At the beginning of Advent we sing the hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” This hymn, originally in Latin, takes us back over 1,200 years to the 8th century. Seven days before Christmas Eve monasteries would sing the “O antiphons” in anticipation of Christmas Eve when the eighth antiphon, “O Virgo virginum” (“O Virgin of virgins”) would be sung before and after Mary’s canticle, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46b-55). The “O antiphons” were designated to concentrate the mind on the coming of Christmas.

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