St. Nicholas Day Prayer Service

Richard Sparks will conduct The Benedict Sixteen Choir in the beautiful chapel of St. Patrick's Seminary & University. All are welcome to this free event. Registration is requested for planning purposes  at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/st-nicholas-day-prayer-service-the-o-antiphons-tickets-65465478007.

The O Antiphons are an ancient Christian prayer used at Vespers on the last seven days of Advent. Each verse begins with the o, invoking the name of Christ under different titles:

According to Fr. William P. Saunders, "The exact origin of the O Antiphons is not known. Boethius (480–524) made a slight reference to them, thereby suggesting their presence at that time [the sixth century]. At the Benedictine Fleury Abbey, these antiphons were recited by the abbot and other abbey leaders in descending rank, and then a gift was given to each member of the community. By the eighth century, they are in use in the liturgical celebrations in Rome."

The first letter of the titles form a Latin acrostic which translates to "Tomorrow, I will come."

Conductor Richard Sparks explains the plan for the music:

"Since we are doing this in one Advent service (with all seven of the O Antiphons) we will do only one setting of the Magnificat, a wonderful 8-voice setting by Palestrina.

As we go through the Antiphons, we will always sing the Gregorian Chant for that Antiphon, followed in all but one case by a setting of that antiphon by various composers, most contemporary, since composers in recent years have been fascinated by these beautiful texts.

Some examples: O Adonai will be sung in a setting by Arvo Pärt the Estonian Orthodox composer (who set all seven of the Antiphons in German), for men’s voices alone. It’s a slow, mystical setting, and utilizes the wonderful low basses in Benedict 16. The setting of O Radix Jesse is by Rihards Dubra, a Latvian composer born in 1964, who was raised as Catholic by his grandparents, and whose music is almost entirely sacred. And O Oriens is set in English by one of today’s preeminent Catholic composers, the Scottish James MacMillan as O Radiant Dawn."

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