Sequence 73. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

September 8th.
HAIL to thee, our Saviour's mother !

Vessel, honoured o'er all other !
Chosen vessel of God's grace !

Vessel, known before creation !
Noble vessel, whose formation
'Neath the All-wise hand took place !

Hail, the world's own mother holy !
Sprung from thorns, but thornless throughly !

Flower a thornbrake's glory born !
We the thornbrake are, surrounded
With sin's thorns, and by them wounded,
But thou art without a thorn.

Closed gate ! fount through gardens pouring !
Storehouse, precious spikenard storing !

Store of unguents sweet to smell ! 1 5
Cinnamon's sweet-scented reed,
Incense, balsam, myrrh, indeed
Thou in fragrance dost excel !

Hail, fair type of maiden grace ;
Mediatrix of man's race !

Of salvation brought to bed !
Continence's myrtle-tree !

Rose of love and clemency !
Nard whence sweetest scents are shed !

Lowliest of valleys thou,
Soil that never felt the plough,
Which to God himself gave birth !

Meadow-flower ! lily fair !
Which the valley, peerless, bare !

Christ of thee was born on earth !
O thou paradise in heaven !

Lebanon no axe hath riven,
Breathing sweetness all around !

Virgin whiteness, beauty's brightness,
Finest flavours, sweetest savours,
Plenteously in thee abound !

Thou the wise king's throne appearest.
Which, in shape and substance, fairest,
'Mongst all thrones hath ever been :
Chastity in ivory's whiteness,
Charity in red gold's brightness,
Shadowed forth, therein are seen.

Peerless is the palm thou bearest,
Peerless thou on earth appearest,
And in heaven amongst the blest :
As the praise of all man's race,
Thee peculiar virtues grace,
Given to thee above the rest.

As the sun outshines the moon,
And the moon each twinkhng star,
Mary is than every one
Of God's creatures worthier far !

Light, that no eclipse can know,
Is her virgin chastity ;
Heat, which ne'er will cease to glow,
Her love's deathless constancy !

{As the venerable Adam was saluting the Blessed
Virgin Mary in the followi?jg stanza, he was himself
in return saluted and thanked by her.)
Mother of fair love, we name thee !

Famed triclinium we proclaim thee,
Which the Trinity all share;
224 NAT/VITAS BEATyE VIRGINIS.

Verbi tamen incarnati
Speciale majestati
Prseparans hospitium !

O Maria, Stella maris,
Dignitate singularis,
Though thou dost a special dwelling
For the majesty excelling
Of the Incarnate Word prepare !

Mary, Star o'er ocean glowing !
Rival none in honour knowing !

Foremost in precedence going
'Mongst all ranks around God's throne !

Placed in highest heaven, commend us
To thine Offspring to befriend us,
And from fear of foes defend us,
Lest by guile we be o'erthrovvn.

Safe, in battle-line extended,
May we be, by thee defended ;
May foes' force and shrewdness blended
Bow before thy virtues splendid,
And their craft 'neath thy foresight.

Christ the Word, God's generation !
Guard Thy mother's congregation ;
Pardon guilt, grant free salvation.

And with the illumination
Of Thy glory make us bright ! Amen.