Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the Order of Preachers
Posted by Fr. Aquinas on 08 May 2010 | Tagged as: Dominicans, Liturgical Feasts
Holy Mary, Mother of Christ, hear your humble servants, alleluia, alleluia.
As an Order of the Church dedicated in its very constitution to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Order of Preachers sets aside one day a year to renew its filial devotion to her. According to the Dominican calendar, that day is today, May 8.
We ask, therefore, that you join us in honoring Our Lady today, and that you remember to her in a special way the Dominican Order worldwide, which owes the graces of its 800-year history to her maternal care and protection.
From the Dominican Ordo:
It has been customary for the Church to invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary under titles such as Mediatrix, thereby indicating the continuing saving role of her maternity in the order of grace, for “by her many acts of intercession she continues to gain for us gifts of eternal salvation” (Lumen Gentium, 62).
Blessed Humbert of Romans declares that “the Blessed Virgin was of great help in beginning the Order . . . and it is to be hoped that she will bring it to a good end” (Opera II, 70-71). From its foundation the Order has not hesitated to acknowledge the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin, to continuously experience it and to commend it to the hearts of the brothers and sisters, so that encouraged by this maternal help they might adhere more closely to their Mediator and Redeemer as they labor to carry out their mission of salvation in the world (see Lumen Gentium, 62).
Until the recent restoration of the liturgical calendar, the Order celebrated the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 22, the anniversary of the approval of the Order by Pope Honorius III (December 22, 1216). Keeping in mind the special character of the weekdays of Advent which take precedence over all other memorials, it is suggested that the commemoration of this Patronage be celebrated on May 8 — during the month which is specially dedicated to the Blessed Virgin mary and on the day when she is honored under similar titles in other proper liturgical calendars.
Faithful God,
you willed that the Order of Preachers
be instituted for the salvation of souls
under the special patronage
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
and that it be filled with her unceasing favors.
Hear our prayers and bring us to the glory of heaven,
protected by her whose feast we celebrate today.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.
PRAYER DEDICATING THE ORDER OF PREACHERS
TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Virgin Mother Mary, with trust we approach you. We, your preachers, fly to you who believed in the words sent from heaven and pondered them in your heart. We stand close around you, who are always present to the gathering of apostles.
In you the Word was made flesh, that same Word which we receive, contemplate, praise together and preach. Therefore, under your guidance we today devote ourselves anew to the ministry of the Word. Furthermore, we declare to you that, hearing with you the Word within ourselves and anointed by the Spirit, whose sacred vessel you preeminently are, we are consecrated in the name of Jesus Christ to the evangelization of the world.
With the eyes of your heart enlightened, you understood the mystery of the Word. Through you we, too, are able to perceive the presence of that same Word in the history of our time, so that we may finally contemplate him face to face.
Through you the Father sent his Son into the world that he might save it. Through you we will be powerful in the sight of your people, becoming witnesses of that truth which frees and of that love which unites.
To this place we have brought our needs and here we ponder them. Do you, Mother, give us strength and preserve the harmony of our family, so that what was begun by our profession may be brought to completion by our love for one another, for the salvation of the world and to the praise and glory of God.
