Consecration to Our Lady Queen of the Angels - Fifth Anniversary

Particularly at this time, it is wise to redouble one’s prayers and consecrate oneself to Our Lady, as the Queen of Angels Latin Mass Community of the Archdiocese of Hobart first did five years ago; for convenience, here are some suitable forms to employ:

Aña. Ave, Regina cælorum, 

Ave, Domina Angelorum:

Salve, radix, salve, porta,

Ex qua mundo lux est orta:

Gaude, Virgo gloriosa,

Super omnes speciosa,

Vale, o valde decora,

Et pro nobis Christum exora.

V. Ave María, Regína Angelórum.

R. Ora pro nobis servis tuis.

Orémus.

Oratio. Supplicatiónem servórum tuórum, Deus miserátor, exáudi: ut qui in Communitáte Regínæ Angelórum congregámur, ejus intercessiónibus, a te de instántibus perículis eruámur. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. R. Amen.

 

(Ant. Hail, O Queen of Heaven enthroned,

Hail, by angels mistress owned,

Root of Jesse, Gate of Morn

Whence the world's true light was born:

Glorious Virgin, joy to thee,

Loveliest whom in heaven they see;

Fairest thou, where all are fair,

Plead with Christ our souls to spare.

(V. Hail Mary, Queen of the Angels.

(R. Pray for us thy servants.

(Let us pray.

(Collect. Graciously hear the supplication of thy servants, O merciful God, that we, who are gathered in the Community of the Queen of the Angels, may, at her intercession, by thee be delivered from threatening dangers. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.)

 

Consecration to Our Lady, Queen of Angels.

Holy Virgin, Sovereign of the heavenly hierarchies, who by the august title of Mother of God have been raised to the dignity of Queen of Angels, we unite ourselves today to those blessed spirits to render to you our duty and our profound homage; we come to consecrate ourselves forever to your service. We already belong, it is true, to your beloved Congregation; however, permit us to declare loudly, O Mary, that we are and will always be your children. Immaculate Virgin, who have never been invoked in vain, show that you are truly our mother; we beseech you, show to us, especially during these rejoicings, that we are passing through the midst of a corrupt world that will strive to deceive us; show the enemies of our salvation that you are more powerful to save us than they are to destroy us; govern us by the good offices of our celestial Guardians. We must fight the infernal legions, an evil and seductive world, and especially our passions and evil inclinations; who will defend us against such formidable enemies if you do not come to our rescue? You are terrible as an army in battle array: it is for you to support us in these battles. O Mary, bright star of the sea, guide us in the midst of this stormy sea, so full of pitfalls that many of the virtuous have been wrecked! You are beautiful as the lily among thorns: preserve us in an inviolable purity in the midst of universal corruption. We entrust to you the precious deposit of our innocence, which will be safer in your hands, O Virgin of virgins, whose purity exceeds that of the same Angels. O Mother most amiable, enlarge your heart, open to us a refuge against the fury and dangerous seductions of the infernal dragon whose head you crushed. You are all powerful with the Almighty: gain for us, we beseech you, all relief that we need to overcome the devil, the world and ourselves. Finally, obtain for us the grace to lead an angelic life, that we may deserve to be assisted and strengthened at the hour of death, by you and by our holy angels, and be rewarded in heaven. Amen.

Consecration to Our Lady Queen of Angels

The Latin Mass Community of the Archdiocese of Hobart was this day consecrated to its newly-chosen Patroness, Our Lady, Queen of Angels. After the usual Sunday morning Mass in Hobart, and after this evening's second-Sunday-of-the-month Missa cantata in Launceston, one and all recited the Act of Consecration, entrusting the whole Community, and each member thereof, to her maternal care.

This evening, during the Last Gospel, the choir sang the Ave Regina cælorum (using the Dominican version); after that came the following versicle, collect and the Act of Consecration itself, followed by the recessional hymn, "Help of Christians, guard this land":

V. Ave María, Regína Angelórum.

R. Ora pro nobis servis tuis. 

Orémus. 

Supplicatiónem servórum tuórum, Deus miserátor, exáudi: ut qui in Communitáte Regínæ Angelórum congregámur, ejus intercessiónibus, a te de instántibus perículis eruámur. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. R. Amen. 

Holy Virgin, Sovereign of the heavenly hierarchies, who by the august title of Mother of God have been raised to the dignity of Queen of Angels, we unite ourselves today to those blessed spirits to render to you our duty and our profound homage; we come to consecrate ourselves forever to your service. We already belong, it is true, to your beloved Congregation; however, permit us to declare loudly, O Mary, that we are and will always be your children. Immaculate Virgin, who have never been invoked in vain, show that you are truly our mother; we beseech you, show to us, especially during these rejoicings, that we are passing through the midst of a corrupt world that will strive to deceive us; show the enemies of our salvation that you are more powerful to save us than they are to destroy us; govern us by the good offices of our Celestial Guardians. We must fight the infernal legions, an evil and seductive world, and especially our passions and evil inclinations; who will defend us against such formidable enemies if you do not come to our rescue? You are terrible as an army in battle array: it is for you to support us in these battles. O Mary, bright star of the sea, guide us in the midst of this stormy sea, so full of pitfalls that many of the virtuous have been wrecked! You are beautiful as the lily among thorns: preserve us in an inviolable purity in the midst of universal corruption. We entrust to you the precious deposit of our innocence, which will be safer in your hands, O Virgin of virgins, whose purity exceeds that of the same Angels. O Mother most amiable, enlarge your heart, open to us a refuge against the fury and dangerous seductions of the infernal dragon whose head you crushed. You are all powerful with the Almighty: gain for us, we beseech you, all relief that we need to overcome the devil, the world and ourselves. Finally, obtain for us the grace to lead an angelic life, that we may deserve to be assisted and strengthened at the hour of death, by you and by our holy angels, and be rewarded in heaven. Amen.

Dominican Ave Regina cælorum

It seems almost forgotten by the Dominicans themselves that, down to the sixteenth century, the Salve Regina was not sung daily at Compline – instead, it alternated with another Marian anthem, a variant of the Ave regina cælorum with text and music proper to the Order.

When in past years I lived in Melbourne, I could freely go to the reference section of the excellent Dominican Studium library there, and consult a facsimile copy of the Poissy Antiphonal or Antiphoner, originally written for a convent of Dominican nuns in 13th century France.

Once, I even went to the rare books room of the Melbourne State Library, having gained access as part of my theological studies (embarrassingly, the only unit I ever failed was that concerned with sacred music!), and with gloved hands turned the pages of the actual volume, surely one of the greatest mediæval treasures held in Australia.

The Poissy Antiphonal's beautifully clear and legible chants and blackletter text bear witness to the astonishing stability of the Dominican repetoire: the music for antiphon after antiphon is note for note the same as that still sung in St Dominic's Church only a short walk away down the other end of the Priory.

It always thrilled me to hear the Dominican Ave Regina cælorum chanted there – the friars having taken advantage of the modern relaxation of their rubrics to compile and use ad libitum a booklet of a good selection of Marian anthems (plus ones to Holy Father Dominic), including this ancient chant, once so popular but then utterly trumped by the Salve.

Herewith, the music of this anthem from the Poissy Antiphonal (apologies for the poor resolution – the stave and square notes are legible enough, but to make out the text, compare with my transcription immediately below:

Ave regina celorum ave domina angelorum salve radix sancta ex qua mundo lux e[s]t orta gaude gloriosa super omnes speciosa vale valde decora et pro nobis semper christum exora.

Sing it through, the music is marvellous and moving!  The repeated runs of ascending then descending neums, as on celorum, est or(ta), speciosa, pro nobis, exora give a wonderful quality to this anthem.  (Compare it with the Premonstratensian chant for the solemn Ave Regina – the Norbertines use the Roman words, but it seems the melody is closer to the Dominican.)

I suspect the Dominican recension of this anthem is older as regards its text than the Roman (Dominican-only words are underlined, Roman only are struck through):

Ave, Regina cælorum,

Ave, Domina Angelorum:

Salve, radix sancta, salve porta,

Ex qua mundo lux est orta:

Gaude, Virgo gloriosa,

Super omnes speciosa,

Vale, O valde decora,

Et pro nobis semper Christum exora.

It may be seen that the Roman version has added several elements to smooth out the text and make it more metrical.  It is most unlikely that the Dominicans omitted the holy epithet Virgo – far more probably the Roman version had this word added to it.

(In like manner, the Carthusians alone retain the original text of the Salve - which began Salve Regina misericordiæ, and ended O dulcis Maria: the words Mater and Virgo were added later, research has proved.  The Poissy Antiphonal gives the Salve directly before the Ave Regina, and sure enough the words Mater and Virgo are also not yet found there.)

Interestingly, this version of the Ave Regina (but for ending Christum semper exora, having transposed two words) appears as the Nunc dimittis anthem for Compline of the Office of Our Lady on Saturday in the 1719 Breviary of Cologne.

Apparently the Ave Regina first appears in the 12th century as an antiphon for None on the feast of Our Lady's Assumption into heaven: hence word in the second last line, Vale – Goodbye!  

It is as it were the faithful people's last salutation of the Holy Virgin Mother ere she depart, caught up on high to abide with Christ for ever as a most faithful intercessor with Him her Only Son for all her spiritual children vouchsafed her by Him from the Cross.

A right devout and holy hymn to sing ever to the loving Mother of the Redeemer.

Ave Regina Cælorum - II

I have previously posted on the Marian anthem Ave Regina cælorum, which is the Church's song after Compline each day from yesterday, Candlemas, until Wednesday in Holy Week inclusive - that is, from the 2nd of February until the 8th of April, or for 66 days this year.  To-day I was again thinking on it, and on the meaning of its words.  

At first glance, the anthem itself  - originally sung on the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, body and soul, hence its penultimate line Vale, O valde decora (Goodbye, O Thou so beautiful) - is not so obviously connected to its versicle and collect: but this is not so.  In the collect, we refer to ourselves, we who keep the memory of the Holy Mother of God (qui sanctæ Dei Genetricis memoriam agimus), which we have just done if we have sung the versicle Dignare me laudare te Virgo sacrata (Vouchsafe me to praise thee, sacred Virgin), and before it have praised her as the Mother of God, the gate whence dawned the true Light, as the Virgin all glorious and above all others beautiful, because Immaculate and never stained with sin, as the assumpted Queen and Lady of heaven and of the angels.  

And after thus saluting her, hailing her, congratulating her on her joy, we beg that she pray Christ her Son for us; in the response to the versicle, we one and ask that she give us strength against her foes (Da mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos); most of all, in the Collect we ask that by the help of her intercession (intercessionis ejus auxilio) we may rise again from our iniquities (a nostris iniquitatibus resurgamus)  - and this we ask of our merciful God (misericors Deus), Who predestinated the Blessed Virgin from all eternity to be the Mother of His Son, with all that entails for our happy estate, and all this we ask through that same Christ our Lord, Who is our Mediator with the Father.

******

I have decided to pray the Angelus with a special added intention - that of corporate reunion of the Traditional Anglican Communion with the Holy See, that is, with Christ's Vicar and all Catholic Christendom.  To this end, at its end I add, "Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us, ut unum sint."

Ave Regina Cælorum - II

Here is a link to a previous posting about the Marian anthem Ave Regina cælorum, which was originally composed for the feast of the Assumption - hence this notice.

Ave Regina Cælorum

One delight of Lent, and from before Septuagesimatide since Candlemas, is the seasonal Marian anthem, Ave Regina cælorum, together with its ancillary versicle and collect. Here is its later, simple form:

(Hail, Queen of the Heavens!
Hail, Lady of the Angels!
Hail, Source, hail, Portal,
From whom to the world the Light hath risen!
Rejoice, Virgin glorious,
beautiful above all!
Farewell*, O truly lovely,
and for us graciously pray Christ.)

[*It appears that this anthem was first sung in the Office as an antiphon on the Feast of the Assumption, saluting Our Lady as the Virgo Assumpta, bright as the sun, fair as the dawn, passing beyond this mortal coil to live and reign forever with Christ. But it hymns her regarding her whole central role in the economy of salvation, making possible the saving Incarnation. She alone it was who has brought forth Emmanuel, God and Man, the one true Light to this darkened world. She is the branch of royal David's stem, whereon the Flower of salvation has blossomed, as Isaias sings. She is the unsealed fountain, the Garden enclosed, the royal portal through which only the chosen Prince may pass, without dishonour to her integrity, as Ezechiel in figures prophesied. She is the gate through which has passed He Who is the only Gate and Door to heaven. Therefore is she highly magnified! Truly God has cast the mighty from their seats, as when Satan was thrown down into hell after rebelling in the proud thought of his corrupted heart, and likewise He has raised up the lowly, exalting his Handmaid to Queen of all under God. May she pray for us!]

Indeed, the customary appended versicle of this fine song is close to my heart, seeing as I say it as part of my prayers upon arising (together with its elder brother, Dignare Domine die isto, sine peccato nos custodire, on which I blogged much earlier):

Dignare me laudare te, Virgo sacrata - Da mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos.

(Deign me to praise thee, sacred Virgin - Give me strength against thine enemies.)

It has always interested me to note that one prays not for strength against one's own foes, but against those of the Immaculate: for those who are foes to her are truly foes to us her children, whereas those we regard as our own enemies may not rightly be so.

The collect, too, is instructive and edifying, and rightly asks - for is it not the pure exclamation of our wise Mother the Church? - for what God our Lord desires to grant:

Concede, misericors Deus, fragilitati nostræ præsidium: ut qui sanctæ Dei Genetricis memoriam agimus, intercessionis ejus auxilio, a nostris iniquitatibus resurgamus. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. R/. Amen.

(Grant, merciful God, protection to our frailty: that we who keep the memory of the Holy Mother of God may rise again from our iniquities by the help of her intercession. Through the same Christ our Lord. R/. Amen.)

Here, from Edinburgh, is a vision of the anthem, versicle and collect being sung at the end of Mass, beginning during the reading of the Last Gospel (hence the genuflection) - here in W.A., we follow the contrary Australian custom, and listen to the Last Gospel read aloud, even at sung Mass, refraining from any music or singing:



Truly we pray aright when we invoke God the Father of mercies, praying that commemorating the all-holy, pure, spotless Theotokos, we may be raised up at her maternal, perpetual, and indeed universal intercession with the One Mediator, her Son the Lord Christ. Thus she is truly the Mediatrix of All Graces - for did God not give the world his Son, the Source of All Grace, only through her? - and how then shall we deny the much lesser truth that God, who delights to answer all prayers, would not ever grant her prayers for all, or, better, make use of her as his elect vessel and wholly-graced and inspired Handmaid (cf. Sr Luke i, 28. 38), distributing the graces of the redemption her beloved Son and His won for us, seeing as she is testified to by Scripture as blessed by all generations (St Luke i, 48), and truly so, as the Mother of Our Lord, ever holy because ever obedient, as firm in her Fiat as (excuse the comparison) the Dark One in his Non serviam? For she is ever opposed to the infernal serpent, whom by God's power triumphant in her she grinds under foot: so by her aid may we ask of God, as St Paul also interceded (and still intercedes): "Beat down Satan under our feet" (cf. Romans xvi, 20). Thus may Christ triumph in us his sinful members when by his grace we return from death to life, from sin's slavery to Christian liberty: "for freedom Christ has set us free" (Galatians iv, 31).

The Dominicans have an especially pleasant variant text and tune for this hymn to Our Lady, which on a time I have sung with them many a time.

"I'll sing a hymn to Mary, the Mother of my God..."