Mother of Charity divine, in thee,
The first of all our race, triumphantly
Shone Love in Beauty. See, from Galilee
God-bearing, thou didst rise with haste to free
An unborn Soul from sin's malignity.
Vision unrivalled: babes unborn we see
Each knowing other: Women called to be
The mouthpiece of the gracious Trinity:
Yea, Women, bearing each a Mystery
In which lay hidden man's high destiny.
In that same hour of high mysterious glee
When the Precursor leapt his Lord to see:
And rapt Elizabeth embracing thee,
Proclaimed thee Mother of her Lord - were we
Unborn, and unbegotten, blest through thee.
Through all the ages dropping silently
Thy faith, O Mother, reacheth out: and we,
All graces and all blessings owe to thee.
Thy voice, O Mother, pleadeth tenderly,
For us thy Children. Glory be to thee.
Oh, heavenly Voice of music, made to be
A conduit of divine benignity;
An utterance of eternal charity;
O Voice, that never spake in vain, when He
Should answer make whose Manhood came from thee.
Dear Voice of Mary - Come, O Day, when we
May hearken to its music. May it be
Still uttered for our pleading: utterly,
Oh, utterly thy children hang on thee,
And seek thy gentle suffrage, pleadingly.
Magnificat; Magnificat. Ah, we
Will sing thy hymn and daily learn from thee
The lesson of thy deep humility.
From out our deep hath God exalted thee,
O Woman ever Blessed. Praise to thee.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote