[Rank]
Festum Immaculati Cordis Beatae Mariae Virginis;;Duplex II classis;;5.1;;ex C11

[Rank1960]
Festum Immaculati Cordis Beatae Mariae Virginis;;Duplex II classis;;5;;ex C11

[Rule]
ex C11;
9 lectiones

[Ant 1]
My heart hath rejoiced in the Lord, * and my horn is exalted in my God:  because I have joyed in thy salvation.

[Oratio]
Almighty everlasting God, who hast prepared in the heart of Blessed Virgin Mary a~
worthy dwelling of the Holy Ghost, grant favourably to us that we may keep the~
feast of the same immaculate Heart devoutly, and may be able to leave according~
to thy heart.
$Per Dominum eiusdem

[Commemoratio 2]
!Commemoratio Ss. Timothei, Hippolyti et Symphoriani Mart.
@Commune/C3:Oratio proper
!Oratio.
Mercifully help us, O Lord, we beseech thee, and at the pleading of thine holy
Martyrs Timothy, Hippolytus, and Symphorian, stretch forth over us the right
hand of thy favour.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
From a Sermon by St. Bernardine of Siena
!Ex sermone 9 de visitatione
What man, unless secure in a divine oracle, may presume to speak with impure, indeed with polluted lips, anything little or great about the true Parent of God and of man, whom the Father before all ages predestined a perpetual Virgin, whom the Son chose as his most worthy Mother, whom the Holy Ghost prepared as the dwelling place of every grace?  With what words shall I, a lowly man, give expression to the highest sentiments of the virginal Heart uttered by the holiest mouth, for which the tongues of all the Angels do not suffice?  For the Lord saith : A good man bringeth forth good things from the good treasure of his heart ; and this word can also be a treasure.  Among pure mortals who can be conceived of as better than she who was worthy to be the Mother of God, who for nine months had as a guest in her heart and in her womb God himself?  What better treasure than the divine love itself, which was burning in the Heart of the Virgin as in a furnace?

[Lectio5]
And so, from this Heart as from a furnace of divine ardour the blessed Virgin brought forth good works, that is, words of the most ardent charity.  For as from a vessel full of the richest and best wine only good wine can be poured ; or as from a furnace of intense heat only a burning fire is emítted ; so indeed from the Mother of Christ no word can go forth except of the greatest and most intense divine love and ardour.  It is also the mark of a wise woman and matron to speak few words, but words  that are effective and full of meaning ; and so seven times, as it were, seven words of such wonderful meaning and virtue are read as having been uttered  by the most blessed Mother of Christ, that mystically it may be shewn she was full of the sevenfold grace.  To the Angel twice only did she speak ; to Elizabeth also twice ; with her Son likewise twice, once in the temple, and a second time at the marriage feast ; and once to the attendants.  And on all those occasions she always said very little ; with this one exception that she spake at length in the praise of God and in thanksgiving, namely, when she said : My soul doth magnify the Lord.  But here she did not speak with man, but with God.  Those seven words were spoken in a wonderful degree and order according to the seven courses and acts of love ; as if they were seven flames from the furnace of her Heart.

[Lectio6]
!Ex ecclesiasticis documentis
The liturgical worship, through which due honour is given to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, and for which many holy men and women have prepared the way, the Apostolic See itself first approved in the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Pope Pius VII instituted the feast of the Most Pure Heart of the Virgin Mary, to be piously and reverently celebrated by all the dioceses and religious families who had asked for it.  Afterwards Pope Pius IX added an Office and a proper Mass to it.  But an ardent desire and longing, which had arisen in the seventeenth century, grew day by day, that namely, the same Feast, given greater solemnity, might be spread to the entire Church.  In 1942, Pope Pius XII, graciously acceding to this wish, and during the terrible war then ravaging almost the entire world, pitying the infinite hardships of men, and because of his devotion and confidence in our heavenly Mother, in solemn supplication earnestly entrusted the entire human race to her most generous Heart, and in honour of the same Immaculate Heart he ordered a Feast to be kept forever with its proper Office and Mass.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to John
!John 19:25-27
In that time . There stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. And so on.
_
!A Homily by St. Robert Bellarmine the Bishop
! De septem verbis Christi in Cruce cap. 12
The burden and yoke which our Lord imposed on St. John, that he take care of his Virgin Mother, was indeed a sweet yoke and a light burden.  Who indeed would not esteem it a happiness to dwell under the same roof with her, who for nine months had borne in her womb the Incarnate Word, and for thirty years had enjoyed the sweetest and happiest communication of sentiments with him?  Who doth not envy the chosen disciple of our Lord, who in the absence of the Son of God, was given the presence of the Mother of God?  yet, if I am not mistaken, we can obtain by our prayers that our most kind Lord, who became man for our sakes and was crucified for love of us, should say to us : Behold thy Mother ; and should say to his Mother for each one of us : Behold thy son.

[Responsory7]
R. O Holy Virgin Mary, happy indeed art thou, and right worthy of all praise
* For out of thee rose the Sun of righteousness, even Christ our God.
V. Pray for the people, plead for the clergy, make intercession for all women~
vowed to God. May all that are keeping this thine solemn Commemoration feel the might~
of thine assistance.
R. For out of thee rose the Sun of righteousness, even Christ our God.

[Lectio8]
Our good Lord is not avaricious of his graces, if only we approach the throne of grace with faith and confidence, with a true and sincere but not a false heart.  He who desireth to have us co-heirs in the kingdom of his Father, will certainly not disdain to have us co-heirs in the love of his Mother.  Nor will the most benign Virgin herself take it amiss to have a countless number of children, since she hath an heart capable of embracing all of us, and ardently desireth that not even one of those souls should perish whom her divine Son redeemed with his precious Blood, and his still more precious death.  And so let us approach with confidence the throne of the grace of Christ, and with tears let us humbly beg of him to say to his Mother for each of us : Behold thy son ; and to each one of us concerning his Mother : Behold thy Mother.

[Lectio9]
How secure shall we be under the protection of such a Mother?  Who will dare to drag us from her bosom?  What temptation can overcome us if we confide in the protection of the Mother of God and of our Mother?  Nor will we be the first who have secured such a great favour.  Many have preceded us ; many, I say, have placed themselves under the singular and really maternal protection of so powerful a Virgin, and no one hath been cast off by her with his soul in a perplexed and sad state, but all who confide in the patronage of such a Mother are happy and contented.  For of her it is written : She shall crush thy head, and so those who trust in her shall tread safely upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shall they tread under their feet.  Nor doth it seem that he can perish, of whom Christ said to the Virgin : Behold thy son, provided he is not deaf to the words of Christ : Behold thy Mother.

[Lectio93]
!Commemoratio Ss. Mart. Timotheo, Hippolyto et Symphoriano.
Tlimotheus Antiochenus, Romam veniens, Melchiade Summo Pontifice, cum per annum~
ibi Christi fidem praedicasset, a Tarquinio Urbis praefecto conjicitur in~
vincula: et post diuturnas carceris aerumnas ad idola perducitur, ut eis~
sacrificet. Quam impietatem summa libertate detestatus, acerbissime caeditur, et~
excarnificatum corpus viva calce perfunditur. In quibus aliusque suppliciis~
constans Martyr capite plectitur. Corpus via Ostiensi prope sepulchrum beati~
Pauli Apostoli sepelitur. Quo die etiam, Alexandro imperatore, apud Ostia~
Tiberina Hippolytus episcopus Portuensis ob praeclaram fidei confessionem~
manibus pedibusque ligatis, in altam foveam aquis plenam praecipitatus, martyrio~
coronatus est, et ibidem a Christianis sepultus. Quo item die, Aureliano~
imperatore, propter eamdem fidem Augustini Symphorianus adolescens varie tortus~
est. Qui dum ad ultimum supplicium duceretur, matrem ita clamantem audiens: Nate,~
nate, memento aeternae vitae, caelum suspice, etibi regnantem intuere: tibi enim~
vita non eripitur, sed mutatur in melius: fortiter Jesu Christi causa carnifici~
collum praebuit.
&teDeum

[Ant 2]
O blessed Virgin * Mary: thou Mother of grace, thou hope of the world, hear us, thy children, who cry to thee.
