Our Blessed Mother during Lent

Our Lady, Help of Christians

 This is right before the season of Lent begins; let us have recourse to Mary, the refuge of sinners, especially during the season of Lent. Let us get under her protective mantle, and offer this 'Sequence' for today. It is taken from the Cluny Missal, and is, once again, something we don't hear anymore.


Hail Mary, full of grace! dear Mother of Jesus, and hope of the world!

O gate of heaven! O temple of God! O haven of the sea, where sinners confidently seek shelter and repose.

Thou art the worthy bride of the great King, and, by thy powerful prayers, thou art kind and loving to all.

Thou art light to the blind, and a pure path to such as are lame. Thou art, by thy loving affection, both Martha and Mary to the needy.

Thou wast the flower among the thorns; the flower that, by its rich graces, bloomed to the divine Flower, thy Jesus.

Thou didst speak thy word, and then conceived the Word; thou didst give birth to the King of kings, thou that wast a pure Virgin.

Thou wast ever faithful to this King, thy Child; and, using a mother's privilege, thou didst feed Him at thy breast.

Now, thou art united with Him, and in reward for thy merits, thou art made the Queen of heaven and earth.

Then, pray for us, O Queen, to Him that is our King, beseeching Him to pardon us poor fallen sinners.

Show us thy wonted clemency, and, having obtained us the new life of remission of our sins, bring us to the kingdom, there to reign for ever. Amen.

Patristic origins

There are two inscriptions of the first centuries of Christianity in Greek related to the Virgin Mary:  θεοτοκος (Teotokos, Theotokos, Mother of God) and βοηθεια (Boetheia, the Helper). The Fathers of the Church referred to Mary as "βοηθεια". John Chrysostom used the title in a homily of 345, Proclus in 476 and Sebas of Caesarea in 532. After the Patristic period (5th century), other persons used it like Romanos the Melodist in 518, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius in 560, John of Damascus in 749 and German of Constantinople in 733.

In the view of Fr. Johann G. Roten, SM, the invocation of Mary as Help of Christians is part of the oldest prayer addressed directly to Mary, the Sub tuum praesidium, which was found on a papyrus dating, at the latest, from the end of the 3rd century. Praesidium is translated as "an assistance given in time of war by fresh troops in a strong manner."

(So you see, she has helped for a long time, and has been recognized for it)