[Rank]
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary;;Duplex;;3;;vide C11

[Ant Vespera]
This day was conceived the glorious Virgin Mary, * a child of the seed of Abraham, a daughter of the tribe of Judah, a Princess of the lineage of David.;;109
This day is the Conception of the holy Virgin Mary, * whose famous life still sheddeth lustre upon all the Churches.;;112
Mary was a maiden of illustrious birth, * the daughter of a Kingly race. We earnestly entreat her to help our minds and souls by her prayers.;;121
With all our heart and with all our soul let us sing praise to Christ * on this the solemn Feast-day of Mary, the mighty Mother of God.;;126
Let us keep with rejoicing the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, * that she may pray for us to our Lord Jesus Christ.;;147

[Versum 1]
V. This day is the Conception of the holy Virgin Mary.
R. Whose' famous life still sheddeth lustre upon all the Churches.

[Oratio]
Grant unto us thy servants, we beseech thee, O Lord, the gift of thy heavenly grace, unto whom Thou didst give the first sight of a Saviour as the offspring of a Blessed Virgin, and grant that this Feast, which they keep in honour of the same Virgin, may avail them unto the increase of peace.
$Per Dominum

[Invit]
Let us keep the Birthday of the Virgin Mary. * Let us worship Christ, her Son, and her Lord and ours.

[Lectio1]
!Sir 24:5-13
24:5 I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:
24:6 I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:
24:7 I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.
24:8 I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,
24:9 And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,
24:10 And in every nation I have had the chief rule:
24:11 And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord.
24:12 Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,
24:13 And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.

[Lectio2]
!Sir 24:14-21
24:14 From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him.
24:15 And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.
24:16 And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.
24:17 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion.
24:18 I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:
24:19 As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted.
24:20 I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon. and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:
24:21 And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.

[Lectio3]
!Sir 24:22-31
24:22 I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.
24:23 As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
24:24 I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
24:25 In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.
24:26 Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.
24:27 For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.
24:28 My memory is unto everlasting generations.
24:29 They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.
24:30 He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin.
24:31 They that explain me shall have life everlasting.

[Lectio4]
Sermon of St. Ambrose Bishop
!From the book concerning Virgins. 3rd Lecture 
Let, then, the life of Mary be as it were virginity itself, set forth in a likeness, from which, as from a mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form of virtue is reflected. From this you may take your pattern of life, showing, as an example, the clear rules of virtue: what you have to correct, to effect, and to hold fast. The first thing which kindles ardour in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chaste than she who bore a body without contact with another body?

[Lectio5]
For why should I speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind, who stained the sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble in heart, grave in speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading, resting her hope not on uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intent on work, modest in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as the judge of her thoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before her elders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, to love virtue. 

[Lectio6]
When did she pain her parents even by a look? When did she disagree with her neighbours? When did she despise the lowly? When did she avoid the needy? Being wont only to go to such gatherings of men as mercy would not blush at, nor modesty pass by. There was nothing gloomy in her eyes, nothing forward in her words, nothing unseemly in her acts, there was not a silly movement, nor unrestrained step, nor was her voice petulant, that the very appearance of her outward being might be the image of her soul, the representation of what is approved.

[Capitulum Laudes]
!Prov 8:22-24
v. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived.
$Deo gratias

[Ant 2]
Let us this day keep solemnly * the Conception of Mary, Mother but still Maiden, her Birth, a step toward the loftiness of her throne. Alleluia.

[Ant 3]
Thy Birth * O Virgin Mother of God, was a message of joy to the whole world, for out of thee rose the Sun of righteousness, even Christ our God. Who hath taken away the curse and brought a blessing, confounded death, and given unto us everlasting life.