Thou Lily of angelic purity,
Thou Violet of sweet humility,
Thou blushing Rose of Virgin modesty,
Thou golden Blossom from the Royal Tree,
Whose Fruit, Divine and Human, grew on thee.
Conceived Immaculate, oh, thou shouldst be
The sovereign Spring of reborn purity;
The Pearl of man's new found integrity;
The eastern Gate through which God seeks to be
Admitted to our lost humanity.
Alone, alone of creatures couldst thou be
The World's Salvation; lo, the Mystery -
Him would thy word conceive, whose Word in thee
Possessed thy soul; and then, possessed with thee
That human Flesh prepared by Him in thee.
Mother of Life, of Beauty, Majesty,
Star of our morning, shining on our sea,
Mystical Heaven, bearing Divinity,
Sun-clothed and Sun-begetting - see,
Wonder of wonders, Mother of God is she.
Hail, Woman, clad in light so gloriously:
Hail, Fount pellucid from the One in Three:
Stronghold of Indefectibility:
Virgin renowned, all hail, we honour thee,
Since thou by God art honoured; praise to thee.
Best Gift of God to man - His partner she;
Best Gift of God to woman - she will be
Their Model and their Mistress. May she see
In them 'the travail of her soul' and be
In them, above all blessed, eternally.
Ye angels, sing for joy: triumphantly
Let human nature sing - yea, cheerily:
Ye devils, fear and tremble; let them flee
Before her step victorious. This is she,
The Woman, who Eve's Advocate will be.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote