Chistmas Day Matins: Sancta et immaculata virginitas ("Holy and spotless Virgin")

Sancta et immaculata virginitas is the sixth responsory of Christmas Matins, but as CPDL notes, it is "frequently used for Marian feasts as well."  It's sung here by Ensemble Officium:



Here's the text in Latin and English, from Divinum Officium:

R. Sancta et immaculata virginitas, quibus te laudibus efferam nescio: * Quia quem coeli capere non poterant, tuo gremio contulisti. V. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui. R. Quia quem coeli capere non poterant, tuo gremio contulisti. V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto. R. Quia quem coeli capere non poterant, tuo gremio contulisti.

R. O Mary, how holy and how spotless is thy virginity! I am too dull to praise thee! * For thou hast borne in thy breast Him Whom the heavens cannot contain. V. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. R. For thou hast borne in thy breast Him Whom the heavens cannot contain. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost. R. For thou hast borne in thy breast Him Whom the heavens cannot contain.

See it here, too, in the Bute translation-Winter edition of the Roman Breviary (1908).

And sure enough, you find the same text as the Responsory after the first reading of "Matins of the Virgin," at medirvalist.net's Hypertext Book of Hours.

Here's the chant score, from the Liber Usualis 1961:

This Responsory contains one of those rare extra-Biblical citations; I'm trying to find the origin of the notion that "The highest heavens cannot contain God whom you carried in your womb"; that is an old idea.  But I haven't been able to pin down the coiner of that phrase so far; will return to edit this when I do.  It's a quite beautiful thought, and one of the reasons I wanted to post on this chant today. 

[EDIT:  This cite may belong to Augustine, who said in Sermon 184, on the Nativity:  “He who sustains the world lay in a manger, a wordless Child, yet the Word of God. Him whom the heavens do not contain the bosom of one woman bore.  She ruled our King; she carried Him in whom we exist; she fed our Bread.” And in fact, it's not totally extra-biblical anyway;  Auggie was clearly riffing on 1 Kings 8:27 (or its clone, 2 Chronicles 6:18):  "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you...." ]

Several other composers have set this text; here's Gabrieli's:




A blessed Christmas to all.

December 16: O Sapientia ("O Wisdom")

O Sapientia is the Antiphon upon Magnificat on December 16 (in the English Church; it's December 17 elsewhere), and the first of the eight Great "O" Antiphons sung during the week before Christmas. These antiphons are sung before and after the Magnificat at Evensong.

The antiphon is sung here in English by the Salisbury Cathedral Choir; a reading from Isaiah 9 follows:



The text for this antiphon comes from Sirach 24:

O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Here's a version in Latin, sung I believe by the Blackfriars:



December 16 is explicitly designated "O Sapientia" in the Church Calendar of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The texts for the Great "O"s come mostly from the Prophets and from the Wisdom literature, and become mystical  proclamations, made daily during those eight days, of the coming of Christ.  The antiphons themselves are over a thousand years old.

This is an "O Antiphon" page from the Poissy Antiphonal (1335-45); it's got "O Sapientia," "O Adonai," and "O Radix Jesse" - the first three "O"s:

Sing the Magnificat, too, if you wish; here's the Latin version:




The text of the Magnificat comes from Luke 1;  here are the words to the original Latin and the modern English (US BCP 1979) versions of this beautiful canticle, so that you can sing along if you wish.

Magnificat: anima mea Dominum.
Et exultavit spiritus meus: in Deo salutari meo.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae:
ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.
Quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est:
et sanctum nomen eius.
Et misericordia eius, a progenie et progenies:
timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo:
dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
Deposuit potentes de sede:
et exaltavit humiles.
Esurientes implevit bonis:
et divites dimisit inanes.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum:
recordatus misericordiae suae.
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros:
Abraham, et semini eius in saecula.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

This article, written in around 1914 by A.C.A. Hall, the Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, contains quite a bit more about the Great "O"s.

Here are links on this blog to posts on all the Great Os.  If you'd like to pray the whole office of Vespers, you can do it at St. Bede's Breviary; choose "Amplified Prayer Book" under "Style" to get the "O's".

• O Sapientia (December 16)
• O Adonai (December 17)
• O Radix Jesse (December 18)
• O Clavis David (December 19)
• O Oriens (December 20)
• O Rex Gentium (December 21)
• O Emmanuel (December 22)
• O Virgo Virginum (December 23)

Here, in addition, is a good longish article about these antiphons, and some other related ones - and this article contains a bit more historical information about the Great "O"s. 

A blessed Sapientia-tide.