Eight Century Irish Litany to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Oct 20, 2020 11:28:59 GMT
Post by Admin on Oct 20, 2020 11:28:59 GMT
Ancient Irish Litany of the Ever Blessed Virgin Mother of God
The PDF of this booklet has the English, Irish/Gaelic, and Latin versions of this Litany, here.
[New York: Robert Coddixgton, Publisher c. 1880, Imprimatur]
Firstly, the words of Pope Pius IX:
[TRANSLATION. ]
PIUS PP. IX.
For A PERPETUAL RECORD
PIUS PP. IX.
For A PERPETUAL RECORD
Our beloved Son, Monsignor Bartholomew Woodlock, one of our Chamberlains of Honor, and Rector of the Catholic University in the City of Dublin, has lately caused to be laid before Us a certain Pious Prayer, or Form of Supplication, to the Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the beginning of which is, in the English tongue—‘‘O Great Mary! O Mary Greatest!’’—in the Italian language, ‘‘O Maria, eccelsa Sienora’’ ; and has also caused it to be set forth to Us that it was lately recovered from oblivion by one of the Professors of the said University, and that it is the same which used to be recited in the Churches by the Irish faithful in their primitive language from the most remote period. But, now, Our aforesaid beloved Son has caused Us to be informed that he himself, and very many others, have it extremely at heart that, with the view of increasing more and more, in the minds of Christ's faithful of Ireland, piety and devotion towards the Immaculate Mother of God, We should vouchsafe, of Our Apostolic favor, to unlock the heavenly treasures of Indulgences for the faithful who shall recite that prayer. We, who regard with fatherly charity and special good will all Christ’s faithful of Ireland, from whom We have always had peculiar proofs of dutiful service towards this Holy See, have been pleased to meet the prayers they have addressed to Us, and to grant Indulgence as below. :
We, relying on the mercy of the Almighty God, and by the authority of His Apostles, the Blessed Peter and Paul, do remit, in the wonted form of the Church, on the day whereon they shall do this, One Hundred Days from penances enjoined, or otherwise in what manner soever due, of which relaxations of penances We grant also in the Lord the application, by way of suffrage, to the souls of Christ’s faithful who shall have departed from this life united in charity to God. Anything making to the contrary notwithstanding. These presents to hold to all future times.
And We will have precisely the same confidence which would be accorded to these presents, if they were exhibited or shown, to be accorded to translations or copies, even printed, of the present Letters, inscribed by the hand of some public notary, and furnished with the seal of a person placed in an ecclesiastical dignity. |
Given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, under the Ring of the Fisherman, 5th day of September, 1862, in the 17th year of Our Pontificate.
✠ Ancient Prayer to the Blessed Virgin ✠
(Translated from the Irish of the Eighth Century.)
(Translated from the Irish of the Eighth Century.)
O GREAT Mary,
Mary, greatest of Marys,
Most great of women,
Queen of the angels,
Mistress of the heavens,
Woman full and replete with the grace of the Holy Spirit,
Blessed and most blessed,
Mother of eternal glory,
Mother of the heavenly and earthly Church,
Mother of love and indulgence,
Mother of the golden light,
Honor of the sky,
Harbinger of peace,
Gate of heaven,
Golden casket,
Couch of love and mercy,
Temple of the Divinity,
Beauty of virgins,
Mistress of the tribes,
Fountain of the gardens,
Cleansing of sins,
Washing of souls,
Mother of orphans,
Breast of the infants,
Refuge of the wretched,
Star of the sea,
Handmaid of God,
Abode of the Godhead,
Graceful as the dove,
Serene like the moon,
Resplendent like the sun,
Destruction of Eve’s disgrace,
Regeneration of life,
Perfection of women,
Chief of the virgins,
Garden enclosed,
Mother of God,
Holy Virgin,
Prudent Virgin,
Serene Virgin,
Chaste Virgin,
Temple of the Living God,
Throne of the Eternal King,
Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit,
Virgin of the root of Jesse,
Cedar of Mount Lebanon,
Cypress of Mount Sion,
Crimson rose in the land of Jacob,
Fruitful like the olive,
Blooming like the palm,
Glorious son-bearer,
Light of Nazareth,
Glory of Jerusalem,
Beauty of the world,
Noblest born of the Christian people,
Queen of life,
Ladder of Heaven,
Hear the petition of the poor; spurn not the wounds and the groans of the miserable. Let our devotion and our sighs be carried through thee to the presence of the Creator, for we are not ourselves worthy of being heard because of our evil deserts.
O powerful Mistress of heaven and earth, wipe out our trespasses and our sins. Destroy our wickedness and depravity. Raise the fallen, the debilitated, and the fettered. Loose the condemned. Repair through thyself the transgressions of our immorality and our vices. Bestow upon us through thyself the blossoms and ornaments of good actions and virtues. Appease for us the Judge by thy prayers and thy supplications.
Allow us not, for mercy’s sake, to be carried off from thee among the spoils of our enemies. Allow not our souls to be condemned, but take us to thyself for ever under thy protection.
We, moreover, beseech and pray thee, O holy Mary, to. obtain, through thy potent supplication, before thy only Son, that is, Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, that God may defend us from all straits and temptations. Obtain also for us from the God of Creation the forgiveness and remission of all our sins and trespasses, and that we may receive from Him further, through thy intercession, the everlasting habitation of the heavenly kingdom, through all eternity, in the presence of the saints and the saintly virgins of the world which may we deserve, may we enjoy, in secula seculorum. Amen.