Sandro Magister today has a piece on the "O Antiphons," also known as "the Great Antiphons,"the series of antiphons sung to introduce the Magnificat at Vespers from December 17^th to the 24^th. Their deep and broad biblical basis is given in the translations offered. Lovely Gregorian Chant accompanied them in the sung Divine Office. They go back at least to the time of Charlemagne. (How casually one says this!) "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is a close paraphrase.Commenting on them in the first half of the ninth century, Amalarius of Metz wrote: "O! is an exclamation of someone astonished. By this O! the singer wishes to make known that the words that follow refer to some wonderful vision which calls more for the minds meditation than for a speakers tale. And because this wonder was evoked by the conception and the birth from holy Mary, these antiphons fit her hymn more than they do Zachariahs [sung at Lauds]."Here is todays antiphonO SAPIENTIA, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.O Wisdom, who come from the mouth of the Most High (Sirach 24:5), who reach to the ends of the earth and order all things with power and sweetness (Wisdom 8:1): come and teach us the way of wisdom (Proverbs 9:6).