WISDOM 18 : 14 f.: AN EARLY TEXT BY

ALLEN CABANISS

In the current M issale Romanum the Introit of the Mass for within the Octave of Christmas, if it falls on December 29, 30, or 31, is a passage (slightly emended) from Wisdom 18 : 14 f., as follows: Dum medium silentium tenerent omnia, et nox in suo cursu medium iter haberet, omnipotens sermo tuus, Domine, de 1 caelis a regalibus sedibus venit. It is rendered into English thus: "While all things were in quiet silence, and night was in the midst of her swift course, Thine almighty Word, 0 Lord, leaped down from heaven out of Thy royal throne." 2 The same sentence is also the Introit of Mass for the second Sunday after Christmas which by tradition is perpetually reposed on the Vigil of . 3 As indicated in the notes to the Latin quotation above, it is moreover employed in the Bene- dictine Breviarium Monasticum as an antiphon, first, on Magni fica-t at first Vespers of the Sunday within Christmas Octave (if it falls on December 29, 30, or 31), then on Benedictus at Lauds of the Vigil of Epiphany. 4 In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it was still further used as the antiphon on Benedictu8 at Lauds of thc 6 Sunday after Christmas.

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At first glance the language of the Wisdom passage appears to be peculiarly apt for : the "quiet silence" of the holy night "in the midst of her swift course" and the mighty leap of the "almighty Word" from the "royal throne" of heaven certainly constitute a beautiful, mystical suggestion of the Incarnation. That is, until one turns to read the context of the verse in the book of Wisdom. It is shocking to discover that the particular night "in the midst of her swift course" was the night in which the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, that the "quiet silence" was soon rent by the despairing wails of Egyptian parents lamenting their firstborn, 6 and that the "almighty Word" was not the Babe of Bethlehem but the Destroying Angel wreaking havoc among the the minions of Pharaoh. 7 One cannot but marvel at the artistic genius of the person who first wrenched this passage from its context and with violent change of meaning applied it to the liturgy of Christmas. Un- fortunately identification of the brilliant compiler eludes us. So do the time and locality of the association. We may nevertheless be sure that when the association was made the liturgy was already tending to seasonal observances, hence toward the formation of the so-called Proper of Time, and moreover that the festival of Nativity was already being celebrated in some manner however rudimentary. It is customary to date both of those developments during and after the fourth century. 8 It is true that unambiguous attestation of both developments comes after the peace of the church. Yet interest in Christ's birth and its attendant circum- stances began much earlier. By the end of the first century there were in existence the fairly elaborate accounts in the canonical gospels of Saints Matthew and Luke. 9 If Archbishop Carrington's thesis is true, they are