CONCEPTION TIDE. 343 



DEC. 8. CONCEPTION of Our Lady. 

 St. Romarie, abbot, a.d. 653. 



Junoni Jugali sive Zygiae. — Rom. Cal. 



' Obs. This (lay is a solemn festival held by the Church in commemoration of the rai- 

 taculous conception of the Immaculate Holy and Blessed Virgrin Motlier of God ; and is, 

 as Butler assures us, the joyful dawning of the bright day of mercy refulgent in the 

 birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The conquest of Christianity over sin is emblematically 

 represented, in many statues of the immaculate conception, by the Virgin ^tanding 

 triumphant on the globe of the world, and crushing the head of the serpent recoiling 

 round it. The religious consequences of this sacred mystery are universally known to 

 Christians. Schlegel, in his Dramatic Literature, has given us some curious observa- 

 tions on the change it likewise produced in the literature of Europe, and the manners 

 and morality of the people. See Butler, xii. 159. 



In the feast of the conception of the immaculate Virgin, adds Butler, we celebrate 

 the joyful dawning of that bright day of mercy, the first appearance which that most 

 glorious of all pure creatures made in the world, with those hrst seeds of grace which 

 produced tlie most admirable fruit in her soul. Her conception was in itselT a glorious 

 mystery, a great grace, and the first effect of her predestination. Tlie fall of our first 

 father Adam involved all mankind in guilt and misery excepting Mary, the most holy 

 amongst the saints. All received their existence in sin ; they were all obliged to say 

 with St. Paul, We are the children of wrath even as the rest; the grace which exempted 

 Mary from original sin preserved her also from the sting of concupiscence, or inordi- 

 nate love of creatures and tendency to evil. 



The following is an old Portuguese prayer used today :— Omnipotente e eterne Deos 

 que por obra do Espirito Santo formastes o corpo e alma du gloriosa Virgen Maria para 

 digne morado do vosso fillio, concede nos por intercisso da mesma senhora cuja memoni 

 celebramos, nos livreis dos males presenta e da morte eterna, Pelo J. C. &c. 



Arbor Vitae Thuja occidentalis fr. 



In the Floral Directory this shrub is dedicated by name to the Miraculous Conception, 

 which holy mystery is, as it were, the arhor vile of our eternal existence. 



We shall finish the day with another specimen of the early hymns to the Virgin, in 

 the Italian : 



Jrino alia Nostra Signora. 



Salve del cieio Sovrana 

 Alba Stella matatina ' 

 Degli Augeli Regina 

 Fonte del Divin' amor. 



Salve delle grazic plena 

 Fra le donue ben stimata 

 Sposa figlivola nata 

 Madre vera del Signer. 



Solagio de' peccadori 

 Dei smariti Cynosura, 

 Lume chiaro Luce pura 

 E perfetta Carita. 

 Palma della Patienza 

 Suave Cassia odorata 

 Cedro dolce pura amata 

 Doll' eterna Castita. 

 11 serpente gia calcala 

 Sotto Vostri pie, dolente 

 Nella festa serbe sempre 

 L'alta impegna di belta. 



O Maria, per me ora 

 AUegra la mia sorte 

 E nell' ora della morte 

 Fa moriri en fedelta. 



