Brush up your rubrics - Getting ready for Advent - Vespers Part I; Lauds Pt 2

Yesterday I looked at Lauds in the first half of Advent, today a very brief look at Vespers.

Vespers for the first half of Advent

And in fact, Vespers (up to and including December 16) follows exactly the same pattern as Lauds, that is to say:

• the psalms and antiphons are as set out in the psalter for the day of the week;
• the chapter, responsory, hymn and versicle are from the 'Ordinary of Advent', MD 15* and onwards in the Diurnal; 
• the Magnificat antiphon is of the Advent day; and 
• the collect is of the Advent week or day (for the three Ember Days of week 3).

The hymn to learn is Conditor alme siderum.

Lauds and Vespers between December 17 and December 23

Lauds and Vespers in the final lead up to Christmas is not for beginners!

It has an elaborate mix of  texts for Advent, texts for the Advent day, psalms of the day of the week, antiphons for the day of the week between December 17 and 23, and texts for the particular date.

In particular:

• at both Lauds and Vespers, the psalms are of the day of the week throughout the year, while the antiphons are of the day of week between December 17-23 (MD 37*);
• the chapter, responsory, hymn and versicle are from the Ordinary of Advent;
• the Benedictus antiphon is of the Advent day, except for December 21 and December 23 which have fixed texts (Nolite timere and Ecce completa sunt respectively); and
• the Magnificat antiphons (the famous O antiphons) are all of the date (MD 35-6*) .