O Sapientia
17 December
The cryptic phrase O Sapientia appears in The
Book of Common Prayer without explanation. 17
December marks the beginning of the week before the
celebration of Christmas, the Birth of Christ, and at
Evensong, the great Song of Mary, Magnificat, has a
refrain or antiphon attached to it proclaiming the
ascriptions or 'names' given to God through the Old
Testament. Each name developed into a prophecy of the
forthcoming and eagerly-anticipated Messiah, Jesus, the Son
of God. O Sapientia, or O Wisdom, is the
first of these days, followed on 18 December by O
Adonai, then O Root of Jesse, O Key of
David, O Dayspring, O King of the
Nations and finally on 23 December O Emmanuel.
In the old Sarum rite, these were sung one day earlier,
requiring another ascription for 23 December, this being
O Virgin of Virgins. Since this was clearly
apposite to the Blessèd Virgin Mary, and not a
'title' of God (though, of course, it could easily be) it
was not adopted much beyond Sarum and, with the revision of
the Calendar, the Church of England has adopted the more
widely-used formulæ and dating.