The Feast of the Annunciation

The Vespers Antiphons for the Feast of Annunciation

he Feast of the Annunciation celebrates the message by which God revealed to Mary through the angel Gabriel that she would be the virgin mother of the Messiah. The biblical account of the Annunciation is found in the Gospel according to Luke 1. 26-38. Traditionally, the feast is celebrated on March 25, nine months before Christmas. Though this choice of date is commended by a compelling biological logic, it inconveniently placed this most joyous feast within the penitential season of Lent, and occasionally on Easter Day itself, a situation, which forced its transfer to various other dates, depending on local tradition. Along with the Nativity and Assumption, the Annunciation is the feast most likely to have been adorned with such magnificent music as that included by Monteverdi in his famous vespers collection.

Luke’s account of the Annunciation is told in the office of Vespers through the antiphons, which precede each of the five psalms in Vespers. (For the following “synopsis”, I have adapted the entry for The Annunciation from the New Catholic Encyclopedia. The musical selections are drawn from Magnificat’s recording of Cozzolani’s vespers music, also set in the context of second vespers for the Feast of Annunciation.)

1st Antiphon: Missus est Gabriel Angelus: ad Mariam Virginem desponsatam Joseph. (The angel Gabriel was sent: to Mary, a Virgin betrothed to Joseph.)

Missus est Gabriel Angelus

According to Luke, Elizabeth sent the angel Gabriel from God to the Virgin Mary in the sixth month after the conception of St. John the Baptist. Mary was of the house of David, and was espoused to Joseph, of the same royal family. She had, however, not yet entered the household of her spouse, but was still in her mother's house, working, perhaps, over her dowry.

2nd Antiphon: Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus ("Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.")

Ave Maria, gratia plena

And the angel having taken the figure and the form of man, came into the house and said to her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women."

3rd Antiphon: Ne timeas, Maria invenisti gratiam apud Dominum: ecce concipies et paries filium. ("Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son.”)

Ne timeas, Maria

Mary having heard the greeting words did not speak; she was troubled in spirit, since she knew not the angel, nor the cause of his coming, nor the meaning of the salutation. And the angel continued and said: “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus.”

4th Antiphon: Dabit ei Dominus sedem David, patris eius, et regnabit in æternum. (“And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign forever.”)

Dabit ei Dominus

Gabriel went on to tell Mary that the child shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end." The Virgin understood that there was question of the coming Redeemer. But, why should she be elected from amongst women for the splendid dignity of being the mother of the Messiah, having vowed her virginity to God? (St. Augustine). Therefore, not doubting the word of Godlike Zachary, but filled with fear and astonishment, she said: "How shall this be done, because I know not man?" The angel to remove Mary's anxiety and to assure her that her virginity would be spared answered: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." In token of the truth of his word he made known to her the conception of St. John, the miraculous pregnancy of her relative now old and sterile: "And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth; she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God."

5th Antiphon: Ecce ancilla Domini: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. ("Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.")

Antiphon: Ecce ancilla Domini

Mary may not yet have fully understood the meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with her vow of virginity, but clinging to the first words of the angel and trusting to the Omnipotence of God she said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word."

The Annunciation is the beginning of Jesus in His human nature. Through His mother He is a member of the human race. If the virginity of Mary before, during, and after the conception of her Divine Son was always considered part of the deposit of faith, this was done only on account of the historical facts and testimonials. The Incarnation of the Son of God did not in itself necessitate this exception from the laws of nature. Only reasons of expediency are given for it, chiefly, the end of the Incarnation. About to found a new generation of the children of God, The Redeemer does not arrive in the way of earthly generations: the power of the Holy Spirit enters the chaste womb of the Virgin, forming the humanity of Christ. Many holy fathers (Sts. Jerome, Cyril, Ephrem, Augustine) say that the consent of Mary was essential to the redemption. It was the will of God, St. Thomas says (Summa III:30), that the redemption of mankind should depend upon the consent of the Virgin Mary. This does not mean that God in His plans was bound by the will of a creature, and that man would not have been redeemed, if Mary had not consented. It only means that the consent of Mary was foreseen from all eternity, and therefore was received as essential into the design of God.

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