ing before God! chase away with your bright beams the clouds of my sins! For ye are the twain to whom, for the merit of your most pure virginity, the only - begotten Son of God confirmed the privilege of his love while hanging on the Cross, in saying to one of you: Woman, behold thy son! and then to the other: Behold thy Mother!
Therefore, in the sweetness of so sacred a love as that by which you were then, by the Lord’s mouth, joined together as mother and son, I, a most miserable sinner, this day recommend to both of you my body and my soul; that every hour and moment of my life you may vouchsafe to be, both inwardly and outwardly, my constant guardians, and my gracious intercessors with God. Implore, for me, I beseech you, the salvation both of my body and my soul.
Cause, I beseech you, cause by your glorious prayers, that the Holy Spirit, the perfect Giver of all graces, may vouchsafe to visit my heart, and dwell in it; and so cleanse me from all filthiness of sin, so beautify and adorn me with holy virtues, as to cause me to stand perfect, and to persevere to the end in the love of God and of my neighbour; and, this life ended, to bring me to the joys of his Elect; even the same most gracious Paraclete, who, with the Father and the Son, lives and reigns world without end. Amen.
RECOMMENDATION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN.
O Holy Mary, Lady mine! I recommend myself, soul and body, to thy blessed trust and special custody, and to the bosom of thy mercy, this and every day, and at the hour of my death: I commit to thee all my hope and consolation, all my distresses and sorrows, my life and my life’s end, that by thy most holy intercession, and by thy merits, all my works may be ordered and disposed according to thy will and the Will of thy Son.
PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY FOR A HAPPY DEATH.
O most sweet Mother of Jesus! Virgin Mary, my patroness! full of the bowels of mercy, help me, a wretched sinner, before a sudden and unforeseen death overtake me; that I may not pass out of this world suddenly and unprepared. Pray for me, blessed Virgin Mary, for the most bitter Passion and Death of thy only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, that I may pass out of this world reconciled to Him, in detestation of all sin, in the renunciation of the devil and all his works, with true contrition, with sincere and humble confession, penitence, and satis-
