O antiphons

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The antiphon O clavis David in the Antiphonale by Poissy (Gregorian)

The O-antiphons , after their beginning in the Catholic liturgy, are the antiphons for the Magnificat in Vespers on the last seven days of Advent before Christmas Eve , i.e. from December 17th to 23rd.

The antiphons probably have their origins in the Roman liturgy and have been known since at least the 7th century. Their number expanded to a series of twelve in the 10th century; up to 23 different texts are known. The Roman breviary contains seven O-antiphons.

Structure and character

The O-antiphons each begin with a pictorial address taken from the Old Testament of the expected Messiah , praise his longed-for work and lead to the cry “Veni!” “Come!”. The designation of the antiphons is derived from the vocative invocation "O" with which each of the antiphons begins.

In the holy masses from December 17 to 23, since the last liturgical reform, a shortened version of the O-antiphon of the respective day is sung as a verse in the call to the Gospel . For example, on December 22nd, the German translation reads:

"King of all peoples,
you cornerstone of your church:
come and save the man
whom you formed from the earth!"

The O-antiphons as well as the scripture readings of the last week of Advent express in a special way the joyful character of the Advent season, which since ancient times (with regionally different accents) was not only a period of penance and lent, but also a time of anticipation marked by Christmas .

The text

date Latin text German transmission Basis in the Old Testament
December 17th O sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos
viam prudentiae. 		O wisdom, proceeding
from the mouth of the Most High -
you embrace the world from one end to the other,
you regulate everything in strength and mildness:
o come and reveal to us
the path of wisdom and insight. 		Weish 7,21ff  EU ,
Prov 8,12-26  EU
December 18th O Adonai
et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos
in bracchio extento. 		O Adonai,
Lord and Leader of the House of Israel -
you appeared to Moses in the flaming bush
and gave him the law on the mountain:
Oh come and set us free
with your strong arm! 		Ex 6.2  EU ,
Ex 6.6  EU ,
Ex 3.2  EU (appearance in the thorn bush),
Ex 19–20  EU (legislation on Mount Sinai)
19. December O radix Jesse ,
qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem gentes deprecabuntur;
veni ad liberandum nos,
iam noli tardare. 		O sprout from Jesse's roots ,
set as a sign for the peoples -
before you the rulers of the earth fall silent,
you plead to the peoples:
O come and save us
, arise, delay no longer! 		Isa 11,10  EU ;
see. Rom 15.12  EU
20th of December 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 ,
scepter of the house of Israel -
you open and no one can close,
you close, and no power can open:
oh come and open the dungeon of darkness
and the fetters of death! 		Isa 22:22  EU ;
see. Rev 3.7  EU
21st December O oriens ,
splendor lucis aeternae,
et sol justitiae:
veni et illumina sedentes in tenebris
et umbra mortis. 		O morning star,
shine of the undamaged light,
the shining sun of justice:
O come and enlighten, they sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death! 		Times 3.20  EU ;
see. Lk 1.78  EU
December 22 O rex gentium
et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:
veni et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti. 		O king of all peoples ,
their expectation and longing;
Keystone that
holds the building together: o come and save the person
whom you formed from earth! 		Ps 2,6–8  EU ,
Isa 33,22  EU ,
Sach 9,9–10  EU ;
see. Acts 4,11  EU (corner stone)
23rd of December O Immanuel ,
Rex et legifer noster,
exspectatio gentium, et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos,
Domine, Deus noster. 		O Immanuel ,
our King and Teacher,
you hope and Savior of the peoples:
o come, hurry and help us,
you our Lord and our God! 		Isa 7.14  EU

Among other things, the Sarum custom provided for an eighth O-antiphon, O Virgo virginum . Since the Sarum custom was adopted by many cathedrals in England, this O-antiphon is also used in part in the liturgy of the Anglican Church. In the Roman breviary the antiphon appeared as the magnificat antiphon of the second Vespers of the feast Expectatio partus Beatae Mariae Virginis on December 18 until the feast was canceled .

O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud?
quia nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem.
Filiae Jerusalem, quid me admiramini?
Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.
O virgin above all virgins, how can that be?
Because there was no one like you before or after you.
Daughters of Jerusalem, why are you amazed at me?
A divine secret is what you see.
The O-Antiphon O Thoma Didyme , which was included in the Rheingau antiphonary.

The O-antiphon O Virgo virginum may be sung on December 23rd, which is why the first O-antiphon O rex gentium begins on December 16th. Other medieval breviaries added O Gabriel, nuntius coelorum ("O Gabriel, messenger of heaven") on December 21, which was superseded by the antiphon O Thoma Didyme . In some churches even more O-antiphons were known in the Middle Ages, in which O rex pacifice ("O King of Peace"), O mundi domina ("O Mistress of the World") and O Hierusalem ("O Jerusalem") ) came.

Arrangements and settings

The hymn Veni, veni, Emmanuel consists of five stanzas, each of which represents abbreviated, metrical versions of five of the O antiphons. The 12th century is traditionally assumed to be the time of its origin; the earliest verifiable source of the text comes from the year 1710. The hymn is regularly sung to the melody of a Franciscan processional song, which is underlaid in a French manuscript of the 15th century under Libera me .

From the paraphrase of this hymn, various well-known Advent songs emerged, some of which are available in different versions:

  • O komm, o komm, Emmanuel (text: Cologne 1722; melody: Schmidt's hymn book Düsseldorf 1836 or Cologne hymn book 1852)
  • Lord, send your son down to us (text: Heinrich Bone in Cantate 1847; melody: Kempten around 1000 or Andernacher Gesangbuch, Cologne 1608; with edited text printed in God's praise no.222)
  • O come, o come, you Morgenstern (text: Otmar Schulz 1975 based on the English O come, o come Emmanuel by John Mason Neale 1851/61 and Henry Sloane Coffin 1916; melody: France 15th century; printed in EG No. 19 )

In addition to the traditional Gregorian melodies for the antiphons, there are also independent settings in modern art music , for example by Marc-Antoine Charpentier ( Antiennes “O” de l'Avent H. 36 to 43) or Arvo Pärt ( Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen , 1988 / 91) and Zsolt Gárdonyi ( See, our God is coming - the O-Antiphons , 2012).

The December 21 O antiphon, O Oriens , was paraphrased by an Anglo-Saxon author of the early 9th century in the Advent poem Christ II . Reading these lines inspired JRR Tolkien to write a poem and was one of the reasons to write his stories about Middle-earth.

literature

  • Egbert Ballhorn: The O-Antiphons. Israel prayer of the Church. In: Yearbook for Liturgy and Hymnology . Volume 37. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1998, ISSN  0075-2681 , pp. 9-34.
  • Thomas Brunnhuber: The Savior is born. Designs for the Advent O-Antiphons: Suggestions for a holistic, meaning-oriented pedagogy. RPA Verlag Religionspädagogischer Arbeitshilfen, Landshut 2006, ISBN 3-86141-193-8 .
  • Lili Fuchs: Advent reflection: reflections on the O-antiphons. Verlag Stiftung Klosterneuburg, Klosterneuburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-902177-33-9 .
  • Theresia Hainthaler: The O-Antiphons: An Introduction and Interpretation of the Great Antiphons in High Advent. Patristic Center Koinonia-Oriens, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-936835-05-5 .
  • Daniel Hörnemann: The great amazement: With the O-antiphons at the climax of the Advent season. Dialog-Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-941462-14-4 .
  • Maria Pfister: The O-Antiphons. Community Casteller Ring, Rödelsee 1982; DNB 830193057
  • Bernd Seel: The Heralds of Christmas: The O-Antiphons. Sadifa Media, Kehl 2008, ISBN 978-3-88786-355-5 .

Web links

Commons : O-Antiphons  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Barsch: O antiphons . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 7 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1998, Sp. 953 .
  2. ↑ Hugh Henry, O Antiphons. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. Retrieved December 19. 2018
  3. ↑ Michael Hageböck: O-Antiphone as the initial spark for Tolkien's "Hobbit". In: kath.net . December 21, 2012, accessed December 12, 2018 .