Conclusion of the Work

And with this, my dear reader and brother who loves our Mother Mary, I leave you and say to you: Continue joyfully to honor and love this good Lady; strive also to make her loved by as many as you can; and do not doubt — trust with confidence — that if you persevere in true devotion to Mary until death, your salvation will be assured. I end, not because I lack anything more to say of the glories of this great Queen, but so as not to weary you further. The little I have written can well suffice to make you fall in love with this great treasure of devotion to the Mother of God, to which she will surely respond with her powerful patronage. Accept, then, the desire I have had through this work of mine to see you saved and holy, by seeing you become a loving and devoted child of this most lovable Queen. And if you find that this book of mine has been of some small benefit to you, I beg you in charity: recommend me to Mary, and ask of her for me the same grace that I ask of her for you — namely, that we may one day see each other in paradise together at her feet, united with all her other dear children.

And turning to you at last, O Mother of my Lord and my Mother Mary, I beg you to accept these poor labors of mine and the desire I have had to see you praised and loved by all. You already know how greatly I longed to complete this little work on your glories before my life should end — a life that is already drawing near its close. Now I say that I die content, leaving upon the earth this book of mine, which will continue to praise you and proclaim you, as I have endeavored to do throughout these years of my conversion, which I obtained from God through your intercession. O Immaculate Mary, I commend to you all those who love you, and especially those who will read this book of mine; and most particularly those who will do me the charity of recommending me to you. My Lady, grant them perseverance; make them all saints, and so lead us all to praise you together in heaven. O my sweetest Mother, it is true that I am a poor sinner, but I glory in loving you, and I hope for great things from you — among them, to die loving you. I hope that in the anguish of my death, when the devil will set my sins before me, first the Passion of Jesus and then your intercession will comfort me to depart from this wretched life in the grace of God, so as to come and love him and thank you, my Mother, for ever and ever. Amen. So I hope; so may it be.

Domina, dic pro nobis Filio tuo: Vinum non habent. Calix huius vini inebrians quam praeclarus est! Inebriat amor Dei ad contemptum mundi; calefacit, facit fortes somnolentos ad temporalia et ad invisibilia promptos. (St. Bernard)

Tu es ager plenus, plena virtutum, plena gratiarum. Tu processisti ut aurora lucida et rubicunda; quia superatis originalibus peccatis, nata es lucida cognitione veritatis, et rubicunda amore virtutis; nihil omnino inimicus proficit in te, eo quod mille clypei pendent ex te, sed et omnis armatura fortium. Nihil est enim virtutis quod in te non resplendeat, et quidquid singuli habuere sancti, tu sola possedisti. (St. Bernard)

O domina nostra, mediatrix nostra, advocata nostra, tuo Filio nos commenda. Fac, o benedicta, per gratiam quam meruisti, ut qui te mediante dignatus est fieri particeps nostrae infirmitatis et miseriae, te quoque intercedente, participes nos faciat beatitudinis et gloriae suae. (St. Bernard)

Lovely rose, if in your mercy you already love me, grant that I may desire so great a love, that my heart may one day die for you.

O my Lady, grant me the grace that I may always love you, and at death breathe forth my soul calling upon you.

Sweet Mary, my hope; you are that happy star that to the harbor, to heaven, must guide me.

Long live Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Teresa.