September 8 — The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mart

' Let us celebrate the Nativity of the Virgin Mary ; let us adore her Son, Christ our Lord/ 1 Such is the invitation addressed to us to-day by the Church. Let us hearken to her call ; let us enter into her overflowing joy. The Bridegroom is at hand, for His throne is now set up on earth ; yet a little while, and He will appear in the diadem of our human nature, wherewith His Mother is to crown Him on the day of the joy of His heart, and of ours. To-day, as on the glorious Assumption, the sacred Canticle is heard; 2 but this time it belongs more to earth than to heaven.

Truly a better paradise than the first is given us at this hour. Eden, fear no more that man will endeavour to enter thee ; thy Cherubim may leave the gates and return to heaven. What are thy beautiful fruits to us, since we cannot touch them without dying? Death is now for those who will not eat of the fruit so soon to appear amid the flowers of the virgin earth to which our God has led us.

Hail, new world, far surpassing in magnificence the first creation ! Hail blessed haven, where we find a calm after so many storms ! Aurora dawns ; the rainbow glitters in the heavens ; the dove comes forth; the ark rests upon the earth, offering new destinies to the world. The haven, the aurora, the

1 Invitatory of the feast, 2 lessens of the 1st Nocturn. rainbow, the dove, the ark of salvation, the paradise of the heavenly Adam, the creation whereof the former was but a shadow: all this art thou, sweet infant, in whom already dwell all grace, all truth, all life.

Thou art the little cloud, which the father of prophets in the suppliant anguish of his soul awaited ; and thou bringest refreshment to the parched earth. Under the weakness of thy fragile form, appears the Mother of fair love and of holy hope. Thou art that other light cloud of exquisite fragrance, which our desert sends up to heaven. In the incomparable humility of thy soul, which knows not itself, the angels, standing like armed warriors around thy cradle, recognize their Queen.

0 Tower of the true David ; citadel withstanding the first shock of satan's attack,, and breaking all his power ; true Sion, founded on the holy mountains, the highest summits of virtue; temple and palace, feebly foreshadowed by those of Solomon ; house built by eternal Wisdom for herself: the faultless lines of thy fair architecture were planned from all eternity. Together with Emmanuel, who predestined thee for His home of delights, thou art thyself, 0 blessed child, the crowning point of creation, the divine ideal fully realized on earth.

Let us, then, understand the Church, when, even on this day, she proclaims thy divine maternity, and unites in her chants of praise the birth of Emmanuel and thine own. He who, being Son of God by essence, willed to be also Son of man, had, before all other designs, decreed that He would have a Mother. Such, consequently, was the primordial, absolute character of that title of mother, that, in the eternal decree, it was one with the very being of the chosen creature, the motive and cause of her existence, as well as thQ source of all her perfections natural and supernatural. We too, then, must recognize thee as Mother, even from thy very cradle, and must oelebrate thy birthday by adoring thy Son our Lord.

Inasmuch as it embraces all the brethren of the Man-God, thy blessed maternity sheds its rays upon all time, both before and after this happy day. * God is our king before ages: He hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.' 1 * The midst of the earth,' says the Abbot of Clairvaux, * admirably represents Mary. Mary is the centre of the universe, the ark of God, the cause of creation, the business of ages. Towards her turn the inhabitants of heaven and the dwellers in the plaoe of expiation, the men that have gone before us, and we that are now living, those who are to follow us, our children's children and their descendants. Those in heaven look to her to have their ranks filled up ; those in purgatory look for their deliverance ; the men of the first ages, that they may be found faithful prophets; those who come after, that they may obtain eternal happiness. Mother of God, Queen of heaven, Sovereign of the world, all generations shall oall thee blessed, for thou hast brought forth life and glory for all. In thee the angels ever find their joy, the just find grace, sinners pardon ; in thee, and by thee, and from thee, the meroiful hand of the Almighty has reformed the first creation.' 2

Andrew of Crete calls this day a solemnity of entrance, a feast of beginning, whose end is the union of the Word with our flesh ; a virginal feast, full of joy and confidence for all. 3 ' All ye nations, come hither,' cries St. John Damascene ; ' come every race and every tongue, every age and every dignity,

1 Psalm lxxiii. 12. 2 Bern. In festo Pentecost. Sermon ii. 4. 1 Qratio i, in Natwit. Deiparee. i. let us joyfully celebrate the birthday of the world's gladness.' 1 'It is the beginning of salvation, the origin of every feast,' says St. Peter Damian ; 1 for behold! the Mother of the Bridegroom is born. With good reason does the whole world rejoioe to-day ; and the .Church, beside herself, bids her choirs sing wedding songs.' 2

Not only do the Doctors of east and west use similar language in praise of Mary's birth, but moreover the Latin and Greek Churches sing, each in its own tongue, the same beautiful formula, to close the offioe of the feast: 'Thy birth 0 Virgin Mother of God, brought joy to the whole world: for out of thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God: who, taking off the curse, hath bestowed blessing; and defeating death, hath given us life everlasting.' 3

This union of Rome and Byzantium in the oelebration of to-day's festival, dates back as far as the seventh century at least; 4 beyond that we cannot speak with anything like certitude, nor is it known when the feast was first instituted. It is supposed to have originated at Angers, towards the year 430, by an apparition of our Lady to the holy bishop Maurillus in the fields of Marillais; and hence the name of Notre Dame Angevine often given to the feast. In the eleventh century Chartres, the city of Mary, claims for its own Fulbert, together with Robert the Pious, a principal share in the spreading of the glorious solemnity throughout France. It is well known how intimate the bishop was with the king; and how the latter himself set to music the three admirable responsories composed by Fulbert, wherein he celebrates the rising of the mysterious

1 In Natal. B. M. Homilia 1. 2 Sermon xlv, in Nativit. B. M. V. 3 Trope of the dismissal in utroque V*&pertino ; Magnificat Ant. of

2nd Vespers.

Liber Fontific, in Sergio I. star that was to give birth to the Sun; the branch springing from the rod of Jesse, and producing the divine Flower whereon the holy Spirit was to rest ; and the merciful power which caused Mary to blossom in JudsBa like the rose on the thorn. 1

In the year 1245, in the third, session of the first Council of Lyons, (the same session which deposed Frederick II. from the empire), Innocent IV. established for the whole Church, not the feast which was already kept everywhere, but the Ootave of the Nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary. 1 It was the accomplishment of a vow made by him and the other Cardinals during the Church's widowhood, whioh through the intrigues of the crafty emperor, lasted nineteen months after the death of Celestine IV., and whioh was brought to a close by the election of Sinibaldo Fieschi under the name of Innocent.

In 1377, the great Pope Gregory XI., who broke the chains of captivity in Avignon, wished to add a vigil to the solemnity of our Lady's birthday. But whether he merely expressed a desire to this effect, as did his successor Urban VI. with regard to a fast on the eve of the Visitation, or whether for some other reason, the intentions of the holy Pope were carried out for only a very short time during the years of trouble that followed his death.

Together with the Church, let us ask, as the fruit of this sweet feast, for that peace whioh seems to flee ever farther and farther from our unhappy times. Our Lady was born during the second of the three periods of universal peace wherewith the reign of Augustus was blest, the last of which ushered in the Prince of peace Himself.

The temple of Janus is closed ; in the eternal city a mysterious fountain of oil has sprung up from the

Solem ju8titi<d, Stirps Jesse virgam produxit, Adnutum

Domini.

• Mansi, xxiii, 612. spot where the first sanctuary of the Mother of God is one day to be built ; signs and portents are multiplied ; the whole world is in expectation ; the poet has sung: 'Behold the last age, foretold by the Sybil, is at hand; behold the great series of new worlds is beginning ; behold the Virgin ! ' 1

In Judaea, the sceptre has been taken away from Juda; but the usurper of his power, Herod the Idumaean, is hastening to complete the splendid restoration, which will enable the second temple worthily to receive within its walls the Ark of the new Covenant.

It is the sabbatical month, the first of the oivil year, the seventh of the sacred cycle ; the month of Tisri which begins the repose of each seventh year, and in which is announced the holy year of J ubilee ; the most joyous of months, with its solemn Neomenia oelebrated with trumpets and singing, its feast of tabernacles, and the commemoration of the completion of Solomon's temple.

In the heavens, the sun, in his passage through the zodiac, has left the sign of Leo and entered that of Virgo. On earth, two obscure descendants of David, Joachim and Anne, are thanking God for having blessed their long-barren union.

The psalms, capitulum, and hymn, are the same as on the other feasts of our Lady. The antiphons and versicle celebrate the birth of the noblest of Eve's daughters, which brings honour to our race, gives to God a Mother, and to us an advocate whose

FIRST YESPERS prayers are never rejected.

1 Virg. Eclog. iv. FoUio.

1. Ant. Nativitas glorio- 888 Virginia Marias ex semine Abrahse, or toe de tribu Juda, clara ex stirpe David.

2. Ant. This is the Nativity of the glorious Virgin Mary, of the seed of Abraham, born of the tribe of J uda, of the noble race of David.

P*. Dixit Dominus, page 38.

2. Ant. Nativitas est ho- 2. Ant. To-day is the birthdie sanctae Marias Virginia, day of the holy Virgin Mary, cujus vita inclyta cunctas whose glorious life is the light vita illustrat ecelesias. of all the Churches.

Ps. Laudate pueri, page 41.

3. Ant. Begali ex progenie Maria exorta refulget: cujus precibus nos adjuvari mente et spiritu devotissime poscimus.

4. Ant. Mary, born of a royal race, is illustrious: the aid of her prayers we most devoutly crave with heart and mind.

Psalm 121

Lsatatus sum in his quad dicta sunt mini: In domum Domini ibimus.

Stantes erant pedes nostri: in atriis tuis, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem quae aedificatur ut civitas: cujus participatio ejus in idipsum.

Illuc enim ascenderunt tribus, tribus Domini: testimonium Israel ad confitendum nomini Domini.

Quia illic sederunt sedes in judicio: sedes super domum David.

Rogate quae ad pacem sunt Jerusalem: et abun-

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.

Our feet were standing in thy courts, 0 Jerusalem! Our heart loves and confides in thee, 0 Mary.

Mary is like to Jerusalem, that is built as a city: which is compact together.

For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.

Because seats sat there in judgment: seats upon the house of David, and Mary is of a kingly race.

Pray ye, through Mary, for the things that are for the dantia diligentibus te.

Fiat pax in virtute tua: et abundantia in turribus tuis.

Propter fratres meos et proximos meos: loquebar pacem de te.

Propter domum Domini Dei nostri: quaesivi bona tibi.

4. Ant. Corde et animo Christo canamus gloriam, in hac sacra solemnitate praecelsae Grenitricis Dei Mariffi. peace of Jerusalem: and may abundance be on them that love thee, 0 Church of our God!

The voice of Mary: Let peace be in thy strength, 0 thou new Sion / and abundance in thy towers.

I, a daughter of Israel, for the sake of my brethren and of my neighbours, spoke peace of thee.

Because of the house of the Lord our Grod, I have sought good things for thee.

4. Ant. With heart and mind let us sing glory to Christ, on this sacred solemnity of Mary, the most high Mother of God.

Psalm 126.

Nisi Dominus sedificaverit domum : in vanum laboraverunt qui aBdificant earn.

Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem : f rustra vigilat qui custodit earn.

Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere : surgite postquam sederitis, qui manducatis panem doloris.

Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum : ecce haereditas Domini, filii, merces, f ructus ventris.

Sicut sagittae in manu potentis : ita filii excussorum.

Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.

It is vain for you to rise before light; rise ye after ye have sitten, you that eat of the bread of sorrow.

When he shall give sleep to his beloved: behold the inheritance of the Lord are children ; the reward the fruit of the womb.

As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.

Utofc A*TE& PENTECOST

Beatus vir, qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis : non confundetur cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta.

5. Ant. Cum jucunditate Nativitatem beat® Mariae celebremus, ut ipsa pro nobis intercedat ad Dominum Jesum Christum.

Blessed is the man that hath filled his desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies at the gate.

5. Ant. Let us celebrate with joy the birth of blessed Mary; that she may intercede for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 147.

Lauda Jerusalem Dominum: lauda Deum tuum, Sion.

Quoniam confortavit seras portarum tuarum: benedixit filiis tuis in te.

Qui posuit fines tuos pacem: et adipe frumenti satiat te.

Qui emittit eloquium suum terra?: velociter currit sermo ejus.

Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: nebulam sicut cinerem spargit.

Mittit cry stallum suam sicut buccellas: ante faciem frigoris ejus quis sustinebit ?

Emittet Verbum suum et liquefaciet ea: flabit spiritus ejus, et fluent aquss.

Qui annuntiat Verbum suum Jacob: justitias, et judicia sua Israel.

Non fecit taliter omni

Praise the Lord, 0 Mary, thou true Jerusalem: 0 Mary 0 Sion ever holy, praise thy God.

Because he hath strengthened agaimt sin the bolts of thy gates: he hath blessed thy children within thee.

Who hath placed peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the fat of corn, vrith Jesus, who is the Bread of life.

Who sendeth forth, by thee, his Word to the earth; his Word runneth swiftly.

Who giveth snow like wool; scattereth mists like ashes.

He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the face of his cold?

He shall send forth his Word by Mary, and shall melt them: his Spirit shall breathe, and the waters shall run.

Who declareth his Word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments to Israel.

Until these our days, he hath nationi: ei judicia sua not done in like manner to non manifestavit eis. every nation; and his judg- ments he hath not made manifest to them.

CAP1TULTJM

Ecclus. xxvi.

Ab initio et ante saecula creata sum, et usque ad f uturum saeculum non desinam, et in habitatione san- I eta coram ipso ministravi.

From the beginning and before the world was I created, and unto the world to come shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling-place I have ministered before him.

HYMN

Ave, maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper Virgo, Felix cceli porta.

Sumens illud Ave, G-abrielis ore, Funda nos in pace, Mutans Evas nomen.

Solve vincla reis, Prof er lumen caecis, Mala nostra pelle, Bona cuncta posce.

Monstra te esse Matrem, Sumat per te preces Qui, pro nobis natus, Tulit esse tuus.

Virgo singularis, Inter omnes mitis, Nos culpis solutos Mites f ac et castos.

Vitam praesta puram, Iter para tutum, Ut, videntes Jesum, Semper collaatemur.

Hail, star of the Sea! Blessed Mother of Grod, yet ever a Virgin! O happy gate of heaven I

Thou that didst receive the Ave from Gabriel's lips, confirm us in peace, and so let Eva be changed into an Ave of blessing for us.

Loose the sinner's chains, bring light to the blind, drive from us our evils, and ask all good things for us. ihow thyself a Mother, and offer our prayers to him, who would be born of thee, when born for us.

O incomparable Virgin, and meekest of the meek, obtain for us the forgiveness of our sins, and make us meek and chaste.

Obtain us purity of life, and a safe pilgrimage; that we may be united with thee in the blissful vision of Jesus.

TI)tft AFTER PENTECOST

Sit laus Deo Patri, Summo Christo decus, Spiritui sancto, Tribus honor unus.

Praise be to God the Father, and to the Lord Jesus, and to the Holy Ghost: to the Three one self -same praise.

Amen.

Amen. f. Nativitas est hodie f. To-day is the birthday fy. Cujus vita inclyta ty. Whose glorious life is ounctas Ulustrat eoclesias. the light of all the churches.

Gloriosae Virginia Marias Let us celebrate the most ortum dignissimum recola- honourable birth of the glori- mus, quaB et Genitricis di- ous Virgin Mary, who obtained gnitatem obtinuit, et virgi- the dignity of a mother with- nalem pudicitiam non ami- out prejudice to her virginal

The Prayer is the Collect of the Mass, page 158.

An illustrious martyr watohes with the angels over the cradle of the Mother of God. On earth, he was an offioer of the guards in the oourt of an emperor: in heaven he holds the same title under the Queen of the universe. Nicomedia was the scene of Adrian's combat ; but his body was taken thence first to Byzantium, and afterwards to the eternal city. Having on this day received the preoious relics, Rome knew how to unite with her homage to Mary the honour due to the heroic soldier. In the seventh century, 1 St. Adrian's church was appointed as the starting-place for the solemn litany or procession, which went from the Forum to St. Mary Major, on this feast of the Nativity, and afterwards on those of the Annunciation and Assumption.

The Acts of St. Adrian's martyrdom are now recognized as incontestable. The part played therein by his young wife Natalia, lends them a charm of sanctaB Maria Virginis. of the holy Virgin Mary.

ANTIPHON OP THE MAGNIFICAT sit. purity.

1 Liber ponttf. in Sergio I, heroio sweetness. Unknown to her pagan husband, she had been a Christian from infancy. When she heard that Adrian had been converted by witnessing the oonstanoy of the confessors, and in the fervour of his generosity had asked to share their captivity, she hastened to him in a transport of joy, and, kissing his chains, cried out: ' Blessed art thou, my lord Adrian.' During the days which followed, suoh admirable scenes took plaoe between the two spouses, as the greatest geniuses of antiquity never invented in their fictions. Though she was left free by the gaolers, Natalia would not quit her husband's side, now that he was far more glorious in her eyes than he had ever been in fighting under Caesar's standard. Sitting at his feet in the prison, or accompanying him to the pretorium, she had no thought but to keep up the neophyte, under the pressure of the tortures, to the height of his vocation to martyrdom ; bidding him have no solicitude about earthly things. Upon herself, about to be left alone though scarcely more than a child, she made no reflection; except that, on the eve of the sacrifice, she let fall these words: ' Remember thy co-operatrix in martyrdom ; pray that I may die with thee, that other women may learn how to behave towards their husbands, on seeing thy love for me.' At length the hour had oome. Maintaining, in the simplicity of her pure heart, a fidelity whose heroism did not destroy its exquisite tenderness, she herself placed upon the anvil, whereon they were to be orushed, the feet of him she loved alone in this world. And as after this awful torture the martyr was still breathing, he stretched out his hand to Natalia, that she might offer it to the executioner to be cut off. Then he died; and remembering the. prayer of his faithful oompanion, he soon called her after him to heaven.

Our Emmanuel, on the night of His birth, gave a share in His honours to the holy widow Anastasia ; so now, with sweet motherly thoughtfulness, the Virgin of virgins inspired the Church to assooiate with the joys of this happy birthday the glorification of the heroic spouse of St. Natalia.

MASS

The Church intones the beautiful song of Prudentius to the Mother of God ; for, like the Most High, she looks upon Mary as already Mother, since suoh she has been by predestination from all eternity. Our Lady answers the Church's greeting, by the soug of the bride, the psalm of the epithalamium, which no one else could ever sing as she can even from this her first day.

INTBOIT

Salve, sancta parens, eni- Hail, holy parent, who didst xa puerpera Begem; qui bring forth the King: who coelum terramque regit in rules heaven and earth for saecula saeculorum. ever and ever.

Ps. Eructavit cor meum P*. My heart hath uttered verbum bonum: dico ego a good word: I speak my opera mea Kegi. Gloria works to the King. Glory be

Patri. Salve. to the Father, etc. Hail.

The liturgy here leaves the historical order of events, to follow that of the annual cyole, which began with the weeks of Advent. Thus, in the Collect we pray that the mystery of to-day may develop in us the work of sanctifioation and peace begun at Bethlehem.

COLLECT

Famulis tuis, quaesumus We beseech thee, 0 Lord, Domine, ccelestis gratiae to bestow on thy servants th§ munus impertire: ut, qui- gift of heavenly grace; that bus beatae Yirginis partus for those to whom the blessed exstitit salutis exordium, Virgin's maternity was the

Nativitatis ejus votiva so- beginning of salvation, the lemnitas pacis tribuat incre- votive solemnity of her Na- mentum. Per Dominum. tivity may procure increase of peace. Through etc.

In private Masses, after the Colleot, Secret, and Posteommunion of the feast, a commemoration is made of St. Adrian.

PRAYER

Praesta, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, qui beati Adriani, martyris tui, natalitia colimus, intercessione ejus in tui nominis amore roboremur. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, 0 almighty God, that we who celebrate the festival of blessed Adrian thy martyr, may by his intercession be strengthened in the love of thy name. Through.

EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientiae.

Prov. cap. viii. Dominus possedit me in initio viarum suarum, antequam quidquam faceret a principio. Ab aeterno ordinata sum, et ex antiquis, antequam terra fieret. Nondum erant abyssi, et ego jam concepta eram: necdum fontes aquarum eruperant: necdum montes gravi mole constiterant: ante colles ego parturiebar. Adhuc terram non fecerat, et flumina et cardines orbis terrae. Quando praeparabat coelos, aderam: quando certa lege, et gyro valiant

Lesson from the Book of Wisdom. Prov. ch. viii.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived: neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out; the mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When be prepared the beavens ? I was present; when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the deep: when he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters: when he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters, that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth: I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times, playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men. Now, therefore, ye children, hear me. Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

"When prinoes are born, we prognosticate their future greatness by reoalling the glory of their ancestors. The Church does in like manner to-day. The Gospel will reoount the temporal genealogy of Messias, which is also the genealogy of her, who was born for the very purpose of giving birth to Him. But first, this passage from the Book of Proverbs sets before us the divine origin of the Son and of the Mother. It is of both that eternal Wisdom says: 'Before the hills I was brought forth: when He prepared the heavens, I was present.'

Our weak human nature, subject to time, can conceive of things only according to the series of abyssos: quando nthera firmabat snrsnm, et librabat f ontes aquarum : quando circumdabat mari terminum suum, et legem ponebat aquis ne transirent fines suos: quando appendebat fundamenta terra. Cum eo eram cuncta componens: et dilectabar per singulos dies, ludens coram eo omni tempore, ludens in orbe terrarum: et deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum. Nunc ergo, filii, audite me: Beati qui custodiunt vias meas. Audite disciplinam, et estote sapientes, et nolite abjicere earn. Beatus homo qui audit me, et qui vigilat ad fores meas quotidie, et observat ad postes ostii mei. Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam, et hauriet salutem a Domino. their progressive evolutions ; but God sees them independently of time, whioh He rules with His eternity ; He sees them in the order of mutual dependence in whioh He has placed them with a view to the manifestation of His glory. With God, the beginning and the prinoiple of every work is the purpose for which it is done. Now the Most High acts outside Himself solely to reveal Himself, by His Word made Flesh and become the Son of a created Mother as He is the Son of the Creator. The God-Man as end, Mary as the means: such is the object of the eternal decrees, the purpose of the world's existence, the fundamental conception, with regard to which all else is but aooessory and dependent.

0 Lady, who dost deign to call us also thy children, it is well for us that thy goodness is equal to thy greatness! Happy is the human raoe for having waited and watohed for thee during so many long ages, and for having found thee at length; for with thee is salvation and life.

In 4 the Gradual the Church again sings of Mary's virginal and divine maternity; for this is the day whioh gave us the Mother of God.

GRADUAL

Benedicts et venerabilis es, Virgo Maria, quae sine tactu pudoris inventa es mater Salvatoris.

It. Virgo Dei Genitrix, quern totus non capit orbis, sin tua se clausit viscera f actus homo.

Alleluia, alleluia. f. Felix es, sacra Virgo Jklaria, et omni laude d-

Thou art blessed and venerable, 0 Virgin Mary, who without any violation of purity, wert found the Mother of our Saviour. f. 0 Virgin Mother of God, he whom the whole world is unable to contain, being made man, enclosed himself in thy womb.

Alleluia, alleluia. f . Thou art happy, 0 holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy gnissima: quia ex te ortus of all praise, because from est Sol justitiae, Christus thee arose the Sun of justice, Deus noster. Alleluia. Christ our God. Alleluia.

Initium sancti Evangelii secundum Matthceum.

Cap. t.

Liber generation is Jesu Christi filii David, filii Abraham. Abraham genuit Isaac. Isaac autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Judam et f ratres ejus. Judas autem genuit Phares, et Zaram de Thamar. Phares autem genuit Esron. Esron autem genuit Aram. Aram autem genuit Aminadab. Aminadab autem genuit Naasson. Naasson autem genuit Salmon. Salmon autem genuit Booz de Rahab. Booz autem genuit Obed ex Ruth. Obed autem genuit Jesse. Jesse autem genuit David regem. David autem rex genuit Salomonem, ex . ea quae fuit Uriae .Salomon autem genuit Roboam. Roboam autem genuit Abiam. Abias autem genuit Asa. Asa autem genuit J osaphat. Josaphat autem genuit Joram. Joram autem genuit Oziam. Ozias autem genuit Joatham. Joatham autem genuit Achaz. Achaz autem genuit Ezechiam. Ezechias autem genuit Manassen. Manasses autem genuit Amon, Amon autem

The beginning of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew.

Ch. i.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Sonof David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac begot Jacob ; and J acob begot J udas and his brethren ; and J udas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar ; and Phares begot Esron; and Esron begot Aram; and Aram begot Aminadab; and Aminadab begot Naasson; and Naasson begot Salmon; and Salmon begot Booz of Rahab; and Booz begot Obed of Ruth; and Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her who had been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begot Roboam; and Roboam begot Abia; and Abia begot Asa; and Asa begot Josaphat; and Josaphat begot Joram; and Joram begot Ozias; and Ozias begot Joatham; and Joatham begot Achaz; and Achaz begot Ezechias; and Ezechias begot Manasses; and Manasses begot Amon; and Amon begot Josias; and Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon. A»d after the transmi- gration of Babylon Jechonias begot Salathiel; and Salathiel begot Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begot Abiud; and Abiud begot Eliacim; and Eliacim begot Azor; and Azor begot Sadoc; and Sadoc begot Achim; and Achim begot Eliud; and Eliud begot Eleazar; and Eleazar begot Mathan; and Mathan bogot Jacob; and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born J esus, who is called Christ. genuit Josiam. Josias autem genuit J echoniam, et f ratres ejus in transmigratione Baby lonis. Et post transmigrationemBabylonis: Jechonias genuit Salathiel. Salathiel autem genuit Zororabel. Zorobabel autem genuit Abiud. Abiud autem genuit Eliacim. Eliacim autem genuit Azor. Azor autem genuit Sadoc. Sadoc autem genuit Achim. Achim autem genuit Eliud. Eliud autem genuit Eleazar. Eleazar autem genuit Mathan. Mathan autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Joseph, virum Mariae, de qua natus est Jesus, qui vocatur Christus.

Mary of whom was born Jesus : these words contain the whole mystery of our Lady, the title which expresses her whole being aocording to both nature and grace; for, Jesus, who was to be born of Mary, to be made of a woman, 1 was from the beginning the hidden reason of all creation, to be manifested in the fulness of time. This was God's great work, of which the prophet said in ecstasy : ' 0 Lord, Thy work, ... in the midst of the years Thou shalt make it known ; . . . the holy One shall come from the shady mountain. 2 . . . The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of His eternity.' 3 This mountain, from whence the holy One, the Eternal, the Ruler of the world, is to come, is the blessed Virgin Mary, 4 whom the power of the Most High

1 Gal. iv. 4. 3 Juztalxx. 3 Habacuo iii. 2-6. Andr. Cret, Oratio in Annifnt. J)eipara will overshadow, and who, at her very birth, is set far above all the heights of earth and of heaven. 1

The days, then, are accomplished. Ever sinoe the hour when the eternal Trinity came forth from their repose to create heaven and earth, all the generations of heaven and earth have been in labour to bring forth the day whioh is to give a Mother to the Son of God. Parallel with the direct line from Abraham and David to the Messias, all human genealogies have been preparing for Mary the generation of adoptive sons whom Jesus is to make His brethren.

With the Church, let us congratulate our Lady on this her sublime maternity, which embraoes all creatures together with the Creator.

OFFERTORY

Beata es, Virgo Maria, qu® omnium portasti Creatorem: genuisti qui te fecit, Creator et in aeternum permanes virgo.

Thou art blessed, O Virgin Mary, who didst bear the of all things: thou didst bring forth him who made thee, and thou remain- est for ever a virgin.

May this maternity, and the virginity which it sealed, draw us ever nearer to the Son of Mary and the Son of God ; may they unite us in greater purity to the Sacrifice prepared on the altar.

SECRET

Unigeniti tui, Domine, May the humanity of thy nobis succurrat humanitas: only-begotten Son be our suc- ut, qui natus de Virgine, cour, O Lord; that Jesus

Matris integritatem non mi- Christ our Lord, who, when nuit, sed sacravit, in Nati- born of a Virgin, did not di- vitatis ejus solemniis, no- minish, but consecrated the stris nos piaculis exuens, integrity of his Mother, may oblationem nostram tibi fa- on this solemnity of her Na- ciat acceptam Jesus Chri- tivity deliver us from our sins,

1 Joan. Damasc. in Natal. B. M. Homilia i. stus Dominus noster. Qui and make our oblation accepttecum. able to thee. Who liveth.