Fourth Sunday of Advent

The fourth Sunday of Advent is a semi-double Sunday of the second class and its liturgical colour is violet. The Gospel pericopes from St. Luke concern the preaching of St. John the Baptist preaching the baptism of repentance by the Jordan and the reference to Isaias "Prepare ye the way of the LORD: make straight His paths: every valley shall be filled: and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain: and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." The Vigil of St. Thomas the Apostle is was anticipated yesterday.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons Canite tuba etc were sung with the psalms of Saturday. The Office hymn was Creator alme siderum. The antiphon on the Magnificat was the 'Great O' series, O radix Jesse etc., appointed for the nineteenth of December. This was sung doubled before and after the Canticle. Being Advent the Suffrage was omitted. At Compline the Dominical preces were sung.

At Mattins the invitatory is Prope est jam Dominus * Venite adoremus and the Office hymn is Verbum supernum prodiens. In the first nocturn the lessons are taken, as usual in Advent, from Isaias. In the second nocturn the lessons are again taken from St. Leo's sermon on the fast of the tenth month. The homily in the third nocturn is from the twentieth homily of St. Gregory on St. Luke's Gospel. A ninth responsory, Intuemini, quantus sit iste, is sung in place of the Te Deum. At Lauds the antiphons proper to the Sunday, Canite tuba etc., are sung with the Dominical psalms. The Office hymn is En clara vox. The Suffrage is omitted in Advent.

At the Hours the antiphons from Lauds are used in the usual sequence. At Prime the versicle in the short responsory is Qui venturus es in mundum and the Dominical preces are sung.

Mass is sung after Terce. The ministers wear violet folded chasubles. The Gloria is not sung. The second collect is of the BVM in Advent, Deus qui de beate, the third collect Ecclesiae. The Creed is sung and the preface that of the Trinity. As the Gloria is not sung the dismissal is Benedicamus Domino, sung by the deacon facing the altar.

At Vespers there is a colour change to red and first Vespers of St. Thomas the Apostle are sung. The antiphons Hoc est praeceptum meum etc., are sung, doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 and 116. The Office hymn is Exsultet orbis gaudiis. The antiphon on the Magnificat is proper to the feast, Quia vidisti me, Thoma etc. After the collect of the feast the Sunday is commemorated with the Great 'O' Antiphon appointed for the twenty-first day of December O Oriens, V&R and collect of the Sunday. At Compline the Dominical preces are omitted due to the double feast.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' the Vigil of St. Thomas has been abolished. At Compline the Dominical preces are always omitted. Mattins is cut down to a single nocturn of three lessons as usual. At Prime the Dominical preces are omitted. At Mass the ministers wear dalmatic and tunicle, there is only one collect and the dismissal is Ite, missa est. Vespers are of the Sunday with not even a mention of St. Thomas.

Art: Jerome Nadal