O Anitphons Begin Today:

A mini-season within the Advent season

We all know the hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." This hymn comes for the seven ancient "O Antiphons" that are chanted before and after the Magnificat at Vespers, the evening prayer of the Church (called Evensong in our tradition). These are the last seven days before Christmas, and form a mini-liturgical-season known as "Sapientiatide," or "Wisdomtide" in English, after the first O Antiphon, "O Sapientia / O Wisdom."

Click on the beautiful painting above for a link to "The Homely Hours" where you can view and print out a painting for each of the seven days.

Below is a playlist that contains these beautiful chants. As you continue to practice "Advent restraint" by saving Christmas music for the Christmas season, foster your longing with this playlist and previously shared Advent music playlists on YouTube and Spotify.