O come, O come Emmanuel
Many listmembers will be familiar with the Advent hymn, "O come, O come
Emmanuel." There are several versions in existence, but all are
translations of an eighteenth-century Latin hymn. I give below the Latin
text, and one translation:
Veni, veni, Emmanuel, O come, O come, Emmanuel,
captivum solve Israel, Redeem thy captive Israel,
qui gemit in exilio, That into exile drear is gone
privatus Dei Filio. Far from the face of God's dear Son.
gaude, gaude; Emmanuel Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
nascetur pro te, Israel. Shall come to thee, O Israel.
veni, o Jesse Virgula; O come, thou Branch of Jesse! draw
ex hostis tuos ungula, The quarry from the lion's claw;
de specu tuos tartari From the dread caverns of the grave,
educ et antro barathri. From nether hell, thy people save.
gaude (etc.) Rejoice! (etc.)
veni, veni, o Oriens; O come, O come, thou Dayspring bright!
solare nos adveniens; Pour on our souls thy healing light;
noctis depelle nebulas Dispel the long night's lingering gloom,
dirasque noctis tenebras. And pierce the shadows of the tomb.
gaude (etc.) Rejoice! (etc.)
veni, Clavis Davidica; O come, thou Lord of David's Key!
regna reclude caelica; The royal door fling wide and free;
fac inter tutum superum, Safefuard for us the heavenward road
et claude vias inferum. And bar the way to death's abode.
gaude (etc.) Rejoice! (etc.)
veni, veni, Adonai, O come, O come, Adonai,
qui populo in Sinai Who in thy glorious majesty
legem dedisti vertice From that high mountain clothed with awe
in majestate gloriae. Gavest thy folk the elder law.
gaude (etc.) Rejoice! (etc.)
One must admire the independence of our translator, who seeking a rhyme for
"Adonai" and finding "Sinai" in his original, declined to use it.
The refrain, "gaude" links the hymn with the Third Sunday in Advent, known
as "Gaudete" Sunday, because the Introit at Mass begins with that word.
This gives a tone of joy to the day which is often echoed in the colour of
the vestments, a rather fetching rose pink being worn instead of the sombre
purple of the other Sundays in Advent. The "Advent Wreath" which has become
so popular in recent years, has three purple candles and a pink one.
The verses of the hymn are derived from the "Great O" antiphons. These are
verses sung before and after the Magnificat, or Song of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, at Vespers on the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve, beginning on
17th December. Each celebrates Christ by a title derived from the Old
Testament. In England, the Sarum custom was to insert an eighth antiphon,
in honour of the Virgin, thus pushing back the first, "O Sapientia" to 16th
December.
These seven antiphons are "O Sapientia", "O Adonai", "O Radix Jesse", "O
Clavis David", "O Oriens", "O Rex Gentium" and "O Emmanuel". It has been
suggested that they were originally sung in a different order, because the
initial letters of the titles, rearranged, spell our the words "ERO CRAS" -
"Tomorrow, I shall be" - a suitable message on the Eve of Christ's coming
into the world. Their authorship is unknown, but they were in use by the
8th century. I propose - if it should please the members - to give the full
text of each, together with an exposition, on the proper day of each
antiphon, beginning therefore in a couple of days' time on 17th December
with "O Sapientia".
Oriens.
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