Tonight begins the O antiphons for the Magnificat at Vespers. Below are some links if you want to enjoy them.
The Chant of Le Barroux This is the monastic office precisely as it was done before Vatican II by a conservative monastery that received a lot of encourage from Benedict XVI to keep the old monastic office. During the Magnificat they ring the church bells. When you come to the website press the Arrow which points sideways rather than down. That will open another dialogue box and if you check text it will give you the Latin side by side with an English translation.
Saint Meinrad Youtube gives you recordings of Mass and Vespers for each day. They celebrate Vespers at 5pm central time each day. If you want to view Vespers live use the Saint Meinrad Live Link
Recordings of the Antiphons from Saint Meinrad are at this website Gregorian Chant Schola of Saint Meinrad
Canterbury Cathedral's Celebration of Vespers is at this site.
The pandemic has been very good for the Divine Office. There is much more on the web now that before.
I have always loved the O Antiphons. I can remember learning the Latin names for them in school; O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Iesse, O Clavis David, O Oriens, O Rex Gentium, O Emmanuel. The class decorated a Jesse tree, hanging cut-out ornaments with the antiphons written on them.
ReplyDeleteI can believe the pandemic has generated more interest in the Divine Office. It is a form of praying that people can do at home. Deacons have an obligation to pray Lauds and Vespers. My husband prays all of them, but I'm not quite that dedicated. There is one that I am paying more attention to lately, Vigils or the Office of Readings. It is different than the others in that it has both psalms and non-scriptural readings. I believe it used to be prayed in the middle of the night? Needless to say that isn't when I do it.
Thanks for the links, Jack. I especially want to check out Canterbury Cathedral's.
"I believe it used to be prayed in the middle of the night?"
DeleteBefore we had electric lighting, the nights in winter where rather long which meant it was relatively easy to get up in the middle of the night. Benedict' s night office was much shorter in summer.
I have read some research that suggests we evolve two four hour sleep patterns and a time for some wakefulness between them, and that time might be valuable for creative activity. I know my creativity is much better in the early morning when I am alone and before I have begun to get involved in any mental or physical work.
Frank Loesser, the American musical composer, worked from 4 am to 8 am every day. I don't know if I am most creative in the early morning, but I definitely think most clearly.
DeleteJack, coincidentally I am reading a book called Dreamland, by David K Randall, discussing sleep science. It bears out the two four hour sleep patterns that you mention, with a wakeful time between them. The problem seems to be that we have screwed up this natural sleep rhythm with our over-use of artificial light.
DeleteSince I retired retired when my mother needed care, my sleep pattern seems to have slipped into that 4-2-4 pattern. I thought it was dysfunctional but maybe not.
DeleteMy sleep has been in that pattern for some time now. Except the one or two hours in between sometimes stretches out longer. And when I was still working, with a 4:45 am wake up time, the last four sometimes got pretty attenuated.
DeleteJack, thanks for this post. When we hit this point in the Advent season, I confess I always start to get a little excited.
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