Antiphona 1

'Amavit eum Dominus' derives from Sirach 45:1-3 describing Moses, whom God 'loved and adorned.' The 'stola gloriae' (robe of glory) references both the baptismal garment of Galatians 3:27 and the white robes given to the martyrs in Apocalypse 7:9,14 - 'washed white in the blood of the Lamb.' The verb 'ornavit' (adorned) implies not mere decoration but investiture with dignity, as a king invests a knight. At Lauds, as dawn breaks, this antiphon proclaims that the martyr's bloody death was actually an enthronement - God clothing his servant for the heavenly court.