The "O" Antiohons

"O" AntiphonsMost people are familiar with the "O" Antiphons because they are paraphrased in the words of the Advent Hymn "O Come! O Come! Emmanuel." In the tradition of liturgucal churches, the "O" Antiphons are sung or recited at vespers from December 17 through December 23. I will be using them for the text of my next seven Roman Fountains.

Each antiphon is a name of Christ, one of his attributes mentioned in Scripture. They are:
December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
December 18: O Adonai (O Adonai)
December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
December 21: O Oriens (O Morning Star)
December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of the nations)
December 23: O Emmanuel (O Emmanuel)

Sunday - Third Week of Advent

Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love

Vicolo del Divino Amore 12 (Via Ardiatina/GRA)
Architecs: Costantino Ruggeri and Luigi Leoni, 1999

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come
among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins,
let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver
us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and
the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Saturday - Second Week of Advent

Chiesa Nostra Signora del Suffragio e Sant'Agostino di Canterbury

Our Lady of Suffrage and Saint Augustine of Canterbury

via Walter Tobagi, 133 (zona Torre Saccata)
Architect: Carlo Berarducci, 1998

Sirach 48:1-11
Then Elijah arose, a prophet like fire,
   and his word burned like a torch. 
He brought a famine upon them,
   and by his zeal he made them few in number. 
By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens,
   and also three times brought down fire. 
How glorious you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
   Whose glory is equal to yours? 
You raised a corpse from death
   and from Hades, by the word of the Most High. 
You sent kings down to destruction,
   and famous men, from their sickbeds. 
You heard rebuke at Sinai
   and judgements of vengeance at Horeb. 
You anointed kings to inflict retribution,
   and prophets to succeed you. 
You were taken up by a whirlwind of fire,
   in a chariot with horses of fire. 
At the appointed time, it is written, you are destined
   to calm the wrath of God before it breaks out in fury,
to turn the hearts of parents to their children,
   and to restore the tribes of Jacob. 
Happy are those who saw you
   and were adorned with your love!
   For we also shall surely live.

Friday - Second Week of Advent

Chiesea Santa Maddalena di Canossa
Saint Magdalene of Canossa

Via della Lucchina, 82 (zona Ottavia)
Architect: Giovanni Ambrosi de Magistris, 1997

Isaiah 48:17-19


Thus says the Lord,
   your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God,
   who teaches you for your own good,
   who leads you in the way you should go. 
O that you had paid attention to my commandments!
   Then your prosperity would have been like a river,
   and your success like the waves of the sea; 
your offspring would have been like the sand,
   and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
   or destroyed from before me.

Thursday - Second Week of Advent

 Chiesa di Nostra Signora di Valme

Our Lady of Valme

via di Vigna Due Torre (quartiere Portuense)

Architects: Ferdinando Sciamanna and Cinzia Spina, 1996

Isaiah 41:13-20


For I, the Lord your God,
   hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear,
   I will help you.’


Do not fear, you worm Jacob,
   you insect Israel!
I will help you, says the Lord;
   your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 
Now, I will make of you a threshing-sledge,
   sharp, new, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
   and you shall make the hills like chaff. 
You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
   and the tempest shall scatter them.
Then you shall rejoice in the Lord;
   in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.


When the poor and needy seek water,
   and there is none,
   and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them,
   I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 
I will open rivers on the bare heights,
   and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
   and the dry land springs of water. 
I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
   the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
   the plane and the pine together, 
so that all may see and know,
   all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
   the Holy One of Israel has created it

Wednesday - Second Week of Advent

Chiesa dei Santi Aquila e Priscilla

Saints Aquila and Priscilla

via Pietro Blaserna (quartiere Portuense)

Architect: Ignazio Braccia Fratadocchi, 1992

 

Isaiah 40:25-31


To whom then will you compare me,
   or who is my equal? says the Holy One. 
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
  Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
  calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
  mighty in power,
  not one is missing.


Why do you say, O Jacob,
   and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
   and my right is disregarded by my God’? 
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable. 
He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless. 
Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted; 
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

Tuesday - Second Week of Advent

Chiesa Santi Simone e Giuda Taddeo

Saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus

via Selene, 47 (Torre Angela)

Architect: Mario Pochesci, 1990

Isaiah 40:1-11

God’s People Are Comforted

Comfort, O comfort my people,
   says your God. 
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and cry to her
that she has served her term,
   that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
   double for all her sins.


A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
   make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 
Every valley shall be lifted up,
   and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
   and the rough places a plain. 
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
   and all people shall see it together,
   for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’


A voice says, ‘Cry out!’
   And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All people are grass,
   their constancy is like the flower of the field. 
The grass withers, the flower fades,
   when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
   surely the people are grass. 
The grass withers, the flower fades;
   but the word of our God will stand for ever. 
Get you up to a high mountain,
   O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
   O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
   lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
   ‘Here is your God!’ 
See, the Lord God comes with might,
   and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
   and his recompense before him. 
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
   he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
   and gently lead the mother sheep.