Today, December 18th, is the first of the final seven days of Advent. The AIC Seasonal Video series, The Great “O” Antiphons, offers Scripture, commentary, the reading/responses of antiphons and music for the occasion. The series is based on a 12th C. office in the Roman Catholic tradition. Here you will find information and links each day until the final episode on Dec. 24th. The text for the entire series is printed on pages 21-27 in the AIC Bookstore Publication, Occasional Services for Anglican Worship, available using the Virtual Bookstore link at the bottom of the Home page. The entire series is linked from the Digital Library page with Podcast versions from the Podcast Archive page.
The theme music for the day is On Jordan’s Bank the Baptists’ Cry, performed on his church organ by Jared Haselbarth, from his DVD (available at http://www.NABA.com). The key phrase is O Sapientia, meaning Wisdom. In Christian theology, Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the wisdom of the Father.
The episode is loaded with many of the examples of historic art added to our library in the last year. Few in the Western Church are aware that St. Luke is credited in the Eastern Church and among many Roman Catholics as the first icon-painter. The episode includes St. Luke Painting the Virgin Mary, a miniature illumination (less than 1″) in colored inks and gold on parchment with an elaborate floral border from The Gospels of Luke and John, a codex made in England in the 1st Quarter of the 16th C., from Ms. Royal 1 E V, Folio 3, British Library, London, England. The image is so small that I could not use it here. Instead, I offer another you, St. Luke Writing His Gospel, an illumination in tempera and gilt on vellum from the St. Augustine Gospels, begun in Italy (presumably Rome) in the 6th C. and completed in England after being given to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, by St. Gregory the Great. The original is at Cambridge, CCC Library Mss 286, Folio 129v. This version is in lower resolution for internet use. The version in the video is 300 dpi. Both versions have been modified with perspective correction technology.
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