Prayer
of the Bishops of England and Wales in 1893 during the ceremony of the
Dedication of England to the Mother of God, the last part of which (from the
let us pray) is taken from an 8th century prayer found in the Book
of Cerne which belonged to Ethelwald, Bishop of Sherbourne, AD 760:
O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of
Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Mother of Grace, and Queen of the
Kingdom of Thy Son!
Humbly kneeling before thee, we
offer thee this country in which we live!
It was once thine.
Before it was robbed of the Holy
Faith, all its children were thy children and thou wert honoured throughout its
length and breadth as its Protectress and its Queen.
Again do we consecrate it to
thee; again do we dedicate it as thy own Dowry.
We offer our own hearts, that their
love and service may ever grow and increase.
We offer all our brethren – those
multitudes who know thee so little – or know thee not at all.
May thy prayer bring back the
country’s ancient Faith!
May thy intercession lead us to a
closer union with thy Divine Son.
We consecrate ourselves to Him
through thee.
Obtain for us, and for England,
Thy Dowry, every grace and blessing, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of
God.
That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Holy Mother of God, Virgin ever
blest, O Mary Immaculate, pray for us, intercede for us, disdain not to help
us. For we are all confident and know
for certain that thou canst obtain all thou willest from thy Son, Our Lord Jesus
Christ, God Almighty, the King of Ages, Who liveth with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.
1 comment:
what a beautiful prayer. I have just written a blogpost about prayer for the House of Lords and the forthcoming bill for same sex marriage. I found out about the prayer for Mary's dowry as a result.
God bless you in your work.
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