Thursday, December 24, 2020 –
Now that we are to the end of the O Antiphons, I can tell you about two super cool facts!
Waaaayyy long ago Boethius (c. 480-524) made a reference to the use of the Messianic Titles of Christ around this time of year. However, it is believed that our current arrangement was made by some Benedictine monks. It is unknown specifically when, but the Benedictines started, or at least the “Rule of Benedict,” started spreading around 594 AD. So, again, waaaayy long ago.
Anyhoo, these ridiculously clever monks arranged the Messianic Titles of Christ—in Latin, of course!—to form an acrostic. An acrostic is a series of words, lines, or verses where the first, last, or other particular letters, when taken in order, spell out a word or phrase. In this case, they took the first letter of each title, like so:
Sapientia (Wisdom)
Adonai (Lord)
Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse)
Clavis David (Key of David)
Oriens (Dawn)
Rex Gentium (King of Nations)
Emmanuel (Emmanuel)
This gives us, “ S A R C O R E ,” which does not say much. HOWEVER, when we reverse them we get, “ E R O C R A S !”
When read backwards, we get the Latin phrase “Ero Cras,” which means “Tomorrow I come.” And, indeed, Christ comes tomorrow! #MindBlown!
In other what the what!? stuff about the O Antiphons, did you know that the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (AKA longest night of the year) usually falls on December 21?
These crazy, ancient Monks had the idea to put O Oriens (O Radiant Dawn) right, smack dab on the shortest day of the year (usually). Christ, the Radiant Dawn, literally comes at the longest night of the year! Even nuttier is when you realize the Monks were able to do this cool trick, while still keeping their fancy Latin acrostic about a 1,000 years BEFORE the Gregorian calendar came out!? Yup, Pope Gregory XIII didn’t release our current calendar until October 1582.
Now that is some mind-bending, super smart Monk action!
Sancte Petre (Chanel), ora pro nobis!
