[Rank]
Conceptione Beatae Mariae Virginis;;Duplex;;3;;vide C11

[Rule]
vide C11;
9 lectiones
Psalmi Dominica
Antiphonas horas
Doxology=Nat

[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

[Capitulum Vespera]
!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

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

[Ant 1]
Let us tell again * of the right worthy Birth of the glorious Virgin Mary, who gained the honour of Motherhood without losing the guilelessness of a Maid.

[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.

[Responsory1]
@Sancti/12-25:Responsory1

[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.

[Responsory2]
@Sancti/12-25:Responsory2

[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.

[Responsory3]
@Sancti/12-25:Responsory3

[Lectio4]
Sermo sancti Ambrosii episcopi
!Ex libr. de Virginibus. Lectio iii
Sit nobis tamquam in imagine descripta virginitas vitaque beatæ Mariæ, de qua velut speculo refulget species capitatis, et forma virtutis. Hinc sumatis licet exempla vivendi, ubi tamquam in exemplaria magisteria expressa probitatis, quid corrigere, quid effugere, quid tenere debeatis, ostendunt. Primus discendi ardor nobilitas et magistri. Quid nobilius dei matre? Quid splendidius ea, quae splendore elegit? Quid castius ea, quae corpus sine corporis contagione generauit? Nam de ceteris ejus virtutibus quid loquar? Virgo erat non solum corpore sed etiam mente, quae nullo doli ambitu Sincerum adularet affectum. Corde humilis, verbis gravis, animi prudens, loquendi parcior, legendi studiosior; non in incerto divitiarum, sed in prece pauperis spem reponens. Intenta operi, uerecunda sermone, arbitrum mentis solita non hominem, sed deum quærere. Non lædere reos, bene uelle omnibus, assurgere majoribus natu, æqualibus non inuidere, fugere iactantiam, rationem sequi, amare virtutem.

[Responsory4]
@Sancti/12-25:Responsory4

[Lectio5]
Quando ita vultu læsit parentes? Quando dissensit propinquis? Quando fastidivit humilem? Quando deridet debilem? Quando vitavit inopem, eos solos solita ctus vivorum invisere, quos misericordia non erubesceret, neqe præteriret verecundia: nihil toruum in oculis, nihil in verbis procax, nihil in actu in verecundum. Non genus fractior, non incessus solutior, non nox petulantior: ut ipsa corporis species simulacrum fuerit mentis, figura probitatis. Bona quippe domus in ipso vestibulo debet agnosci, et primo prætendat ingressu nihil intus latere tenebrarum ut menss nostra nullis repagulis corporalibus impedita, tamquam lucernæ lux intus posita foris luceat. Quid ergo persequar ciborum parsimoniam, officiorum redundantiam, alterum ultra naturam superfuisse, alterum pene ipsi naturæ defuisse, illic nulla intermissa tempora, hic congeminatos jejunio dies? Et quando reficiendi successit voluntas, cibus plerumque obvius qui mortem arceret, non delicias ministraret.

[Responsory5]
@Sancti/12-25:Responsory5

[Lectio6]
Dormire non prius cupiditas quam necessitas fuit: et tamen, cum quiesceret corpus, vigilaret animus; qui frequenter in somnis aut lecta repetit aut somno interrupta continuat, aut disposita gerit, aut gerenda pronunciat. Prodire domo nescia nisi cum ad ecclesiam conveniret, et hoc ipsum cum parentibus et propinquis. Domestico operosa secreto, forensi stipata comitatu, nullo meliore tamen sui custode quam seipsa, quæ incessu affectuque venerabilis non tam vestigium pedis tolleret, quae gradum virtutis attolleret. Et tamen alios habeat virgo membrorum custodem suorum, morum autem suorum se habeat ipsa custodem. Plures erunt de quibus discat, et ipsa se doceat, quæ virtutes magistras habet: quia quidquid egerit, disciplina est. Sic Maria intendebat omnibus, quam a pluribus moneretur: Sic implebat omnia virtutis offcia, ut non tam disceret quam doceret.

[Responsory6]
@Sancti/12-25:Responsory6

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 1:1-17
The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob. And so on.
_
Homily by St Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem.)
!Bk. i. Comm. on Matth.
In Isaiah (liii. 8) we read: "Who shall declare His generation?" Let us not think that there is any contradiction between the Prophet and the Evangelist, because the Prophet saith that this thing cannot be done, and the Evangelist beginneth by doing it. The one speaketh of the generation of the Divine (Word by the Eternal Father,) the other of the (family in which the) Incarnation (took place.) Matthew beginneth with carnal things, that by learning of men we may go on to learn of God. " The Son of David, the son of Abraham." The reversal of the order in these clauses is a needful change. If Abraham had been put first and David afterwards, Abraham would have had to be taken again, in order to marshal the pedigree properly.

[Responsory7]
@Sancti/07-02:Responsory7

[Lectio8]
Matthew first calleth Christ the Son of these twain Abraham and David without making mention of the others, because unto these twain only was promise of Christ made unto Abraham, where it is said "In thy seed " (that is, in Christ) "shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," (Gen. xxii. 18) and unto David, in the words " Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne." (Ps. cxxxi. 11.) "And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar." It is to be remarked that in the genealogy of the Saviour none of the holy women are named, but those women only are named against whom the Scripture hath to say something amiss. He Who came to save sinners was conceived of sinners, that He might wash away all sin. Afterwards are named Ruth, who was a Moabitess, and Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah.

[Responsory8]
@Sancti/07-02:Responsory8

[Lectio9]
And Jacob begat Joseph. This is one of the passages which the Emperor Julian (the Apostate) put forward against us as an instance of mutual contradiction between the Evangelists, for, whereas Matthew here saith that Jacob begat Joseph, Luke (iii. 23,) saith that Joseph was the son of Heli. Julian understood not the use of Scripture, and that the one was the father of Joseph by nature, and the other according to the Law. We know that Moses, by the command of God, ordained If brethren dwell together, and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without, unto a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel, (Deut.~
xxv. 5, 6.) Joseph, the husband of Mary. Let not this title of husband lead thee to form any thought of (completed) wedlock, but remember the use of Scripture to speak of Bridegroom and Bride as Husband and Wife
&teDeum


[Ant Laudes]
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.
This day is the Conception of the holy Virgin Mary, * whose famous life still sheddeth lustre upon all the Churches.
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.
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.
Let us keep with rejoicing the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, * that she may pray for us to our Lord Jesus Christ.

[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.

[Versum 2]
V. This day is the Conception of the holy Virgin Mary.
R. Whose' famous life still sheddeth lustre upon all the Churches.

[Versum 3]
V. This day is the Conception of the holy Virgin Mary.
R. Whose' famous life still sheddeth lustre upon all the Churches.

[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. 

