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26

HYMNS

APPROPRIATE TO THE

Feasts of Particular Saints.

16. Hail, holy Joseph, hail!

(St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, March 19th.)

HAIL, holy Joseph, hail!
Chaste spouse of Mary, hail!
Pure as the lily flower

In Eden's peaceful vale.

Hail, holy Joseph, hail!
Prince of the house of God!
May his best graces be
By thy sweet hands bestow'd.

Hail, holy Joseph, hail!

Belov'd of angels, hail!

Cheer thou the hearts that faint,
And guide the steps that fail.

Hail, holy Joseph, hail!

God's choice wert thou alone;
To thee the Word made flesh
Was subject as a Son.

O Christ's dear Mother, bless;
And bless, ye Saints on high,
All meek and simple souls
That to Saint Joseph cry.

17. Feast of the Annunciation of the B. V. Mary.

(March 25th.)

WHAT mortal tongue can sing thy praise, Dear Mother of the Lord?

To angels only it belongs,

Thy glory to record.

Say, Mary, what sweet force was that

Which from the Father's breast Drew forth his co-eternal Son,

To be thy bosom's guest?

'Twas not thy guileless faith alone
That lifted thee so high;
'Twas not thy pure seraphic love,
Or peerless chastity.

But oh! it was thy lowliness,
Well pleasing to the Lord,
That made thee worthy to become
The mother of the Word.

O loftiest, whose humility
So sweet it was to see,
That God, forgetful of himself,
Abased himself to thee.

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DEAR Saint, who on thy natal day
To Mary's tender care was given,
And did beneath her gentle sway
Almost unsinning pass to heav'n :
Sweet flower which lov'd to bloom unknown,
A Saint 'mid worldly pomp and pride;
Who at the footstep of a throne

Knew nought but Jesus crucified:
Blest youth, who cast a crown away,
To be with Christ despis'd and poor;
Teach us to walk our humble way,
Content, though little be our store.

May no repining fill our breast
Amid the ills of poverty;

Oh, make us feel that we are blest,

To be thus poor with Christ and thee!

Teach us like thee to shrink from sin,
Like thee to love sweet purity;

That we from Mary's heart may win
The love she once bestow'd on thee.

Thus safe beneath her gentle sway,
Oh, may the grace to us be giv'n,
To pass from earth some happy day,
And join thee in the courts of heav'n.

19. St. Anne, Mother of the B. V. Mary.

(July 26th.)

SPOTLESS Anna, Juda's glory,

Through the Church from east to west Every tongue proclaims thy praises, Holy Mary's mother blest!

Saintly kings and priestly sires
Blended in thy sacred line;
Thou in virtue all before thee
Didst excel by grace divine.
Link'd in bonds of purest wedlock,
Thine it was for us to bear,
By the favour of high heaven,
Our immortal Virgin star.

From thy stem in beauty budded
Ancient Jesse's mystic rod;
Earth from thee received the mother
Of the eternal Son of God.

All the human race benighted
In the depths of darkness lay,
When in Anne it saw the dawning
Of the long-expected day.

20. Feast of the Assumption of the B. V. Mary.

(August 15.)

SEE, to God's high temple above
Mounts, amid angel hymns of love,
The mystical ark of grace

See aloft on victory's throne,
Blended in glory both Mother and Son,
In one eternal embrace!

All the sorrows her bosom bore,
All her pains and afflictions sore,
At length supremely repaid;—
There she reigns on the cloudless height,
Only less than the Lord of light,
In hues immortal arrayed.

There she lives as a fount of grace,
Ever flowing for Adam's race,
And still for ever to flow;
There, while ages on ages run,
Sweetly, sweetly, she pleads with her Son
For us her children below.

Lady, than all the heavens more high,
More than seraph in purity,
A glance of pity incline!

Teach us to feel, teach us to know,
Teach us in life and death to shew

What treasures of grace are thine.

21. The holy Angel Guardian.

(October 2d.)

KIND Angel guardian, thanks to thee
For thy so watchful care of me;
Oh, lead me still in ways of truth,
Dear guide of childhood and of youth.
Kind Angel guardian, let my tears
Implore thee too for riper years;
Oh, keep me safe in wisdom's way,
And bring me back if I should stray.

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