The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception

℣ O Lady, make speed to befriend me.
℟ From the hands of the enemy mightily defend me.
℣ Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.
℟ Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum.—Amen.

Allelúia.
From Septuagesima to Easter, instead of Alleluia, is said:
Laus tibi, Dómine, Rex ætérnæ glóriæ.

Psalm 128

My enemies have often troubled me from my youth up: deliver me, O Lady, and vindicate my cause from them. Give them not power over my soul: keep my interior and my exterior. Obtain for us pardon for our sins: let it be given to us by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Make us do penance worthily and praiseworthily: that we may come to God by a blessed end. Show us then with a gracious and serene countenance: the glorious fruit of thy womb.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

Hymn

Hail, Mother most pure!
Hail, Virgin renown'd!
Hail, Queen with the stars
As a diadem crowned.
Above all the Angels
In glory untold,
Standing next to the King
In a vesture of gold!
O Mother of Mercy!
O star of the wave!
O hope of the guilty!
O light of the grave!
Through thee may we come
To the haven of rest;
And see heaven's King
In the courts of the blest!
Amen.

℣ Thy name, O Mary, is as oil poured out.
℟ Thy servants have loved thee exceedingly
℣ Dómina, exáudi oratiónem meam.
℟ Et clamor meus ad te véniat.

Let Us Pray.
Holy Mary, Queen of heaven, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Mistress of the world, who forsakest no one, and despisest no one; look upon me, O Lady, with an eye of pity, and entreat for me, of thy beloved Son, the forgiveness of all my sins; that as I now celebrate with devout affection thy holy and Immaculate Conception, so, hereafter, I may receive the prize of eternal blessedness, by the grace of Him whom thou, in virginity, didst bring forth, Jesus Christ our Lord; Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, in perfect Trinity, God, world without end.—Amen.

℣ Dómina, exáudi oratiónem meam.
℟ Et clamor meus ad te véniat.
℣ Benedicámus Dómino.
℟ Deo grátias.
℣ Fidélium ánimæ per misericórdiam Dei requiéscant in pace.
℟ Amen.

THE COMMENDATION.

These praises and prayers
I lay at thy feet,
O Virgin of Virgins!
O Mary most sweet!
Be thou my true guide
Through this pilgrimage here;
And stand by my side
When death draweth near.

℟ Thanks be to God.

Ant. This is the rod, wherein was neither the knot of original sin, nor the bark of actual sin.

℣ In thy Conception, O Virgin, thou wast immaculate.

℟ Pray for us to the Father, whose Son thou didst bear.

Let Us Pray
O God, Why by the Immaculate Conception of a Virgin didst make ready a meet dwelling for Thy Son, we beseech

Thee that Thou, who, foreseeing the death of that same Son of Thine, didst keep her free from all stain, mayest suffer us also, with clean hearts through her pleading, to come unto Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord.

℟ Amen.