Order of Service
Welcome
God has been worshipped in this place through the prayers and praises of countless generations. Worship lies at the heart of our life as Christians and we express our theology and belief through our liturgy. It is through these liturgical patterns of words and actions that we are formed and transformed.
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What is Advent?
Advent is the vocative season of the Church’s year.
Acknowledging that the human soul can only be healed from outside itself by being loved and held, the prayers, hymns and anthems of Advent call out to God to come and save us from ourselves and our propensity to injure the world and each other. You can hear this longing to be made complete in what are known as the ‘O Antiphons’. These are ancient poetic invocations to God. They cry out to our Creator, praying that we might finally be seen for who we really are, full of shadow and light. This recognition is known as ‘judgement’ and it is, ultimately, a liberating theme of the Advent season. At the same time, we ask that we be embraced with a mercy that will lead us into a fresh and hopeful future. Advent is therefore a time of attentiveness and patience, watching and waiting, as we try to tune our hearts to the harmonies of heaven, alert to God’s presence amongst us.
For the Christian, all things are as yet unfinished. The pattern of this Advent service in its four sections reflects faith’s growing anticipation, both of the first coming of Christ and of that day when the prayer “Thy Kingdom come” is finally and fully answered.
You are invited to say the text in bold in English.
You are respectfully requested to sit in silence whilst awaiting the beginning of the Service.
Please stand as the Choir, in the Lady Chapel, sing
The Matin Responsory
I look from afar, and lo! I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth. Go ye out to to meet him, and say: Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel? High and low, rich and poor, one with another. Go ye out to meet him, and say: hear O thou shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Tell us, art thou he that should come? Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come to reign over thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. I look from afar, and lo! I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth. Go ye out to meet him, and say: Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel?
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (d.1594) adapted
The Succentor reads
The Proclamation of Advent
Isaiah 40: 1–10
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry. And I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
Bernard Rose (1916–96)
The Choir processes west along the south aisle, singing
The Advent Prose
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: thy holy cities are a wilderness; Sion is a wilderness; Jerusalem a desolation: our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee. We have sinned, and are as an unclean thing, and we all do fade as a leaf: and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away; thou hast hid thy face from us: and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servants whom I have chosen; that ye may know me and believe me; I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no saviour, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people; my salvation shall not tarry: I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions: Fear not, for I will save thee: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.
Please sit for the
The First Reading
Isaiah 6: 1–8
God commissions Isaiah as the Prophet of the Advent
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’
As the Choir processes to the transepts and the Clergy to the chancel, please stand to sing
The Hymn
1. O come, O come, Emmanuel!
Redeem thy captive Israel,
That into exile drear is gone
Far from the face of God’s dear Son.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
2. O come, thou Wisdom from on high!
Who madest all in earth and sky,
Creating man from dust and clay:
To us reveal salvation’s way.
3. O come, thou Root of Jesse! Draw
The quarry from the lion’s claw;
From those dread caverns of the grave,
From nether hell thy people save.
4. O come, thou Lord of David’s Key!
The royal door fling wide and free;
Safeguard for us the heavenward road,
And bar the way to death’s abode.
5. O come, Desire of nations! show
Thy kingly reign on earth below;
Thou Corner-stone, uniting all,
Restore the ruin of our fall.
Latin Antiphons, tr. T.A. Lacey (1853–1931)
Plainsong, arr. Thomas Helmore (1811–90)
Please extinguish your candle. Please sit for
The Second Reading
Isaiah 11: 1–9
God’s Kingdom of righteousness is foreshown
A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
The Choir sings
Anthem
I know a rose-tree springing forth from an ancient root, as men of old were singing. From Jesse came the shoot that bore the blossom bright amid the cold of winter, when half-spent was the night. This rose-tree, blossom-laden, whereof Isaiah spoke, is Mary, spotless maiden, who mothered, for our sake the little Child, now born by God’s eternal counsel on that first Christmas morn. O Flower! whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air. Dispel in glorious splendour the darkness everywhere; true Man, yet very God. From sin and death now save us, and share our every load.
Michael Praetorius (1571–1621)
The Choir processes to the Crossing, whilst the organist plays
Organ Chorale Prelude
Es ist ein’ Ros’ entsprungen
Johannes Brahms (1833–97)
The Third Reading
Zechariah 2: 10–13
The prophet foretells the coming of the Lord
Zechariah 2: 10–13
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
Be silent, all people, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
The Choir sings from the Crossing
The Anthem
The tree of life my soul hath seen, laden with fruit, and always green. The trees of nature fruitless be compared with Christ the apple tree. For happiness I long have sought, and pleasure dearly I have bought: I missed of all; but now I see ’tis found in Christ the apple tree. I’m weary with my former toil, here I will sit and rest awhile; under the shadow I will be, of Jesus Christ the apple tree This fruit doth make my soul to thrive, it keeps my dying faith alive; which makes my soul in haste to be with Jesus Christ the apple tree.
Elizabeth Poston (1905–87)
Please stand for to sing the
Hymn
1. Hark! a herald voice is calling:
‘Christ is nigh,’ it seems to say;
‘Cast away the dreams of darkness,
O ye children of the day!’
2. Startled at the solemn warning,
Let the earth-bound soul arise;
Christ, her Sun, all ill dispelling,
Shines upon the morning skies.
3. Lo! the Lamb, so long expected,
Comes with pardon down from heaven:
Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,
One and all to be forgiven;
4. That when next he comes in glory,
And earth’s final hour draws near,
May he then, as our defender
On the clouds of heaven appear.
5. Honour, glory, virtue, merit,
To the Father and the Son,
With the co-eternal Spirit,
While unending ages run.
Latin, tr. Edmund Caswall (1814–78)
William Monk (1823–89)
Please sit for
The Fourth Reading
Matthew 25: 1–13
The Lord warns us to be watchful and faithful
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
The Choir sings
The Anthem
Canite tuba in Sion, quia prope est dies Domini: ecce venit ad salvandum nos. Erunt prava in directa, et aspera in vias planas: veni, Domine, et noli tardare. Alleluia!
(Sound the trumpet in Sion, for the day of the Lord is nigh: behold, he cometh for our salvation. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: come, O Lord, and do not delay. Alleluia!)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (d.1594)
Remain seated for
The Fifth Reading
Luke 1: 39–45
Elizabeth salutes the Blessed Virgin Mary
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
The Choir sings
The Anthem
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life: Such a Way, as gives us breath: such a Truth, as ends all strife: such a Life, as killeth death. Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength: such a Light, as shows a feast: such a Feast, as mends in length: such a Strength, as makes his guest. Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart: such a Joy, as none can move: such a Love, as none can part: such a Heart, as joys in love.
Trad. English melody
arr. David Cooper (1985)
Remain seated for
The Sixth Reading
Luke 1: 26–33, 38
The annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
The Choir sings
The Anthem
Ave Maria, gratia plena, dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictum fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
(Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death.)
Robert Parsons (d.1571)
Please stand to sing
The Hymn
1. Her Virgin eyes saw God incarnate born,
When she to Bethl’em came that happy morn;
How high her raptures then began to swell,
None but her own omniscient Son can tell.
2. As Eve when she her fontal sin reviewed,
Wept for herself and all she should include,
Blest Mary with man’s Saviour in embrace
Joyed for herself and for all human race.
3. All saints are by her Son’s dear influence blest,
She kept the very Fountain at her breast;
The Son adored and nursed by the sweet Maid
A thousandfold of love for love repaid.
4. Heaven with transcendent joys her entrance graced,
Next to his throne her Son his Mother placed;
And here below, now she’s of heaven possest
All generations are to call her blest.
Thomas Ken (1637–1711)
Henry Lawes (1596–1662)
Please sit for
The Seventh Reading
Mark 1: 1–8
John Baptist announces that the Kingdom is near
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight” ’,
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’
The Dean’s Vicar prays
Let us pray.
Please kneel or sit, according to your custom.
Behold, the Desire of the nations shall come:
And the house of the Lord shall be filled with glory.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in:
And the house of the Lord shall be filled with glory.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:
And the house of the Lord shall be filled with glory.
The Dean’s Vicar intones the Collect of the First Sunday of Advent:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
Remain silent for
The Great Silence
The Choir sings
The Anthem
Vox dicentis: Clama. Et dixi: Quid clamabo? Omnis caro fœnum, et omnis gloria eius quasi flos agri. Vere foenum est populus. Exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos; verbum autem Domini nostri manet in æternum. Super montem excelsum ascende tu, qui evangelizas, Ierusalem: exalta, noli timere. Dic civitatibus ludæ: Ecce Deus vester. Ecce Dominus Deus fortitudine veniet, et brachium eius dominabitur: ecce merces eius cum eo, et opus illius coram illo. Sicut pastor gregem suum pascet, in brachio suo congregabit agnos, et in sinu suo levabit, fœtas ipse portabit.
(A voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. O Zion, that bringeth good tidings to Jerusalem, get thee up into the high mountain; lift up thy voice, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, he shall lead them that are with young.)
Edward Naylor (1867–1934)
Please stand to sing
The Hymn
1. Lo! he comes; with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia!
God appears, on earth to reign.
2. Every eye shall now behold him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at nought and sold him,
Pierced, and nailed him to the Tree,
Deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.
. Those dear tokens of his passion
Still his dazzling body bears,
Cause of endless exultation
To his ransomed worshippers:
With what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!
4. Yea, Amen; let all adore thee,
High on thine eternal throne:
Saviour, take the power and glory;
Claim the kingdom for thine own,
O come quickly!
Alleluia! Come, Lord, come!
John Cennick (1718–55)
Thomas Olivers (1725–99)
The Clergy and Choir process to the west end. At the west end, the Dean’s Vicar and the Choir sing
The Vesper Responsory
Judah and Jerusalem, fear not, nor be dismayed:
Tomorrow go ye forth, and the Lord, he will be with you.
Stand ye still, and ye shall see the salvation of the Lord:
Tomorrow go ye forth, and the Lord, he will be with you.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:
Tomorrow go ye forth, and the Lord, he will be with you.
Acknowledgements
Developed by Clark Brydon (Education & Safeguarding Officer).
n.b.: Translations are provided automatically by Google Translate. Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is not responsible for automatically generated content or for content on external websites.
To report a problem or to send feedback and suggestions, please email: education@stpatrickscathedral.ie