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The Feast of the Epiphany PDF Print E-mail

Summary of comments of this office by Dom Schuster, in his work L'année liturgique.

The word epiphany signifies apparition, and in the beginning, this feast had the same meaning for the Orientals as Christmas did to the Romans. In the Roman liturgy, the entire feast retains something of its primitive signification, in such a way that, making almost an abstraction of Christmas, the principal mystery it celebrates seems to be in fact the first manifestation of the Word of God clothed with mortal flesh.

The Introït is loosely inspired by Malachy (3:1). It is also adopted as responsorial versicle in the second Sunday of Advent, but the direct source from which it has come cannot be found. "Behold the Lord the Ruler is come: and the kingdom is in His hand, and power, and dominion." The psalm is that of the feast, the 71st, where the announcement is found of the kings who will offer their gifts to Christ.


The Gradual is taken from Isaias (60:1-6) and describes the nations which approach the crib of the Messias, bringing gold and incense.


The versicle of the Alleluia is taken from the passage of St. Matthew (Ch. 2) where the Magi declare that they have come to adore the Messias after having seen the star appear.


The Offertory repeats the prediction of Psalm 71, where it is said that the kings of Tharsis and the islands shall bring gifts, and the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall offer tributes to the universal monarch of the world.


The antiphon of the Communion repeats the versicle of the Alleluia.

 

 
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