I have a question about the Little Office. I am reading it here and notice that the "Ant." (antiphon? anthem?) is cryptic. One says "His Left Hand.", another "Nigra sum.(I am black)", a third "Now is the winter past."
These all have periods at the end indicating they are sentences but they are not and do not seem to flow from the phrase immediately preceding. What am I missing? Is there suppose to be something said to complete these phrases or do they truly "hang" there?
Thanks for helping a neophyte.
Marsha
You are correct, the Antiphon is "hanging in there", as we are not dealing with a
duplex feast where the Antiphon is doubled, i.e., sung or recited in full before as well as after the Psalm.
One might see it as a spiritual tension, the beginning of the Breviary meditation, then fulfilled in the end of the Psalm.
(More modern rubrics have done away with this distinction in imitation of the more ancient practise of the See of Rome)
Topic: Question about the Little Office of BVM (Read 439 times)