[Rank]
De V die Infra Octavam Immaculatae Concept. Beatae Mariae Virginis;;Semiduplex;;2.5;;vide Sancti/12-08

[Rule]
vide Sancti/12-08;
9 lectiones;

[Lectio4]
!From the Dogmatic Bull of Pope Pius IX. 
The language used in public worship is~
the necessary offspring of the teaching which it expresseth, and the former can~
have no safety unless the latter be settled. Wherefore Our Predecessors the~
Roman Pontiffs, while encouraging the pious love of the faithful for the~
Conception of the Blessed Virgin, have taken care ceaselessly to inculcate the~
sinlessness of the same. They have always particularly insisted that the Feast~
should be observed not in honour of Mary's sanctification, a false opinion, most~
foreign to the mind of the Church (but which hath nevertheless been maintained~
by some,) but in honour of her Conception itself.

[Lectio5]
The same Our Predecessors have likewise resisted the dreams of those who have~
imagined that in the sinless Conception there were Two Instants, and that the~
Church celebrateth the Second and not the First. Indeed, Our said Predecessors~
have considered the sinlessness of the First Instant to be as much a truth for~
their assertion, protection, and promulgation, as the sinlessness of the~
Conception at all. Hence came those words in which Our Predecessor Alexander~
VII. in a decree declareth the mind of the Church, and saith, Christ's faithful~
people, drawn by love to His most blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, have of a~
long time believed that God, at the very First Instant in which He made her soul~
and joined it to her body, by a special grace and privilege granted to her,~
through the merits of His dear Son, Christ JESUS, the Saviour of the world,~
Whose precious death He foreknew, cleansed her from all sin, original as well as~
actual; and it is in this belief, and no other, that the said faithful of Christ~
have always kept with devotion and joy

[Lectio6]
It hath always been one of the most weighty cares of Our said Predecessors the~
Roman Pontiffs to protect the doctrine of the sinlessness of Mary's Conception~
from any sort of attack or corruption. Not only have they suffered no one to~
condemn and traduce it, but they have gone much further, and in public and~
repeated declarations have averred That that doctrine which holdeth that the~
Virgin was conceived without sin is a doctrine, the arguments in support of~
which are strong enough to enable the the time of public worship, which is~
ancient, which is almost universal, which is one of those which the Church of~
Rome encourageth and protecteth, and which is worthy even to be expressed in the~
Liturgy itself, and in the most solemn prayers of the Church. Our said~
Predecessors did not stop even here, but in order to preserve the doctrine of~
the Virgin's sinless Conception from an injury they strictly forbade that the~
opposite opinion should be maintained either in publie or in private, to the end~
that it might at length die out under disapprobation.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke
!Luke 1:26-28
At that time the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Tarasius, Patriarch (of Constantinople.)
!On the Presentation of the Mother of God.
O Mary, where shall I find words to praise thee? Maiden undefiled, virgin~
unstained, exaltation of women, glory of daughters! Holy Maiden Mother, blessed~
art thou among women, thy glory is in thy guilelessness, and thy name is a name~
of purity. In thee the curse of Adam is done away, and the debt of Eve paid.~
Thou art the clean offering of Abel, chosen out of the firstlings profession~
thereof to be made at of the flock, a pure sacrifice. Thou art the hope of~
Enoch, that firm hope that he had in God, and was not ashamed. Thou art the~
grace that was in Enoch in this life, and his transit to a better. Thou art~
the Holy Ark of Noah, and the bond of reconciliation with God in a new~
regeneration. Thou art the exceeding glory of the kingdom and Priesthood of~
Melchisedech. Thou art the unshaken trust of Abraham, and his faith in the~
promise of children that were to-be. Thou art the renewed oblation and the~
reasonable burntoffering of Isaac. Thou art the ladder that Jacob saw going up~
to heaven, and the most noble of all his children throughout the twelve tribes~
of Israel. According to the flesh thou art the daughter of Judah. Thou art the~
modesty of Joseph, and the overthrow of the old Egypt, yea, and of the Synagogue~
of the Jews. O purest! Thou art the book of Moses the Lawgiver, whereon the new~
covenant is written with the finger of God, for the new Israel, fleeing from the~
spiritual Egypt, even as the old law was written upon Sinai, for the old Israel,~
that Israel which was fed in the wilderness upon manna and water from the rock,~
whereof both were types of Christ, which was yet to come from thy womb, as a~
bridegroom from his chamber. Thou art Aaron's rod that budded. Thou art David's~
daughter, all glorious within, clothed in a vesture of gold, wrought about with~
diverse colours.

[Lectio8]
Thou art the vision of the Prophets and the fulfilment of those things which~
they foretold. Thou art the gate whereof Ezekiel spake, when he prophesied, and~
said, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter~
in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore~
it shall be shut (xliv. 2.) Thou art the Rod of Jesse, whereof Isaiah spake,~
~(xi. I,) even that Rod whose Flower is Christ, and whose offshoots shall choke~
out all the seedlings of sin, and fill the earth with plants of grace. Thou art~
the Covenant foretold by Jeremiah when he said (xxxi. 31) Behold, the days come,~
saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and~
with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their~
fathers thereby signifying the coming of thy Son, and calling upon all nations~
to worship Him for their God, even to the uttermost parts of the earth. Thou art~
the great mountain spoken of by Daniel, the man greatly beloved, wherefrom is~
cut without man's hands the corner-stone, that is, Christ, which hath smitten in~
pieces the parti-coloured image of the old serpent. I honour thee as the~
unpolluted fountain, I proclaim that thou art full of grace, I praise thee as~
the clean and undefiled tabernacle of God. Verily, where sin abounded, grace did~
much more abound. As by a woman death entered into the world, by a woman came~
the power to rise again. The serpent gave us to eat deadly fruit, but that fall~
hath ended in the lifegiving Bread of Immortality. Eve, our first mother,~
brought forth Cain the first murderer; thou, O Mary, hast brought forth Christ,~
the first-fruits of life and of the resurrection. Ear hath not heard the like.~
It hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive this new thing. Blessed be~
the unspeakable depths of the Wisdom of God.

[Lectio9]
And now we, the people of God, a holy generation, an acceptable congregation,~
the nestlings of the dove of peace, children of grace, do with purified minds~
and unpolluted lips, praise God in the tongues of all nations in this joyful~
solemnity of the Virgin. This is a noble Feast wherein the Angels keep holiday~
and men do most fitly offer praise, even a feast wherein we echo with reverence~
and joy that salutation first spoken by Gabriel. Hail Mary! Hail, thou Paradise~
of God the Father, whence the knowledge of Him floweth in broad rivers to the~
ends of the earth! Hail, Dwelling-place of God the Son, whence He came forth~
clothed in flesh! Hail, mysterious Tabernacle of God the Holy Ghost! Hail, thou~
that art holier than the Cherubim! Hail, thou that art more glorious than the~
Seraphim! Hail, thou that art nobler than the heavens! Hail, thou that art~
brighter than the sun! Hail, thou that art fairer than the moon! Hail, manifold~
splendour of the stars! Hail, light cloud, dropping the dew of heaven! Hail,~
holy breeze, clearing the air of the vapours of sin! Hail, royal theme of the~
Prophets! Hail, sound of the Apostles gone out into all the earth! Hail, most~
excellent confession of the Martyrs! Hail, just hope of the Patriarchs! Hail,~
peculiar honour of all the Saints! Hail, source of health to dying creatures!~
Hail, O Queen, ambassadress of peace! Hail, stainless crown of motherhood! Hail,~
advocate of all under heaven! Hail, restoration of the whole world! Hail, thou~
that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee, even the Lord that is before thee,~
and from thee, and that is with us. To Him, with the Father, and the most holy~
and Life-giving Spirit, be ascribed all praise, now and ever, world without end.~
Amen.
&teDeum