ANTRA DESERTI TENERIS AB ANNIS. - Hymn of the Roman Breviary for Matins of the feast of St. John the Baptist. It is by Paul the Deacon (8th century) and forms the continuation of the hymn recited at First Vespers. The thought is inspired by the circumstances of John's life as related by St. Luke in his Gospel (1:5-23); in our hymn there are recalled: the Precursor's withdrawal into the desert, to avoid every slip of the tongue, so easy in the midst of the world; his very simple clothing; his frugal diet (stanzas 1-2). But if the figure of the last of the prophets is wrapped, so to speak, in silence and humility, he nonetheless possesses a greatness and a mission superior to that of all the others: the ancient prophets, in fact, foretold the Messiah to come; only the Precursor could point him out with his finger and bring down upon his head the waters of Baptism. Indeed he alone merited the praise of Christ: "I say to you in truth, among those born of woman, none has ever arisen who was greater than John the Baptist" (Mt. 11:11; and in the hymn, stanzas 3-4).
Bibliography5 worksL. Venturi, Gli inni della Chiesa tradotti e commentati, Florence 1880, pp. 236-29; G. M. Dreves-C. Blume, in Analecta hymnica, 50 (1907), p
BIBL.: L. Venturi, Gli inni della Chiesa tradotti e commentati, Florence 1880, pp. 236-29; G. M. Dreves-C. Blume, in Analecta hymnica, 50 (1907), pp. 120-23; K. Kastner, Brevier-Kommentar, II, Breslau 1924, p. 175; C. Albin, La poésie du Bréviaire, I: Les Hymnes, Lyon n.d., pp. 280-83; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano per i licei filosofici e per il clero, Naples 1947, pp. 216-17.
Testore, Celestino. “Antra Deserti Teneris Ab Annis.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, col. 1562. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/antra-deserti-teneris-ab-annis.
MLA
Testore, Celestino. “Antra Deserti Teneris Ab Annis.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, col. 1562. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/antra-deserti-teneris-ab-annis.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_antra_deserti_teneris_ab_annis,
author = {Testore, Celestino},
title = {Antra Deserti Teneris Ab Annis},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {1562},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/antra-deserti-teneris-ab-annis}
}
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