ABSTRACT
Two kinds of observance in honour of the Virgin were in English monasteries: the Little Office and the Saturday commemorative office. A third observance became increasingly common in the succeeding centuries, employing what has become known as the votive antiphon. The antiphon elements of the Durham observances are all short texts, and like the accompanying versicles and collects, they appear to have been borrowed from the regular liturgy rather than newly composed. The major thrust for the adoption of the most widely occurring of all votive antiphons, Salve regina, seems initially to have come from the Cistercians. During the Middle Ages the dispute over Salve regina was supplemented by the myth, offering a glimpse of the significance which medieval divines attached to the antiphon.
