" [Beata Dei
Genitrix, Maria Virgo perpetua, templum Domini, sacrarium Spiritus
Sancti, sola sine exemplo placuisti Domino nostro Jesu Christo; ora pro
populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro devoto femineo sexu.--Vern.
clxiii.]
"Holy Mary, pray for us!
Holy mother of God, pray for us!
Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us!"
In the form of prayer called Litaniae Lauretanae, between the most solemn
addresses to the ever blessed Trinity, and to the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sins of the world, are inserted more than forty
addresses to the Virgin, invoking her under as many varieties of title.
She is appealed to as--The Mirror of Justice, The Cause of our Joy, The
mystical Rose, The Tower of David, The Tower of Ivory, The House of
Gold, The Arc of the Covenant, The Gate of Heaven, The Refuge of
Sinners, The Queen of Angels, the Queen of all Saints. [Vern. ccxxxix.]
In examining the case of the invocation of saints, we placed under this
head, as the safer course, a kind of invocation which seemed to
vacillate between this appeal to them merely for intercession, and the
last consummation of all, direct prayer to them for blessings. We
exemplified it by the hymn to St. Stephen. The following seems very much
of the same character, addressed to the Virgin:--
"Hail, O Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, sweetness, and hope,
Hail! To thee we cry, banished sons {338} of Eve.
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