Our Morning Offering – 12 September – Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary
Mother Mary, Queen Most Sweet!
Attrib. to St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor
Italian Hymn
Trans. Fr Edmund Vaughan CSSR (1827-1908)
Mother Mary, Queen most sweet!
Joy and love my heart inflame;
Gladly shall my lips repeat
Every moment thy dear name.
Ah! that name, to God so dear,
Has my heart and soul enslaved;
Like a seal it shall appear
Deep on heart and soul engraved.
When the morning gilds the skies,
I will call on Mary’s name;
When at evening twilight dies,
Mary, still will I exclaim.
Sweetest Mary, bend thine ear:
Thou my own dear mother art;
Therefore, shall thy name so dear
Never from my lips depart.
If my soul is sore oppress’d
By a load of anxious care,
Peace once more will fill my breast
When thy name re-echoes there.
Waves of doubt disturb my peace,
And my heart is faint with fear;
At thy name the billows cease,
All my’terrors disappear.
When the demon hosts invade,—
When temptation rages high,
Crying, “Mary, Mother! aid!”
I will make the tempter fly.
This shall be my comfort sweet,
When the hand of death is nigh,
Mary! Mary! to repeat
Once again—and then, to die.
This Hymn is an Anonymous Hymn belonging to the Redemptorist tradition but Hymnary.org attributes it to St Alphonsus Liguori.
“Hymns and Verses on Spiritual Subjects” (1863) notes that this is one of two Hymns, translated in that book, mentioned above, which come from a Neapolitan published collection of Mission Hymns which are attributed to St Alphonsus.
AnaStpaul 