Marian Devotions Through the Year: December

December is a month most intimately connected to Our Lady from the standpoint of the liturgical calendar. In Advent we step into the soft, often snowy stillness of her last weeks carrying the the Christ Child in her womb and then with her into the testing of the long journey to Bethlehem and the ensuing chaos that culminates in a Divine Gift to the world.

Marian Virtue: Blind Obedience

This month we focus on the third of the traditional Ten Virtues of Our Lady. Blind obedience coincides neatly with the actions of Joseph and Mary as they travel to Bethlehem so close to the Birth of Our Lord.

Marian Theme: The Immaculate Conception

This month’s Marian theme is also the liturgical theme for the month as we commemorate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception that takes place exactly nine months before the Nativity of Mary on September 8. This beautiful dogma is especially connected to St. Bernadette and the affirmation of the dogma that Our Lady gave to her in Lourdes, and St. Bernadette in turn is a perfect little Saint of childlike faith to keep close during the season belonging to the Christ Child and his Virgin Mother. 

Marian Antiphon: Alma Redemptoris Mater

Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli
Porta manes, et stella maris, sucurre cadenti, 
Surgere qui curat populo: tu quae genuisti, 
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem, 
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore
Sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.

Usque ad diem 23 decembris:

V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae. 
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.

Oremus. Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut, qui, angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem ejus et crucem, ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

A die 24 decembris:

V. Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti.
R. Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis.

Let us pray. Deus, qui salutis aeternae, beatae Mariae virginitate fecudna, humano generi praemia praestitisti: tribue, quaesumus, ut ipsam pro nobis intercedere sentiamus, per quam meruimus auctorem vitae suscipere, Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium tuum. Amen.

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O loving Mother of our Redeemer, gate of heaven, star of the sea,
Hasten to aid thy fallen people who strive to rise once more.
Thou who brought forth thy holy Creator, all creation wond'ring, 
Yet remainest ever Virgin, taking from Gabriel's lips
that joyful "Hail!": be merciful to us sinners.

Up through the day before Christmas Eve:

V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. 
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His passion and cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

From Christmas Eve on:

V. Thou gavest birth without loss of thy virginity:
R. Intercede for us, O holy Mother of God.

Let us pray. O God, Who by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary hast offered unto the human race the rewards of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech thee, that we may know the effects of her intercession, through whom we have deserved to receive the author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son. Amen.

The liturgical year cycles through four Marian Antiphons, each having a Simple Tone and Solemn Tone in Gregorian chant. Marian antiphons are typically chanted after night prayer and immediately before going to bed. December and Advent mark the new liturgical year which begins anew the cycle of Redemption with the Nativity, and this month the only Antiphon is the Alma Redemptoris Mater which continues all the way through the Christmas season. The text of the Alma is attributed to a monk from Reichenau, Herimann the Lame (1013-1054). 

Sheet music for the Alma Redemptoris Mater Simple Tone may be printed from here (page 234 of the Parish Book of Chant pdf). Sheet music for the Solemn Tone may be found on page 235 of the same pdf.

Marian Feasts

• December 8 - The Immaculate Conception
• December 10 - Translation of the Holy House of Loreto
• December 11 - Our Lady of the Angels
• December 12 - Our Lady of Guadalupe
• December 16 - Our Lady of Good or Happy Deliverance (a statue brought from Spain to St. Augustine, Florida in 1565)

Marian Devotion

A Prayer in Honor of the Immaculate Conception

ANT. This is the rod in which was neither knot of original sin,
nor rind of actual guilt.

V. In thy conception, O Virgin! Thou wast immaculate.

R. Pray for us to the Father, Whose Son thou didst bring forth.

Let us Pray

O GOD, Who, by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst
prepare a worthy habitation for Thy Son, we beseech Thee, that as
by the foreseen death of that same Son, Thou didst preserve her
from all stain, so too thou wouldst permit us, purified through
her intercession, to come unto Thee. Through the same Christ our
Lord. Amen.

Prayer to Our Lady Immaculate

Most holy Virgin, who wast pleasing to the Lord and became His
Mother, immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look
kindly on the wretched who implore thy powerful patronage. The
wicked serpent, against whom was hurled the first curse, continues
fiercely to attack and ensnare the unhappy children of Eve. Do
thou, then, O Blessed Mother, our queen and advocate, who from the
first instant of thy conception didst crush the head of the enemy,
receive the prayers which, united with thee in our single heart,
we implore thee to present at the throne of God, that we may never
fall into the snares which are laid out for us, and may all arrive
at the port of salvation; and, in so many dangers, may the Church
and Christian society sing once again the hymn of deliverance and
of victory and of peace. Amen.

Marian Customs Highlight

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States. On of my former parish priests and a family friend has often lamented though how little American Catholics seems to celebrate it outside of attending Holy Mass. That neglect is a real tragedy because Our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception is the Patroness of the United States of America. Such a patronal feast would be cause for a festival of large proportions among other Catholic nationalities most notably Spain and Italy where it’s a national holiday that kicks off Christmas festivities with the unveiling of Christmas creches, family feasting, and bonfires. Those are simple celebration ideas to incorporate alongside attending Holy Mass. You can also make a big deal as the Italians do about preparing foods and pastries while fasting on the Vigil and coming up with a menu of white foods (traditionally they include a pasta, a cod or other fish dish, and special pastries). Work with your parish to organize a pastry and coffee celebration after the morning Masses as another community way to draw attention to this patronal feast. Finally, don’t forget to include one of the special prayers to the Immaculate Conception, reading excerpts of the Pope Pius IX’s Declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception, or singing one of my favorite lesser known Marian hymns “O Purest of Creatures” by Father Faber that was written for this feast. You can find a recording here.