of Mary.
When anger, avarice, and concupiscence convulse the peace of thy soul,
look up to this star and call on Mary. When thy sins rise up like
hideous monsters before thy troubled vision, when thy conscience stings
thee, when the terrors of future judgment fill thee with deadly anguish,
when gloom and sadness overpower thee, when thou findest thyself on the
brink of hellish despair, take courage; think of Mary, and thou wilt
find from thy own inward experience how true are the sayings of those
who tell thee that the name of the Blessed Virgin is 'Star of the Sea,'
the name of the Virgin is Mary."

Prayer of the Church (located on the first day of the Novena).

Litany of Loreto (located in the final section of the book).

_Prayer_

WE HAIL thee, beloved child Mary, adorned with every virtue,
immeasurably above all the saints, and therefore worthy Mother of the
Saviour of the world, who by the operation of the Holy Ghost didst bring
forth the incarnate Word. We give thee our homage, and with all our
hearts we pray thee to vouchsafe in thy goodness to be born again in our
souls, that, led captive by thy loveliness and sweetness, they may ever
live united to thy most sweet and loving heart.

Hail Mary, etc.

Ejaculation (located on the first day of the Novena).

III

Novena for the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

[Illustration: The Annunciation]

FIRST DAY

The Annunciation

PREPARATORY PRAYER

MY QUEEN, my Mother, remember I am thine own. Keep me, guard me, as thy
property and possession!

Indulgence. 40 days, every time. (Pius IX, August 5, 1851.)

MEDITATION

AT NAZARETH, a mountain village in Judea, lived poor and in obscurity
Mary, the virgin selected by God to become the Mother of His Son. On
March 25th she was in prayer in her chamber, and perhaps sent up to
heaven the yearning petition, "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above,
and let the clouds rain the just; let the earth be opened and bud a
Saviour" (_Is._ xlv. 8). Behold, suddenly the chamber is suffused by a
heavenly light. The archangel Gabriel stands reverently before her and
says, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou
among women. And when Mary heard the angel's words, she was troubled at
his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this
should be" (_Luke_ i. 28, 29).

PRACTICE

THE angel's salutation comprises two titles of ineffable greatness. Mary
is called "fu