The O Antiphons

We all know the song O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  Standby favorite for the season of Advent- but did you know there is a lot more to it than that?  There are actually seven verses...that you may or may not get through when you are singing at church...and each of those verses specifically calls on a title of Christ that fulfilled prophecy from the Old Testament.

The song comes from the O Antiphons that are prayed by the whole Church during the seven days preceding Christmas Eve.  These O Antiphons start on December 17th with O Wisdom and end on December 23rd with O Emmanuel.

This year our school Christmas program is organized around the O Antiphons and the prophecy that pointed to who Christ would be.  In conjunction with what the music teacher is doing, I developed these printables to use with my students to help them prepare and pray during these last days of Advent.

I created a mini book with the seven O Antiphons.  Each page has the title of Christ, a symbol, the text of the Scripture, the date, and a reference for Isaiah and one of the Gospels.  Each student received one of these books and we walked through a Bible Study of the prophecy and fulfillment.  Then they picked their favorite and got a full sized coloring page to color and hang up with our other Advent decorations.

The mini book can also be printed, cut out, and used as ornaments:

Click here for the mini book/ornaments:
(Mini book- print two sided, cut horizontally, layer, fold vertically, staple.)
(Ornaments- print single sided, cut out circles, leave a small extra piece at the top, punch hole, attach string and hang.)

Click here for the full sized 8 page coloring book:

Or, if you'd like a tiny set of the O Antiphons to put on your calendar/planner or in the margins of your Bible, or on little wood slices to make ornaments, here is a set that is only 2" in diameter:

And even though I have *lots* of versions of O Come, O Come Emmanuel in my itunes library, this is one of my favorites: