional texts of Advent before the Mass of Ember Wednesday. It is read as the Matins lessons of the Little Office of Our Lady throughout the season, and it provides the text of many of the antiphons and responsories from the very first day of Advent. When the Church began to celebrate the daily Office and Mass of the Virgin, a special version of both was used in many places for the Advent season, and most of the texts for the Mass of the Blessed Virgin in Advent are borrowed from the “Missa aurea.” Several places retain the custom of celebrating this “Rorate” Mass early in the morning, and by candlelight if possible. King Sigmund the First of Poland loved the Rorate Mass so much that in the year 1540, he built a special Lady Chapel within the Cathedral of Krakow, in which it would be celebrated every day, regardless of the season. (pictured right, exterior view) The choristers of this chapel were called “Rorantists,” and were also responsible for singing the Gloria in excelsis at the principal Mass of the main choir. A similar custom prevails to this day at the Holy House of Loreto, in which all Masses, public and private are the votive Mass of the Annunciation.

The Second Sunday of Advent 2025

The following is taken from book V, chapter 2 of Sicard of Cremona’s Mitrale, or Summa on the Offices of the Church, one of the main sources for our friend Durandus’ liturgical commentary. On the Second Sunday of Advent, the former is far clearer, but still requires a bit of paraphrase. Sicard was born in Cremona, roughly 51 miles to the east south-east of Milan, in 1155, and elected bishop in 1185, holding the office until his death 30 years later.  

The Introit is the consolation of a pilgrim people, the son of a pilgrim mother, wailing for the absence of the father, whom he has not yet seen. … And as he weeps, because his sojourning is prolonged in misery (Ps. 119, 4), the mother, commiserating with him, but also bringing him joy and consolation, cries out with the trumpet of prophesy, “People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations, and shall make the glory of His voice to be heard,” namely, the words, “Come, ye blessed of my Father.” (Matt. 25, 34)

Introitus, Isa. 30 Pópulus Sion, ecce, Dóminus veniet ad salvandas gentes: et audítam faciet Dóminus gloriam vocis suae in laetitia cordis vestri. Ps. 79 Qui regis Israël, intende: qui dedúcis, velut ovem, Joseph. Gloria Patri... Pópulus Sion... (People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations; and the Lord shall make the glory of His voice to be heard, in the joy of your heart. Ps. Give ear, o thou that rulest Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Glory be... People of Sion...)

But because without prayer there is no consolation of the mind… she adds, “Give ear, o thou that rulest Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep,” and the collect, “Stir up our hearts, o Lord.” The Epistle that follows (Rom. 15, 4-13) agrees with this, as it invites us to patience, and the consolation of the Scriptures, that through these things, we may have the hope of those things which the ancient fathers promised, namely, the salvation of the nations, and the rejoicing of the Saints.

The gradual, as it sings clearly that He is to come whose comeliness is from Sion, (that is, salvation is from the Jews (John 4, 22)), announces this to the Saints who are to be gathered at His right hand, because they have set the New Covenant before sacrifices. (Ps. 49, 5, “Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.”)

Graduale Ex Sion species decóris ejus: Deus manifeste veniet. V. Congregáte illi sanctos ejus, qui ordinavérunt testamentum ejus super sacrificia. (Out of Sion the comeliness of his beauty. God shall come manifestly. V. Gather ye together his saints to him, who set his covenant before sacrifices)

The son, having heard the mother’s consolation regarding the coming of the father, about the salvation of his people, about the gladness of his fellow, rejoices in the Alleluia, “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.”

Allelúja, allelúja. Ps. 121 Laetátus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Dómini íbimus. Allelúja. (I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.)

The Communio concludes this Mass by exhorting the pilgrim Jerusalem, that is, the Church in this world, to bear with patience the exile of this life, and bearing it, to rise, rising, to stand in the high place, so that standing it may see the rejoicing which shall come to her from the Lord. “To rise and to stand” … that is, “to despise the things of earth, and love those of heaven,” as is said at the end of the Postcommunion.

Communio, Bar. 5, 5 et 4, 36) Jerúsalem, surge et sta in excelso, et vide jucunditátem, quae veniet tibi a Deo tuo. (Jerusalem, arise, and stand on high, and see the rejoicing that shall come to thee from thy God.)

Therefore, rightly on this day is the Roman station church that of the Holy Cross ‘in Jerusalem’, since the whole Mass aims to bring consolation to the heart of that city. (Photo by our Roman pilgrim friend Agnese Bazzucchi.)

The First Sunday of Advent 2025

Introitus Ad te levávi ánimam meam: Deus meus, in te confído, non erubescam: neque irrídeant me inimíci mei: étenim universi, qui te exspectant, non confundentur. V. Vias tuas, Dómine, demonstra mihi: et sémitas tuas édoce me. Gloria Patri. Sicut erat. Ad te levávi.

Introit To Thee have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, o my God, do I trust, let me not be put to shame; nor let my enemies mock me, for all they that await Thee shall not be confounded. V. Show me Thy ways, o Lord and teach me Thy paths. Glory be to the Father... As it was in the beginning... To Thee have I lifted up my soul...

At the Mass (of the First Sunday of Advent), the Introit is Ad te levavi, because through the coming of the Lord into the flesh, hope is most greatly lifted up, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3, 16), and again “He did not spare His own Son” (Romans 8, 32), etc. And note that if some are roused, others nevertheless languish in sleep; therefore the cantor, beginning with “To Thee have I lifted up my soul”, by raising up his voice goes from the lower (note) to the higher, which is typical of one rousing others up. And this is noted also in the Epistle (Rom. 13, 11-14), where it says, “Now is the hour to rise from sleep.” There follows the verse, “Show me Thy ways, o Lord,” because Christ when He comes shows us His ways, whence Isaiah says (2, 2 and 3), “The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be (prepared) etc. Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways.” And the Epistle... shows what those ways are: “Knowing that the hour is nigh for us to rise from sleep.” For in the part where it says, “The night hath passed, and the day approacheth,” the effect (of the Incarnation) is indicated, since day came about when the Sun was born; and therefore it follows, “As in the day, let us walk honestly”, that is, in all good works, “and put ye on the Lord, Jesus Christ”, that we may thus be sons of God, because it was for the sake of this that the Son of God became man, that man might become a son of God. (William Durandus, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, 6.3.15)

Music for the First Vespers of Advent

In nearly all medieval Uses of the Roman Divine Office, one of the responsories of Matins was sung between the chapter and hymn at first Vespers of major feasts, and on the Saturday before the major Sundays. On the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent, the most common choice for this was the third responsory of Roman Matins, Missus est Gabriel Angelus, which is also sung daily in Advent Little Office of the Virgin, and on the feast of the Annunciation.

℟. Missus est Gabriel Angelus ad Maríam Vírginem desponsátam Joseph, nuntians ei verbum, et expavescit Virgo de lúmine: ne tímeas, María, invenisti gratiam apud Dóminum: * Ecce concipies et paries, et vocábitur Altíssimi Fílius. ℣. Dabit ei Dóminus Deus sedem David, patris ejus, et regnábit in domo Jacob in aeternum. Ecce concipies. Glória Patri. Ecce concipies.

℟. The Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary, a Virgin espoused to Joseph, announcing to Her the word, and the Virgin feared for the light. Fear not, Mary, thou hast found grace with the Lord. * Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear (a son), and He shall be called the Son of the Most High. ℣. The Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. Behold... Glory be... Behold...

A very splendid polyphonic setting (for use as a motet) attributed to Josquin des Prez. (The video names Petrus Alamire, a Bavarian composer who produced the manuscript on which this recording is based.)

The Vesper hymn hymn for Advent Conditor alme siderum, in the original version. (The original Latin text, the revised version of Urban VIII, and an English translation are all available on Wikipedia.)

Palestrina’s polyphonic version.

The complete ceremony sung a few hours ago by our good friends of the Schola Sainte-Cecile in Paris; the Magnificat antiphon Ecce nomen Domini begins at 21:25.

Aña Ecce nomen Dómini venit de longinquo, et cláritas ejus replet orbem terrárum. (Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, and the glory thereof filleth the world.)

From Vespers of this evening until the second Vespers of the Purification, the major antiphon of the Virgin at the end of the hours is the Alma Redemptoris Mater.

The very nice polyphonic setting by the Franco-Flemish composer Joannes Ockeghem (1410 ca. - 1497).

O Rex Gentium 2024

O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum: veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti.

O King of the nations, and desire thereof, and cornerstone that makest of twain one: come and save Man, whom Thou formed from the mire of the earth.

The Creation of Adam, by Andrea Pisano, 1335; from the bell-tower of the Cathedral of Florence.

Durandus on the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Of old, the Jews sounded trumpets to invite men to weddings, and to solemn feasts, and to move their camp; wherefore, now the Lord has commanded the prelates to sound trumpets, inviting the nations to the wedding of the King, whose day is upon us, namely, the day of the Lord’s Birth, in which Christ wedded human nature to himself, according to that which is said in the Psalm (18, 6), “And He is like a bridegroom going forth from his chamber.” (This psalm is used in some of the Masses of Advent, and at Matins of Christmas.) Sing ye, therefore, because the wedding is nigh, and for this very reason, in this week, the cantors lift up their voices higher than usual in the responsories, and in the introit, so that we who were previously weighed down by the slumber of negligence may at least be roused by the calling out and excitement of the chants.

Introitus Isa 45 Roráte, caeli, désuper, et nubes pluant justum: aperiátur terra, et gérminet Salvatórem. Ps. 18 Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei: et ópera manuum ejus annuntiat firmamentum. Gloria Patri ... Roráte... (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just one, let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Savior. Ps. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Glory be... Drop down dew...)

...in the Office of this Sunday, which is drawn in part from the prophets, and in part from the Gospel... the calling of the nations is especially declared through the coming of Christ, where in the person of the Apostles and doctors is said, “Sound ye the trumpet, and call the nations.” (This is the beginning of the first responsory of Matins and the first antiphon of Lauds on the fourth Sunday of Advent. This motet by Palestrina is the text of the first and third antiphons of Lauds, and the Introit of the Mass given above.)

Canite tuba in Sion, quia prope est dies Domini; ecce veniet ad salvandum nos, alleluja, alleluja. Erunt prava in directa, et aspera in vias planas: Veni, Domine, et noli tardare. Alleluia. Rorate caeli, etc. (Sound ye the trumpet in Zion, for the day of the Lord is nigh; behold He shall come to save us, alleluia, alleluia. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: come, o Lord, and tarry not, alleluia. Drop down dew...)

(The following section refers to an introit which was sung on this Sunday in many medieval Uses, but is not part of the Roman repertoire.) Indeed, the gentile nations, seeing that the Godhead would be made ready in the womb of a virgin, cries out to Him in the Introit, according to the use of some churches, “Remember us, o Lord, in the good pleasure of Thy people”, that is, in Thy Son, in whom Thou was well pleased from among the thousands of people, He who was Thine from the beginning of the world. (Durandus, Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, VI, 11, 2-3) 

Introitus, Ps. 105 Memento nostri, Domine, in beneplacito populi tui; visita nos in salutari tuo, ad videndum in bonitate electorum tuorum, ad laetandum in laetitia gentis tuæ, ut lauderis cum haereditate tua. Ps. Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus, quoniam in sæculum misericordia ejus. Gloria Patri... Memento... (Remember us, o Lord, in the favor of Thy people: visit us with thy salvation, that we may see the good of Thine elect, that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation, that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance. Ps. Praise ye the Lord, for He is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.)

This introit in a gradual of the later 10th century, St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 339: (https://www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/csg/0339). CC BY-NC 4.0

Understanding the Advent Ember Days with the Help of the Golden Legend

Hanukkah

The Ember Days have been part of the Roman liturgical tradition since time immemorial, and as such they have invited much reflection. Today, as we did in September, let us turn to the author of the Golden Legend, Bl. Jacobus de Voragine (1230-98), for help in how to observe today and tomorrow, this time the Ember Friday and Ember Saturday of Advent. Jacobus offers several thoughts, which I consolidate into three categories: looking backwards or forwards; looking out; and looking in.

Looking Backwards or Forwards 

Jacobus finds it commendable that we incorporate aspects of the Hebrew calendar into our liturgical and ascetical lives. Such an incorporation is not a superstitious or slavish Judaizing of the New Covenant, but an allegorical attempt to fulfill, in the path of Our Lord, every jot and tittle of the Law. It also pays due respect to our spiritual ancestors in the right key.

For the Jews fasted four times in the year, that is to wit, before Easter [Passover], before Whitsunside [the Jewish feast of Shavuoth], before the setting of the Tabernacle in the Temple in September [Yom Kippur and Sukkoth], and before the dedication of the Temple in December [Hanukkah].

The September Embertide is a good example of “looking back” insofar as some of its propers honor the Hebrew calendar. The first lesson (Lev. 23, 26-32) and the Epistle (Heb. 9, 2-12) of the September Ember Saturday are about the Feast of the Atonement or Yom Kippur, and the second lesson (Lev. 23, 39-43) is about the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth. 

The December Ember Days, however, are dominated by the liturgical season in which they find themselves. And since that season, the season of Advent, looks forward to the coming of Jesus Christ, so do they. Ember Saturday is replete with Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, while Ember Wednesday honors the Annunciation and Ember Friday the Visitation. 

Fra Angelico’s Cortona altarpiece of the Annunciation, 1433-34.

Looking Out

In the Northern hemisphere, December is wintertime, and for Jacobus, this season of want and lifelessness is a call to go and do likewise: 

In December there is also a fast, and this is the fourth: in this time the herbs die, and we ought to be mortified to the world. 

Looking Within

Combining the qualities of seasonal weather with the four humors (and drawing from St. John Damascene), Jacobus also sees an opportunity for addressing particular temperamental weaknesses and vices throughout the course of the year. Since winter is cold and moist, it produces more phlegm in the human body, and thus the Advent Embertide is for phlegmatics and for a battle with "the phlegm of lightness and forgetting" (to which phlegmatics are prone) as well as a battle against the "coldness of untruth and malice" (to which all are prone). The Lenten Embertide, by contrast, is for sanguines and for a battle with concupiscence and luxury, the Whitsun Embertide is for cholerics and for a battle with wrath and avarice, and the September Embertide is for melancholics and for a battle with pride.

The Four Temperaments by Virgil Solis, 1530-62, via The British Museum, London

The phlegmatic temperament in the above illustration is personified as a woman sitting on water (a link to the elemental connotations of the four humors). She holds a spit in her right hand and a rattle in her left. An owl is on her shoulder, and behind her is an ass. Can anyone make out the Latin inscription? And any guesses on the various symbols?

The Other Major Antiphons for the End of Advent

The best known feature of the Office in Advent is of course the O Antiphons, which begin this evening, and are said with the Magnificat from December 17-23. Their prominence has perhaps overshadowed some of the other riches of the season, which has an unusually large number of proper texts. In addition to the daily antiphons of the Benedictus and Magnificat, the psalms at Sunday Matins also have their own antiphons, which is not true of either Lent or Passiontide, and each individual Sunday has another set of five antiphons for the psalms of Lauds and Vespers, also used at the minor Hours of the day.

The last six ferias before the vigil of Christmas also each have a proper set of antiphons to be sung with the psalms of Lauds, and repeated at the minor Hours, though not at Vespers; they are one of the most beautiful parts of the Gregorian repertoire. If December 17 is a Sunday, these begin on Monday the 18th; otherwise, on the 17th, along with the Os.

A folio of the winter volume of the Hartker Antiphonary, end of the 10th century, beginning with the 3rd antiphon for Monday. San Gallen Stiftsbibliothek. Cod. Sang. 390. 

I have here set them out in tables, with the Latin on one side and an English translation on the other. With the Latin, I have indicated the psalms and canticles with which they are currently sung according to the Breviary of St Pius X. Prior to his reform in 1911, the third psalm of Lauds each day was Psalms 62 and 66 said together as a single psalm, and the fifth was Psalms 148, 149 and 150, also said together as a single psalm.

On the English side, I have noted the Biblical citations in the text; “vs.” stands for “verse”, indicating that the antiphon is a verse of the psalm or canticle with which it is sung. Many of them are not Scriptural at all, and some of them, such as the very first one, Ecce veniet Dominus, are either vaguely or only partially taken from the Bible. The traditional corpus of Breviary antiphons is very ancient, and some of the Biblical citations come from the Old Latin version of the Bible used before St Jerome’s Vulgate translation, such as the antiphon Deus a Libano which is said with the canticle of Habacuc.

Monday

Aña 1 Ecce veniet Dominus, princeps regum terræ: beati qui parati sunt occurrere illi. Psalm 50	Behold the Lord shall come, the Prince of the kings of the earth: blessed are they that are pre- pared to meet him. (Apoc. 1, 5)
2 Cum venerit Filius hominis, putas inveniet fidem super terram? Psalm 5	When the Son of Man shall come, thinkest thou that He shall find faith upon the earth? (Luke 18, 8)
3 Ecce jam venit plenitudo temporis, in quo misit Deus Filium suum in terras. Psalm 28	Behold, the fullness of time hath already come, in which God hath sent His Son upon the lands. (Galatians 4, 4)
4 Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus Salvatoris. Canticle of Isaiah, chapter 12, 1-6	Ye shall draw waters in joy from the fountains of the Savior. (vs. 3)
5 Egredietur Dominus de lo- co sancto suo: veniet ut sal- vet populum suum. Ps. 116	The Lord will go forth from His holy place, He will come to save his people.

Tuesday

Aña 1 Rorate, caeli, desuper, et nubes pluant justum; ape- riatur terra, et germinet Sal- vatorem. Psalm 50	Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One; let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Savior. (Isaiah 45, 8)
2 Emitte Agnum, Domine, Dominatorem terræ, de Petra deserti, ad montem filiae Sion. Psalm 42	Send forth the lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Sion. (Isaiah 16, 1)
3 Ut cognoscamus, Domine, in terra viam tuam, in omni- bus gentibus salutare tuum. Psalm 66	May we know, o Lord, Thy way upon the earth, Thy salvation in all nations. (vs. 3)
4 Da mercedem, Domine, sustinentibus te, ut Prophe- tae tui fideles inveniantur. Canticle of King Ezechiah, Isaiah, 38, 10-20	Reward them, o Lord, that patiently wait for Thee, that Thy prophets may be found faithful. (Sir. 36, 18)
5 Lex per Moysen data est; gratia et veritas per Jesum Christum facta est. Psalm 134	The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1, 17)

In many medieval Uses, the first antiphon of the following set, Prophetae praedicaverunt, was said with the Psalms of either Lauds or Vespers, or both, in the Little Office of the Virgin Mary during Advent.

The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-11. (From the website of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; click to see in high resolution.)

Wednesday

Aña 1 Prophetae praedica- verunt nasci Salvatorem de Virgine Maria. Psalm 50	The prophets foretold that the Savior would be born of the Virgin Mary.
2 Spiritus Domini super me, evangelizare pauperi- bus misit me. Psalm 64	The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, He hath sent me to preach good tidings to the poor. (Isa. 61, 1, as cited in Luke 4, 18)
3 Propter Sion non tacebo, donec egrediatur ut splen- dor justus ejus. Psalm 100	For Sion’s sake I will not hold my peace, till her just one come forth as brightness. (Isa. 62, 1)
4 Ecce veniet Dominus, ut sedeat cum principibus, et solium gloriae teneat. Canticle of Anna, I Kings 2, 1-10	Behold, the Lord shall come to sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory. (vs. 8)
5 Annuntiate populis et di- cite: Ecce Deus Salvator noster veniet. Psalm 145	Proclaim ye to the peoples, and say: Behold, God our Savior shall come.

Thursday

Aña 1 De Sion veniet Domi- nus omnipotens, ut salvum faciat populum suum. Ps. 50	From Sion shall come the Lord Almighty to save His people.
2 Convertere, Domine, ali- quantulum, et ne tardes ve- nire ad servos tuos. Psalms 89	Return, o Lord, a little while, and delay not to come to Thy ser- vants.
3 De Sion veniet, qui regna- turus est Dominus, Emma- nuel magnum nomen ejus. Psalm 35	From Sion shall come the Lord who is to rule, Emmanuel is His great name.
4 Ecce Deus meus, et hono- rabo eum: Deus patris mei, et exaltabo eum. Canticle of Moses, Exodus 15, 1-19	Behold my God, and I will honor Him, the God of my father, and I will exalt Him. (vs. 2)
5 Dominus legifer noster, Dominus Rex noster, ipse veniet, et salvabit nos. Psalm 146	The Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king, He will come and save us. (Isaiah 33, 22)

Friday

Aña 1 Constantes estote, vi- debitis auxilium Domini su- per vos. Psalm 50	Be ye steady, ye shall see the help of the Lord upon you. (I Chronicles 20, 17)
2 Ad te, Domine, levavi animam meam: veni, et eri- pe me, Domine, ad te con- fugi? Psalm 142	To Thee, o Lord, I have lifted up my soul: come and deliver me, o Lord, to thee have I fled. (vss 8-9)
3 Veni, Domine, et noli tar- dare: relaxa facinora plebi tuae Israël. Psalm 84	Come, o Lord, delay Thou not; forgive the crimes of Thy people Israel.
4 Deus a Libano veniet, et splendor ejus sicut lumen erit. Canticle of Habakkuk, chapter 3, 1-19	God will come from the Leba- non, and His brightness shall be as the light. (vss. 8 and 9)
5 Ego autem ad Dominum aspiciam, et exspectabo Deum, Salvatorem meum. Psalm 147	But I will look towards the Lord, I will wait for God my Saviour. (Micah 7, 7)

The Testament of Moses, by Luca Signorelli and Bartolomeo della Gatta, 1482, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.

The Breviary of St Pius V has no special set of antiphons for Saturday, on which the ones impeded by the feast of St Thomas the Apostle on December 21st are used. (Obviously, this is not done if Saturday itself is the 21st, as it is this year.) However, the antiphon for the Old Testament canticle from the impeded set is replaced by a proper antiphon Exspectetur, which corresponds to the Canticle of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. When the vigil of Christmas falls on a Sunday, the Thursday set is impeded by St Thomas, and omitted that year; the antiphons from the Fourth Sunday of Advent are anticipated to Saturday, with Exspectetur for the canticle.

This custom was changed in the Breviary reform of St Pius X; Saturday is given its own antiphons, and those impeded by St Thomas’ day are simply omitted. Of the four new antiphons, the first and fifth (Intuemini and Paratus esto) are found in several very old chant manuscripts, and were widely used in the Middle Ages; the second and third (Multiplicabitur and Ego Dominus) appear to be new compositions made specifically for this reform.

Saturday

Aña 1 Intuemini, quantus sit gloriosus iste, qui ingreditur ad salvandos populos. Psalm 50	Behold ye how glorious is this one, that cometh in to save the peoples.
2 Multiplicabitur ejus im- perium, et pacis non erit finis. Psalm 91	His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace. (Isaiah 9, 7)
3 Ego Dominus prope feci justitiam meam, non elon- gabitur, et salus mea non morabitur. Psalm 63	I the Lord have brought my jus- tice near, it shall not be afar off, and my salvation shall not tarry. (Isaiah 46, 12)
4 Exspectetur, sicut pluvia, eloquium Domini: et de- scendat, sicut ros, super nos Deus noster. Canticle of Moses, Deut. 32, 1-43	Let the word of the Lord be awaited, like the rain, and let our God descend upon us like the dew. (vs. 2)
5 Paratus esto, Israel, in oc- cursum Domini, quoniam venit. Psalm 150	Be prepared, Israel, to meet the Lord, when He cometh. (Amos 4, 12)

Finally, on December 21st and 23rd, there are special antiphons to be said with the Benedictus, the last of these an especially fitting final word of the season, before the special office of the vigil of the Nativity. (Nolite timere is used for the commemoration of Advent on the feast of St Thomas, unless the feast is transferred off the 4th Sunday of Advent.)

Aña Nolite timere: quinta enim die veniet ad vos Do- minus noster.	Fear ye not, for on the fifth day our God will come to you.
Ana Ecce completa sunt omnia, quae dicta sunt per Angelum de Virgine Maria.	Behold, all things are fulfilled which were said by the Angel about the Virgin Mary.

In many medieval Uses, the antiphon Ecce completa sunt was sung in the Office of Christmas, or as part of the Little Office of the Virgin Mary in the Christmas season. In the following recording, it is followed by the versicle “Post partum, Virgo...” and the Christmastide prayer of the Virgin, “Deus, qui salutis aeternae.”

The Responsory Aspiciens a Longe

In the Roman Divine Office, the first responsory of Matins on the First Sunday of Advent, Aspiciens a longe, is one of longest of the entire year, and unique in its arrangement. The responsory proper is divided into four parts, where two is standard, and three is rare; the second, third and fourth part are repeated after three different psalm verses, followed by the doxology and then the repetition of the whole first section. The Roman breviary also gives it a special significance by using it only once, where normally the responsories of a Sunday are repeated during the week. (In some other Uses, e.g. those of the Dominicans and Cistercians, it is repeated during the week, but in a shortened form.)

℟. Aspiciens a longe, ecce vídeo Dei potentiam venientem, et nébulam totam terram tegentem: * ite obviam ei, et dícite: * Nuntia nobis, si tu es ipse, * qui regnatúrus es in pópulo Israël.
℣. Quique terrígenæ, et filii hóminum, simul in unum dives et pauper: ite obviam et, et dícite.
℣. Qui regis Israël, intende, qui dedúcis velut ovem Joseph: nuntia nobis, si tu es ipse.
℣. Tóllite portas, príncipes, vestras, et elevámini portæ æternáles, et introíbit Rex gloriæ, qui regnatúrus es in pópulo Israël.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.
℟. Aspiciens a longe, ecce vídeo Dei potentiam venientem, et nébulam totam terram tegentem: ite obviam ei, et dícite: Nuntia nobis, si tu es ipse, qui regnatúrus es in pópulo Israël.

℟. Looking from afar, behold I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering all the land: * go ye to meet him and say: * Tell us if thou art the one, * who art to rule in the people of Israel.
℣. All you that are earthborn, and you sons of men: both rich and poor together, go ye out to meet him and say.
℣. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep; tell us if thou art the one.
℣. Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in, who art to rule in the people of Israel.
Glory be unto the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Looking from afar, behold I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering all the land: go ye to meet him and say: tell us if thou art the one, who art to rule in the people of Israel.

Today, I stumbled across this image from an antiphonary produced in central Italy (Umbria or Tuscany) in the first half of the forteenth century, with a particularly splendid initial A for the beginning of this text. (Public domain image from the website of the Cleveland Museum of Art; click to enlarge.)

Within the initial A, Christ descends from heaven (indicated by the mandorla around Him), surrounded by angels, with three more groups of them in the margin above to and to either side. Beneath Him within the A are twelve figures with halos, and twelve more in the margins to either side of the first bar of music, the twenty-four elders mentioned in the Apocalypse. Within the curlicues at the bottom of the A are Isaiah on the left, holding a scroll on which is written “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (7, 14); on the right, Zachariah, whose scroll reads “The Lord shall come with all his Saints.” (14, 5). Above the A is depicted the Annunciation, with the Angel Gabriel on the left, and the Virgin Mary on the right; at the bottom, angels announce the coming of Christ to the Fathers in the Limbo. In the bottom margin, a group of clerics, monks or friars (sadly rather damaged) stand singing at a lectern, our ancestors in the Faith with whom we pray these very same words.

The First Sunday of Advent 2024

Gregorius praesul, méritis et nómine dignus, unde genus ducit, summum conscendit honórem; renovávit monumenta patrum priórum, tunc compósuit hunc libellum músicae artis scholae cantórum anni círculi. Eia dic, domne, eia: Ad te levávi ánimam meam: Deus meus, in te confído, non erubescam: neque irrídeant me inimíci mei: étenim universi, qui te exspectant, non confundéntur. Ps. 24 Vias tuas, Dómine, demonstra mihi: et sémitas tuas édoce me. Gloria Patri. Sicut erat. Ad te levávi. (The introit of the First Sunday of Advent, with an introductory trope. The text of the trope sung in the video is slightly different from the one given here; explanation below.)

Gregory the bishop, worthy by his merits and the name from which his lineage came, ascended to the the highest honour; he renewed the monuments of earlier fathers, then he composed this little book of musical art for the school of singers for the cycle of the year. Come now, master, come and sing! To Thee I have lifted up my soul: my God, in Thee do I trust; let me not be put to shame; nor let my enemies deride me, for all they that await Thee shall not be put to shame. Ps. 24 Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy paths. Glory be. As it was. To Thee...

St Gregory dictating to a scribe, an illustration at the beginning of the winter volume of the Codex Hartker, one of the oldest surviving antiphonaries of the Divine Office, ca. 990-1000. (St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 390: https://www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/csg/0390. CC BY-NC 4.0)

The Latin word “Eia” is an expression of joy, and like many exclamations, difficult to translate; it is sometime rendered “come” or “come on”, as an exhortation to join in something happy. “Domne” is a medieval variant of “Domine”, the vocative of “Dominus - Lord”, commonly used when speaking to a religious superior, as in “Jube, domne, benedicere - pray, lord, the blessing.” In this case, it represents the members of the schola urging the master of the choir to intone the Introit.

In the recording, the words at the end of the trope “Eia dic, domne, eia” are replaced with a variant text “Eia parabolista, dicunt psalmista.” This variant is recorded in the Analecta hymnica (XLIX, p. 20) in a footnote to this version of the trope Gregorius praesul, with “(!)”, incidating that the reading is surprising for being basically unintelligible. The word “parabolista” seems to be a variant of “paraphonista - chorister.”

The Five-Week Advent

The most ancient liturgical books of the Roman Rite attest that the Roman Advent was originally five weeks long, rather than four. The oldest surviving sacramentary, known as the Old Gelasian Sacramentary, dates to about 750 AD, and represents the Roman Rite as it stood about 50 years earlier; it has five Masses “de Adventu(m) Domini” (although these are not assigned to specific Sundays), and Masses of the three Ember days of December. About 30 years later, in the Gellone Sacramentary, we find five Sundays of Advent, the first of which is placed after the Mass of St Chrysogonus on November 24; these are counted backward from Christmas as “the fifth Sunday before the birth of the Lord, the fourth Sunday”, etc. All the prayers of the First to Fourth Sundays of Advent in the Missal of St Pius V are found in the same places in Gellone on the Second to Fifth Sundays.

Folio 122r of the Gellone Sacramentary, with the Mass of the “Fifth Sunday before the birth of the Lord”, under the header “Here begin the prayers of the Advent of the Lord.” (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 12048)

The Wurzburg lectionary, the oldest of the Roman Rite, was copied out in about 700 AD, but its contents date to about 650. The Gospel section has no readings for Advent at all, nor any hint of the season’s existence. The Epistle section places the readings for the December Ember days after the feast of St Andrew on November 30th; all but one of these are identical to those of the Tridentine Missal. They are followed by five Epistles “de Adventu Domini”, which include the four Sunday Epistles read in Advent today, in a slightly different order.

The Roman Missal still preserves a reminder of this older custom, even though in the final decades of the 8th century, with the transition to the so-called Gregorian Sacramentary, Advent was shortened to four weeks. The Collect of the last Sunday of the liturgical year begins with the same word, “Excita – stir up”, as those of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Sundays and Ember Friday of Advent, and the Gospel, Matthew 24, 15-35, has an apocalyptic theme similar to that of the First Sunday of Advent, Luke 21, 25-33.

Another relic of this is found in the Divine Office. Normally, any given week of the year (or set of weeks) has about 8-12 responsories for Matins. Depending on the season, 7 or 9 of these are said on Sunday, the rest on Monday, with some series running into Tuesday; once they have all been said, those of Sunday are repeated on the remaining weekdays. In Advent, however, there is a special set of responsories which are said on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of both the first and second weeks of Advent. This set was apparently originally said in the second week of a five-week Advent; when the season was shortened, these texts were preserved by means of a unique arrangement found nowhere else in the Office, which fits five weeks’ worth of responsories into only four weeks.

This table shows the distribution of the Matins responsories of the first two weeks of Advent; those of the first Sunday are marked with red numbers, those of the second with blue numbers, and those of the extra series with green numbers. (Click to enlarge.)

In the Ambrosian and Mozarabic Rites, Advent is six weeks long, beginning on the Sunday after November 11, the feast of St Martin. The keeping of a fast similar to that of Lent in preparation for Christmas, and beginning around St Martin’s day, is first attested towards the end of the fifth century. The oldest sources agree that it was less strict than that of Lent, originally kept only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and over time, it gradually fell out of use altogether. However, nothing in the ancient sources indicates that this was ever the liturgical custom of the Roman Rite, or that the Roman Advent was ever tied to the feast of St Martin, which is not in the Old Gelasian Sacramentary or the Wurzburg epistolary. The oldest Roman liturgical texts for Advent speak of fasting only in connection with the Ember days.

All of these customs long predate any period when people thought to write down explanations of why they made specific additions or changes to the liturgy, although we are often able to glean such reasons from other writings or historical facts. In the case of the Roman Advent, we can reasonably speculate, but perhaps no more than that, that its varying lengths derive from the different ways the Fathers of the Church divided the history of the world before the coming of Christ.

In his book “On the Catechizing of the Uninstructed” (22.39), St Augustine divides the history of the world into six periods, each marked by a covenant between God and His people.

“…five ages of the world having passed, the first of which is from the beginning of the human race, that is, from Adam, who was the first man to be made, down to Noah, who constructed the ark at the time of the flood; then the second goes to Abraham, who was chosen as the father indeed of all those nations which should follow the example of his faith, … the third age is from Abraham to King David, the fourth from David to that captivity by which the people of God migrated to Babylon, and the fifth from that migration down to the coming (adventum) of our Lord Jesus Christ. From His coming, the sixth age begins, so that now that spiritual grace, which was then known to a few patriarchs and prophets, may be made manifest to all nations…”

In this context, the conclusion of this passage could very well be taken as a reference to the liturgical season which runs from Christmas to Epiphany, in which God’s grace is indeed “made manifest to all nations.”

Ss Gregory and Augustine, ca. 1510, by the Spanish painter Juan de Borgoña (1470 ca. – 1536; public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

St Gregory the Great became Pope 160 years after the death of St Augustine; it hardly needs to be said that his writings were especially influential on the Roman liturgical tradition. In his sermon on the Gospel of Septuagesima Sunday, Matthew 20, 1-16, he modifies Augustine’s division of time as follows, according to the hours at which the workers are hired to work in the vineyard. “The morning of the world (i.e., the first hour) is from Adam to Noah; the third hour is from Noah to Abraham; the sixth is from Abraham to Moses, the ninth from Moses to the coming of the Lord; and the eleventh is from the coming of the Lord to the end of the world.” This may also have been inspired by a different tradition found in various writings of Augustine himself, which gives a four-fold division of the entire history of humanity: “before the Law”, from creation to Moses; “under the Law”, from Moses to Christ; “under grace” from Christ to the end of the world; and “in peace”, which is to say, eternity. (De diversis questionibus LXXXIII 66.3, cited in “Bede and the End of Time” by Peter Darby, p. 24, footnote 40.)

The original Roman Advent of five weeks would therefore correspond to St Augustine’s six-fold division of time: five weeks to represent the five ages of the world before the coming of Christ, and the season from Christmas to Epiphany to represent the sixth age. The reduction of Advent to four weeks would correspond to St Gregory’s four ages before the coming of Christ, with one age after. The fourth week of Advent is only complete in those years in which Christmas falls on a Sunday; this would represent the fact that humanity has not yet come to the fullness of time in which it will live “in peace” after the end of this world, and the coming of the new creation.

Ember Saturday of Advent 2023

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina, under the high priests Annas and Caiphas, the word of the Lord came unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins, as is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight; and the rough ways plain; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” (The Gospel of the Ember Saturday of Advent.)

The Preaching of St John the Baptist, 1485-90, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, in the Tornabuoni chapel of the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

He said therefore to the multitudes that went forth to be baptized by him: “Ye offspring of vipers, who hath shewed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance; and do not begin to say, ‘We have Abraham for our father.’ For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down and cast into the fire.” And the people asked him, saying, “What then shall we do?” And he answering, said to them, “He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner.” And the publicans also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Master, what shall we do?” But he said to them, “Do nothing more than that which is appointed you.” And the soldiers also asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do violence to no man, neither calumniate any man, and be content with your pay.” And as the people were of opinion, and all were thinking in their hearts of John, that perhaps he might be the Christ, John answered, saying unto all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but there shall come one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” And many other things exhorting, did he preach to the people. (Luke 3, 7-18; in the Ambrosian Rite, the Gospel given above, extended to verse 18, is read on the Second Sunday of Advent; in the Byzantine Rite, the same longer version of this passage is read twice on the vigil of the Epiphany.)    

A Medieval Liturgical Commentary on the O Antiphons (Part 2)

In the Middle Ages, many uses of the Roman Rite added one or more new O antiphons to the well-known ancient series of seven. Of these additions, the first given here, O Virgo virginum, was certainly the most widespread, and in fact is still used by the Premonstratensians; many places in Germany lengthened the series to eleven or twelve. There was also one written for Vespers of St Thomas the Apostle, O Thoma Didyme, since the ferial antiphons of the 20th and 21st would normally be used only for the commemoration of Advent on his feast. As noted in an article earlier this week, the Use of Augsburg in Germany supplemented the O antiphons not only by the addition of four new ones, but also with a special chapter and prayer assigned to each day, which refer back to the antiphon itself. The O series began on December 13th; the four additional ones were then sung from December 20th to the 23rd.

The Annunciation, by Jan de Beer (1475-1528); first quarter of the 16th century. (Public domain image from Wikipedia.)

December 20

Capitulum Ecce Virgo conci- piet, et pariet filium, et voca- bitur nomen ejus Emmanuel; butyrum et mel comedet, ut sciat reprobare malum, et eligere bonum.	Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel; he shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. (Isa. 7, 14-15)
Aña O Virgo virginum, * quomodo fiet istud, quia nec primam visa es, nec habere sequentem? Filiae Jerusalem, quid me admiramini? Divi- num est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.	O Virgin of virgins, how shall this come to pass? For Thou seemest to have none like Thee before, nor any such to follow. Daughters of Jerusalem, why do you regard me in wonder? This which you see is a divine mystery.
Oratio Domine, sancte Pater, omnipotens aeterne Deus, Creator humanae substantiae, qui Verbum tuum in Virginis uterum venire voluisti: sup- plicantium tibi preces beni- gnus intende. Per eundem.	Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, creator of our hu- man nature, who didst will that Thy word come into the womb of the Virgin; listen kindly to the prayer of them that beseech Thee. Through the same...

December 21

Cap. Vidi portam in domo Domini clausam, et dixit ad me Angelus: Solus Dominus veniens ingreditur per eam, et semper erit clausa.	I saw a closed door in the house of the Lord, and the An- gel said to me, “Only the Lord will come and enter through it, and it will always be closed.”
Aña O Gabriel, * nuntius caelorum, qui januis clausis ad me intrasti, et Verbum nuntiasti: Concipies et pari- es, Emmanuel vocabitur.	O Gabriel, messenger of the heavens, who came to me through the closed doors, and announced the Word: Thou shalt conceive, and bear a Son.
Oratio Deus, qui de beatae Mariae Virginis utero Ver- bum tuum, Angelo nuntian- te, carnem suscipere voluisti: praesta supplicibus tuis; ut, qui vere eam Genitricem Dei credimus, ejus apud te inter- cessonibus adjuvemur. Per eundem.	O God, who willed that Thy Word should, by the message of an Angel, take flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary: grant unto us, we be- seech Thee; that we who be- lieve Her to be truly the Mo- ther of God, may be helped by Her intercession. Through the same...

December 22

Cap. Magnificabitur Domi- nus usque ad fines terrae, et in diebus ejus pax et laetitia erit multis.	The Lord shall be magnified unto the ends of the earth, and in his days there shall be peace and joy unto many.
Aña O Rex pacifice, * ante saecula nate, per auream e- gredere portam, redemptos tuos visita, et eos illuc revo- ca, unde ruerunt per culpam.	O peaceable King, born before the ages, go out through the golden gate, visit those whom Thou hast redeemed, and call them back, whence down they fell through sin.
Oratio Redemptor noster, aspice, Deus, et veni ad li- berandum nos de profundo iniquitatis, et dona Eccle- siae tuae perpetuam tran- quillitatem. Qui vivis.	Look upon us, o God, our Re- deemer, and come to deliver us from the depth of iniquity; and grant perpetual peace to Thy Church. Who livest...

The chapter Vidi portam is actually the text of an antiphon written for the feast of the Annunciation, which, however, was apparently not used at Augsburg itself; it alludes to, but does not exactly quote the prophet Ezechiel’s vision of the new and eternal Temple in the final chapters of his book. The chapter of the following day begins as a quotation of Micah 5,4, but is more allusion than quote. As with many such expansions of earlier liturgical customs, these are not of a uniform literary quality. The antiphon O Gabriel is a grammatical fragment, and the prayer assigned to O Virgo virginum is rather vague. Three of the four are not addressed to the Lord, and therefore do not end as the classic seven do with an invocation to Him to finally come to us in His Nativity, as we have longed for throughout Advent.

On the night of December 23, the last of the O antiphons is sung; in the Middle Ages, many churches celebrated this final Vespers of the Advent season with great solemnity, like the First Vespers of a feast. At Augsburg and elsewhere, it had the peculiar name “Vigil of the Vigil of the Nativity”; the word “vigilia” was often used in medieval liturgical books to mean “First Vespers.” The psalms were said of the weekday, all five of them with a single proper antiphon. After the chapter, a responsory was added, according to the general medieval custom for First Vespers. The responsory in question, De occulta illa, is very ancient, and found in many medieval breviaries. The custom of the special antiphon for the psalms appears to be uniquely German, and varies from use to use. In the table below, I have noted another common one, Paratus esto, which in the reform of St Pius X was added to the Roman Breviary at Lauds of the Ember Saturday of Advent.

December 23

Aña super psalmos Levate * capita vestra; ecce appropin- quat redemptio vestra. (alia Paratus esto, * Israel, in occursum Domini, quoniam veniet.)	Lift up your heads, behold, your redemption approacheth. (elsewhere Be thou prepared, o Israel, to meet the Lord, for He shall come.)
Cap. Leva, Jerusalem, oculos et vide potentiam Regis; ecce Salvator venit solvere te a vinculo.	Lift up thy eyes, o Jerusalem, and see the might of the King; behold the Savior cometh to release Thee from thy bond.
R. De occulta illa habitatione sua egressus est Filius Dei: * descendit visitare et consola- ri omnes qui eum devoto corde desiderant. V. Ex Sion species decoris ejus: Deus noster manifeste veniet. Descendit. Gloria Patri. Descendit.	R. From His hidden abode the Son of God has gone forth: * He has come down to visit and console all those who long for Him with a devout heart. V. Out of Sion the loveliness of His beauty, our God shall come manifestly. He has come down. Glory be. He has come down.
Aña O Jerusalem, * civitas Dei summi, leva in circuitu oculos tuos, et vide Domi- num, Deum tuum, qui jam veniet te solvere a vinculis.	O Jerusalem, city of God most high, lift up thy eyes around thee, and see the Lord, thy God, who will now come to release thee from thy bond.
Oratio Vincula, quaesumus, Domine, humanae pravitatis abrumpe; ut ad Unigeniti tui Nativitatem libera mente curramus. Qui tecum.	Break, we beseech Thee, o Lord, the bonds of human wickedness, so that with free minds we may run forth to the birth of Thy Only-begotten Son. Who with Thee...

The east choir of Augsburg Cathedral. The town of Wigratzbad, the home of the Fraternity of St Peter’s European seminary, is within the diocese of Augsburg.