Very Devout Prayers of Various Saints to the Divine Mother

The following prayers are added here not only so that they may be used, but also so that one may understand the high esteem the saints had for the power and mercy of Mary, and the great confidence they placed in her patronage.

Prayer of St. Ephrem

O Immaculate and entirely pure Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Queen of the universe, our most gracious Lady, you are superior to all the saints, the only hope of the Fathers, the joy of the saints. Through you we have been reconciled to our God. You are the only advocate of sinners, the safe harbor of the shipwrecked. You are the consolation of the world, the ransom of captives, the joy of the sick, the comfort of the afflicted, and the refuge and salvation of the whole world.

O great Princess, Mother of God, cover us with the wings of your mercy; have pity on us. No other hope is given to us but in you, O most pure Virgin. We are given to you and consecrated to your service; we bear the name of your servants. Do not permit Lucifer to drag us to hell.

O Immaculate Virgin, we are under your protection; therefore we have recourse solely to you, and we beg you to prevent your Son, angered by our sins, from abandoning us to the power of the devil.

O full of grace, enlighten my mind, loosen my tongue to sing your praises, and especially the angelic canticle so worthy of you. I greet you, O peace, O joy, O salvation and consolation of the whole world. I greet you, O greatest miracle the world has ever seen, paradise of delights, safe harbor for those in danger, fountain of graces, mediatrix between God and men.

Prayer of St. Bernard

Let us raise our eyes to you, O Queen of the world. We must appear before our Judge after so many sins; who shall appease him? There is no one who can do so better than you, O holy Lady, who loved him so much and were so tenderly loved by him. Open, then, O Mother of Mercy, the doors of your heart to our sighs and our prayers. We flee beneath your protection; appease the wrath of your Son and restore us to his grace. You do not abhor the sinner, however foul he may be; you do not despise him if he sighs for you and begs your intercession with a penitent heart. With your merciful hand you draw him from despair; you encourage him to hope, you comfort him and do not abandon him until you have reconciled him with his Judge.

You are that one and only woman in whom the Savior found his rest, and in whom he has placed without measure all his treasures. Therefore all the world, O my holy Lady, honors your chaste womb as the temple of God, in which the salvation of the world began. There the reconciliation between God and man was made.

You are the enclosed garden, O great Mother of God, into which the hand of the sinner has never entered to pluck its flower. You are the beautiful garden in which God has placed all the flowers that adorn the Church, and among them the violet of your humility, the lily of your purity, and the rose of your charity. To whom shall we compare you, O Mother of grace and beauty? You are the paradise of God. From you has sprung the fountain of living water that irrigates the whole earth. Oh, how many benefits you have brought to the world by meriting to be so salutary an aqueduct!

Of you they speak when they say: Who is she that rises like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun? (Cant. VI, 9). You came into the world, O Mary, as a resplendent dawn, preceding with the light of your holiness the coming of the Sun of justice. The day on which you appeared in the world may well be called a day of salvation, a day of grace. You are beautiful as the moon: for just as there is no planet more like the sun, so there is no creature more like God than you. The moon illuminates the night with the light it receives from the sun, and you illuminate our darkness with the splendor of your virtues; yet you are more beautiful than the moon, for in you there is neither stain nor shadow. You are chosen as the sun — I mean that Sun who created the sun: he was chosen among all men, and you were chosen among all women. O sweet, O great, O altogether lovable Mary, your name cannot be uttered by a heart without your setting it aflame with your love; nor can those who love you think of you without feeling encouraged to love you more.

O holy Lady, help our weakness. And who is more fit to speak to our Lord Jesus Christ than you, who so closely enjoy his most sweet conversation? Speak, speak, O Lady, for your Son listens to you, and you will obtain whatever you ask of him.

Prayer of St. Germanus

O my only Lady, who are the only consolation I receive from God; you who are the sole heavenly dew that gives relief to my sufferings; you who are the light of my soul when it is surrounded by darkness; you who are my guide on my journeys, my strength in my weakness, my treasure in my poverty, my remedy for my wounds, my consolation in my tears; you who are my refuge in my miseries and the hope of my salvation — hear my prayers, have pity on me, as befits the Mother of a God who has such great love for men. Grant me what I ask, you who are our defense and joy. Make me worthy to enjoy with you that great happiness you enjoy in heaven.

Yes, my Lady, my refuge, my life, my help, my defense, my strength, my joy, my hope, grant that I may come with you to paradise. I know that being the Mother of God, you can well obtain this for me, if you will. O Mary, you are all-powerful to save sinners, and you have no need of any other recommendation, for you are the Mother of the true Life.

Prayer of the Abbot of Celles, Called the Idiot

Draw me after you, O Virgin Mary, that I may run in the fragrance of your perfumes. Draw me, for I am held back by the weight of my sins and by the malice of my enemies.

As no one goes to your Son unless the heavenly Father draws him, so I dare say in a certain manner that no one goes to him unless you draw him by your holy prayers. You are the one who teaches true wisdom; you are the one who obtains grace for sinners, for you are their advocate; you are the one who promises glory to those who honor you, for you are the treasurer of graces.

You have found grace with God, O most sweet Virgin, for you were preserved from the stain of original sin, filled with the Holy Spirit, and conceived the Son of God. You received all these graces, O most humble Mary, not only for yourself but also for us, so that you might assist us in all our needs. And indeed you do so: you help the good by preserving them in grace, and the wicked by leading them back to receive the divine mercy. You assist the dying by protecting them against the snares of the devil, and you help them even after death, receiving their souls and leading them to the blessed kingdom.

Prayer of St. Methodius

Your name, O Mother of God, is full of all divine graces and blessings. You contained him who is incomprehensible and nourished him who nourishes all things. He who fills heaven and earth and is Lord of all chose to have need of you, for you gave him that garment of flesh which he did not have before. Rejoice, O Mother and handmaid of God. Rejoice, rejoice — you have as your debtor him who gives being to all creatures; we are all debtors to God, but God is debtor to you. Therefore, O most holy Mother of God, you possess greater goodness and greater charity than all the other saints, and more than all of them you have access to God in heaven, since you are his Mother. We beseech you, who celebrate your glories and know how great is your goodness, to remember us and our miseries.

Prayer of St. John Damascene

I greet you, O Mary; you are the hope of Christians. Receive the petition of a sinner who tenderly loves you, especially honors you, and places in you all the hope of his salvation. From you I hold my life. You restore me to the grace of your Son; you are the sure pledge of my salvation. I beseech you, therefore, to free me from the burden of my sins; destroy the darkness of my mind, drive earthly affections from my heart, suppress the temptations of my enemies, and so govern my life that I may reach, through your help and under your guidance, the eternal happiness of paradise.

Prayer of St. Andrew of Crete

I greet you, O full of grace, the Lord is with you. I greet you, O instrument of our joy, through whom the sentence of our condemnation has already been revoked and changed into a judgment of blessing. I greet you, O temple of the glory of God, sacred dwelling of the King of heaven. You are the reconciliation of God with men. I greet you, O Mother of our joy. Truly you are blessed, for you alone among all women were found worthy to be the Mother of your Creator. All nations call you blessed.

O Mary, if I place my confidence in you, I shall be saved; if I am under your protection, I have nothing to fear, for to be your devotee is to possess sure weapons of salvation, which God grants only to those he wishes to save.

O Mother of Mercy, appease your Son. While you were on earth, you occupied but a small portion of it; but now that you are raised above the highest heavens, the whole world regards you as the common place of propitiation for all peoples. We beseech you, then, O holy Virgin, to grant us the help of your prayers before God — prayers more dear and precious to us than all the treasures of the earth; prayers that render God favorable to our sins and obtain for us a great abundance of graces to receive pardon and practice virtue; prayers that halt the enemies, confound their designs, and triumph over their attacks.

Prayer of St. Ildephonsus

I come to you, O Mother of God; I beg you to obtain for me the pardon of my sins and to order that I be purified from all the faults of my life. I pray you to grant me the grace of uniting myself in love to your Son and to you: to your Son as my God, and to you as the Mother of my God.

Prayer of St. Athanasius

Hear, O most holy Virgin, our prayers, and remember us. Dispense to us the gifts of your riches and the abundance of graces with which you are filled. The Archangel greets you and calls you full of grace; all nations call you blessed; all the hierarchies of heaven bless you; and we, who are of the earthly hierarchy, also say to you: Hail, O full of grace, the Lord is with you. Pray for us, O Mother of God, our Lady and our Queen.

Prayer of St. Anselm

We pray you, O most holy Lady, by that grace by which God so exalted you and made all things possible for you together with him, to obtain for us that the fullness of grace you have merited may work in us so that we may one day share in your glory. Strive, O most merciful Lady, to procure for us the good for which God was pleased to become man in your chaste womb. Do not be reluctant to hear us; if you deign to pray to your Son, he will immediately hear you. It suffices that you will our salvation, and then we cannot fail to be saved. But who can limit the depths of your mercy? If you who are the Mother of Mercy have no compassion on us, what shall become of us when your Son comes to judge us?

Help us, then, O most merciful Lady, without regard to the multitude of our sins. Reflect and consider that our Creator took human flesh from you not to condemn sinners but to save them. If you had been made Mother of God solely for your own advantage, it might be said that you care little whether we are saved or lost; but God clothed himself in your flesh for your salvation and for that of all mankind. What good will it do us that you are so powerful and so glorious if you do not make us sharers of your happiness? Help us and protect us: you know how great is our need of your assistance. We commend ourselves to you: grant that we may not be damned, but that we may serve and love eternally your Son Jesus Christ.

Prayer of St. Peter Damian

Holy Virgin Mother of God, help those who implore your assistance. Turn to us. Have you perhaps forgotten mankind because you have been deified? Ah, certainly not.

You well know the dangers in which you left us, and the miserable state of your servants; no, it does not befit a mercy so great as yours to forget a misery so great as ours. Turn to us with your power, for he who is mighty has given you omnipotence in heaven and on earth. Nothing is impossible for you, since you can raise even the desperate to hope of salvation. The more powerful you are, the more merciful you must be.

Turn to us also out of love. I know, my Lady, that you are all kindness and that you love us with a love that no other love can surpass. How many times you appease the wrath of our Judge when he is about to punish us! All the treasures of God's mercies are in your hands. Ah, let it never happen that you cease to bestow blessings upon us, you who seek nothing but the occasion to save all the wretched and to pour out your mercy upon them; since your glory is increased when through you the penitent are pardoned and the pardoned reach paradise. Turn, then, to us, that we may come to see you in heaven; for the greatest glory we can have, after seeing God, is to see you, to love you, and to be under your protection. Hear us, then, for your Son wills to honor you by refusing you nothing of what you ask of him.

Prayer of St. William, Bishop of Paris

O Mother of God, I have recourse to you, and I challenge you not to reject me, since the whole Church of the faithful calls you and proclaims you the Mother of Mercy. You are the one who, being so dear to God, are always heard; your compassion has never failed anyone; your most gracious kindness has never despised any sinner, however great, who commended himself to you. And does the whole Church perhaps falsely or in vain call you its advocate and the refuge of the wretched? Let it never be that my sins can prevent you from fulfilling the great office of mercy that is yours, by which you are the advocate and the mediatrix of peace, the only hope and the most secure refuge of the wretched. Let it never be that the Mother of God, who for the benefit of the whole world brought forth the fountain of mercy, should then deny her compassion to any miserable one who has recourse to her. Your office is to place yourself as mediatrix between God and men; let your great mercy, then, move you to help me, for it is immeasurably greater than all my sins.

Daily Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Most holy Immaculate Virgin and my Mother Mary, to you who are the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the world, the advocate, the hope, and the refuge of sinners, I have recourse today, I who am the most wretched of all. I adore you, O great Queen, and I thank you for all the graces you have bestowed on me until now, especially for having delivered me from hell, which I have so often deserved. I love you, O most lovable Lady, and out of the love I bear you, I promise to serve you always and to do all I can so that you may also be loved by others. I place in you all my hopes, all my salvation; accept me as your servant, and receive me under your mantle, O Mother of Mercy. And since you are so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or rather obtain for me the strength to overcome them until death. Of you I ask a true love for Jesus Christ; from you I hope for the grace of a good death. My Mother, by the love you bear to God, I beg you to help me always, but especially in the last moments of my life. Do not leave me until you see me already safe in heaven, blessing you and singing your mercies for all eternity. Amen. So I hope, so may it be.

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END OF THE FIRST PART