Gentle Mother: March 2013

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us. And after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

French prayer card circa. 1840. Front : “Here is your Mother. Show us that you are our Mother” Back : "Prayer to the Virgin, prized by Claude Bernard, a.k.a. the Poor Priest, who said it was responsible for all the favors he received from Heaven."

Note: I read the prayer that followed and realized the wording was almost identical to the Memorare. Confused by the attribution, I did some searching and discovered that the Memorare was first popularized by Fr. Claude Bernard, a.k.a. the Poor Priest(1588-1641) and that most likely attribution to St. Bernard of Clairvaux has been a case of mistaken identity. This little card would seem to support that history.

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