Seven Prayers
I O GLORIOUS Patriarchs, who, even in the midst of the corruption of the world, ever kept the fire of divine love burning in your hearts, and fostered a most tender devotion to the Queen of Heaven, thus deserving to be invited by her to leave the world the better to serve GOD; obtain for us, we beseech you, that we too, being inflamed with the fire of charity, may please the Most High, and imitating the love and patience of our sorrowful Mother, may conform ourselves, in adversity as well as in prosperity, to the dispositions of divine Providence. PATER, Ave, Gloria. II O BRIGHT models of perfection, who, having turned your backs on the world and renounced whatever it might offer you, did deserve, in answer to your wish of being entirely hidden from men, that Mary herself should point out to you Mount Senario as the place of your retreat and tranquillity; obtain for us, we beseech you, that, despising the false and contemptible pleasures of the earth, we may, after your example, embrace a life of penance to atone for our sins; and if we cannot, like you, serve our Lady in solitude, at least may we show her our sorrow for the grief we have caused her, when by our sins we have renewed the bitter Passion of her Divine Son. PATER, Ave, Gloria. III O MOST humble dwellers among the wild rocks of Senario, who, in order the better to imitate the heroic humility of the Handmaid of the LORD, did not only forget the nobility of your birth and the grandeur of your station, but with generosity humbled yourselves so deeply as to go and beg your scanty food in the streets of your native town; obtain for us, we beseech you, that no human respect may deter us from serving- GOD, and that, as you, by an unheard of prodigy, merited to be called, by infants still at the breast, "Servants of Mary," so we too may edify and be a light to guide our brethren along the road to
heaven; thus showing ourselves by our deeds to be devout servants of the august Mother of GOD. PATER, Ave, Gloria. IV O FAITHFUL servants of the Queen of Heaven, who wept so bitterly over the Dolours she suffered during the life and in the Passion and Death of her beloved Son, and were rewarded for it by the miracle of a vine putting forth ripe clusters in the midst of winter, by which she foreshadowed the propagation of the Order of her Servants, whose mission it would be to spread in the Church compassion for her sorrows; obtain for us, we beseech you, a most tender devotion to our Lady of Sorrows, that we may, by this our compassion, move our neighbour to sincere sorrow for his sins; thus becoming fruitful branches of the mystical vine of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. PATER, Ave, Gloria. V O GLORIOUS Founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary, who were filled with such inexpressible sweetness, when you were made worthy to see the Queen of Martyrs herself, who, pointing to you the rule to follow and the habit to wear in memory of her Dolours, showed you also the palm which should be the reward of your merits; obtain for us, we beseech you, to be shown by our heavenly Lady in what manner we may best serve her Divine Son, and thus attain more surely to the possession of the eternal happiness which GOD in his mercy has prepared for us in heaven. PATER, Ave, Gloria. VI O MOST austere penitents, who, by continually chastising your bodies, became so rich in merits and so dear to our LORD that to show how well pleased he was in you, he made your retreat of Mount Senario a place of wonders, now causing it to seem all girt about with fire, now showing it covered with flowers and lilies of exquisite beauty, which the angels gathered and presented to Mary; obtain for us, we beseech you, that the fire of divine love be kindled in our hearts, and that our souls, purified from all sin, may become to the Queen of Heaven a garden of delight, from which we may offer to her choice flowers of virtues as so many tokens of our devotion. PATER, Ave, Gloria. VII O MOST blessed Patriarchs, angels of purity, seraphs of love, and martyrs of penance, who were all granted the privilege of a most happy death, one dying comforted by the presence of the Child JESUS, another audibly called by Mary herself to his eternal reward, this one taking his flight to Heaven under the appearance of flames, and that under the form of a dazzling- lily; obtain for us, we beseech you, that, when the last hour comes for us, we may in that dread moment, through your intercession, be protected by our Lady of Sorrows against the wiles of the infernal foe, and breathing our souls into her maternal hands, be brought by her to Heaven, there to enjoy for ever the possession of GOD, who is the eternal source of all glory and sanctity. PATER, Ave, Gloria.
ST JOHN OF MATHA