Advent is a time for reflecting upon Mary, the Mother of God. One avenue is to contemplate the beauty of the Old English Advent Lyrics
The cult of the Virgin Mary in the 11th and 12th Centuries England is typically perceived as beginning in the High Middle Ages with the keen interest invested by the Benedictine reform movements (c. 960-1050) and crystallised in the work of Anselm, Bernhard of Clairvaux and the broader Cistercian movement.
Examining the evidence anew, traces of a vibrant Anglo-Saxon Marian spirituality may be found in the Old English Advent lyrics from the early 9th century.
Material and historical evidence indicate that sophisticated English Mariology dates from much earlier, that is, prior to the reign of Alfred the Great (871-99). Thus, Benedict Biscop had the Marian legend painted on the walls of his church in Wearmouth in the 7th century, while sculptural remains (for instance, on the Ruthwell Cross and the Frank’s Casket) witness to the widespread knowledge of the central stories among artists.
An exciting new study by Jasmine Jones of The Advent Lyrics commonly known to be inspired by the great “O Antiphons” of Advent sheds further light on the centrality of the liturgical devotion to the Mother of God in the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon church. The “O” Antiphons accompany the Magnificat canticle Prayer from December 17-23, voicing the Messianic hopes and the Coming of Christ. We know the modern version of the “O Antiphons” in the hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel” dated to the 12th century, but rewritten as a Jesuit effort to match the Protestant Hymnals and popular hymn singing fostered by Martin Luther.
This group of early poems consists of twelve pieces of lyric meditations varying from seventeen to seventy-three lines, and are preserved in the Exeter Book from the late 10th century (Codex Exoniensis, MS 3501 in the Exeter Cathedral Library). Generally, the manuscript is understood to have been compiled in the milieu surrounding the Benedictine Reform Movement, and the poems have at times been dated to the 10th century.
A closer study, however, reveals that the cycle of poems was composed in the first part of the 9th century in Anglia and before the reign of Alfred the Great. In the present study, Jasmine Jones sheds light on this significant, overlooked, and distinctive collection of lyrics, probably composed by a monastic poet for a monastic audience and offering the opportunity of pervasive theological immersion into the figure of Mary as sheturns to the Temple, plays her role as a gift-giver, and is exalted as a teacher with a distinct intellectual capacity. Further, her role as intercessor unfolds in her primary fulfilment as the mother par excellence.
In the poems, she appears as pure, unblemished, immaculately conceived, filled with gifts and therefore able to pass on the greatest gift of all, Christ, while becoming a primary witness to this mystery, providing enlightenment and redemption, and finally spanning the gulf between heaven and earth as epitomised in her achievement as The Mother of all times.
In her study, Jasmine Jones explains the twelve lyrics as a kind of vernacular theological writing offered by the poet for contemplation and spiritual devotion to his fellow brethren and sisters in the religious establishments at that time.
“The Advent Lyrics demonstrate the complexity and longevity of Mariology in early medieval English culture. By drawing attention to new analogues from diverse traditions such as Syriac, Greek, Irish and Germanic-heroic, this article demonstrates how The Advent Lyrics provide insight to the earliest English poetry as a medium of vibrant vernacular theology”, she writes.
SOURCE:
The Vernacular Theology of the Old English Advent Lyrics: Monastic Devotion to Mary
By Jasmine Jones
In: The Review of English Studies, Volume 75, Issue 318, February 2024, Pages 1–16,
EDITION:
Advent Lyrics of the Exeter Book
By Jackson J. Campbell
Princeton Legacy Library 1959
READ IN TRANSLATION:
Advent Lyrics
By Dr. Ophelia Eryn Hostetter, Rutgers University-Camden
READ MORE:
