O Sapientia (O Wisdom!) 17 December. The cryptic phrase O Sapientia appears in The Book of Common Prayer of 1662 without explanation! Today, 17 December, marks the start of the week before the celebration of Christmas, the Birth of Christ, and at Evensong, the great Song of Mary, Magnificat, has a refrain or antiphon attached to it proclaiming the ascriptions or names given to God through the Old Testament. Each name developed into a prophecy of the forthcoming and eagerly-anticipated Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God. O Sapientia, or O Wisdom, is the first of these days. Followed on 18 December by O Adonai. Then O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Dayspring, O King of the Nations and finally on 23 December O Emmanuel. In the old Sarum rite, these were sung one day earlier, beginning on 16 December, requiring another ascription for 23 December, this being O Virgin of Virgins. Since this was clearly apposite to the Blessèd Virgin Mary, and not a title of God, it was not adopted much beyond Sarum and, with the revision of the Calendar, Anglicans have adopted the more widely-used formulæ and dating. Adapted with grateful thanks from Exciting Holiness (Canterbury Press). #OSapientia #OWisdom #TheBookOfCommonPrayer #Evensong #Magnificat #OldSarumRite #AtTheHeartOfThings #RugbyTownCentre #DioceseOfCoventry #ChurchOfEngland #Anglican https://youtube/watch?v=S6zaiZxJIpU
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 20:06:53 +0000
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