Words: anon., Marian antiphon, trope of the beginning of the Ave Maria
Music: Thomas Tallis (ca. 1505-1585), ca. 1540
Recording: The Byrd Ensemble, CD “Our Lady: Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks,” 2011.

Hail, rose without thorns, whom the father set on high in divine majesty and made free from all sorrow.

Mary, called the star of the sea, by your son you are made resplendent with the bright light of divinity, through which you shine with every virtue.

Full of grace the holy spirit filled you while it made you the vessel of divine goodness and total obedience.

The Lord is with you in a wondrous way, the word of life made flesh by the deed of the triune creator: Oh, how sweet a vessel of love.

Blessed are you among women: this is declared to all nations. The heavens acknowledge you to be blessed and raised high above all.

And blessed is the fruit of your womb, a gift for us always to enjoy here as an inner foretaste, and after death in perpetuity.

O merciful virgin Mary, receive into the holy refuge of your heart this perception of salvation, the grateful object of your prayers. Amen.

Back: Example 16: God is with usNext: Example 18: Sicut Cervus