'd are they
Who hear his word and keep it well,
The living homes where Christ shall dwell,
And never pass away."

J. Keble's Christian Year. "The Annunciation."

Would that no branch of the Church Catholic had ever passed the boundary
line drawn here so exquisitely by this Anglican Catholic, from whose
lips or pen no syllable could ever fall in disparagement of the holy
Virgin, as blessed among women, and the holy mother of our Lord. To
bring about the re-union of Christians would in that case have been a
far more hopeful task than it is now.

III. In the third stage, a prayer was offered to God, that He would
permit the intercessions of the saints to help us; or the prayer
contained the expression of a wish,--a desire not addressed either to
God or to the saint, merely words expressive of the hope of the
individual. The following are some of the many instances now contained
in the Roman Breviary: {334}

"May the Virgin of virgins herself intercede for us to the Lord. Amen."
[Ipsa Virgo virginum intercedat pro nobis ad Dominum. Amen.--Vern.
cxlviii.]

In the Post-communion, on the day of the Assumption, this prayer is
offered:--"Partakers of the heavenly table, we implore thy clemency, O
Lord our God, that we who celebrate the Assumption of the mother of God,
may, by her intercession, be freed from all impending evils. Through,"
&c. [Mensae coelestis participes effecti imploramus clementiam tuam,
Domine Deus noster, ut qui Assumptionem Dei Genetricis colimus, a
cunctis malis imminentibus ejus intercessione liberemur. Per.--Miss.
Rom.]

"We beseech Thee, O Lord, let the glorious intercession of the blessed
and glorious ever Virgin Mary protect us and bring us to life eternal."
[Beatae et gloriosae semper Virginia Mariae, quaesumus, Domine, intercessio
gloriosa nos protegat, et ad vitam producat aeternam.--Vern. clv.]

"Pardon, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the offences of thy servants, that we,
who cannot please Thee of our own act, may be saved by the intercession
of the mother of thy Son, our Lord, who liveth with Thee." [Famulorum
tuorum quaesumus, Domine, delictis ignosce, ut qui tibi placere de
nostris actibus non valemus, Genetricis Filii tui, Domini nostri,
intercessione salvemur, qui tecum vivit.--Vern. clxix.]

On the vigil of the Epiphany, this prayer is offered in the
Post-communion at the mass,--"Let this communion, O Lord, purge us from
guilt, and by the intercession of the blessed Virgin,