"O Mary! I can never portray all your loveliness and grandeur, and it is my joy to succumb beneath the weight of so much glory! But since I speak in the midst of your children, your children who are my brothers, I shall continue to proclaim your praises from the depths of my heart's affection.... At your name, O Mary, Heaven rejoices, earth quivers with joy, hell fumes with impotent rage.... No, there is no creature so sublime or so humble, that invoking you, will perish. Those august basilicas, erected by the piety of mighty nations, those golden characters, those rich banners worked by royal hands, likewise the modest offerings of the sailor in your lowly chapels, in the crevices of the rock, on the shores of the sea, or even your humble picture which martyr's hands have traced upon the catacombs, all attest your power in appeasing the tempests of divine wrath, and attracting upon us heavenly benedictions. "O Mary, I have seen the most savage wilds of nature smile at your name and blossom into beauty; the pious inhabitants of the deserts celebrate your glory, the mountain echoes, the torrent billows, vie with one another in repeating your praises. I have seen great cities bring forth and cherish, under the shadow of your name, the purest and most noble virtues. I have seen youth, with generous impulse, confident ardor, and the inexpressible charm of virtue irradiating its countenance, prefer your name and the happiness of celebrating your festivals to all the enchantments of the world and its most brilliant destinies! I have seen old men, after a godless life of sixty or eighty years, rise upon their couch of pain, to remember at the sound of your name the God who had blessed their early infancy; you were to them as a pledge of security and of peaceful entrance into the Eternal City! O Mary, who are you then? _Quæ est ista?_ You are the Mother of our Saviour, and Jesus, the fruit of your womb, is the God blessed from all eternity. You are our Sister, _soror nostra es_; though a child of Adam like ourselves, you have not participated in our sad heritage, and our woes excite your deepest and most tender compassion. "O Mary! you are the masterpiece of the Divine power! You are the most touching invention of God's goodness! I could not say more--you are the sweetest smile of His mercy! O God, give eyes to those who have them not--eyes that they may see Mary and understand the beautiful light of her maternal glance; and to those who have no heart give one, that they may love Mary; for from Mary to the Word Eternal, to the Beauty ever ancient and ever new, to that uncreated Light which strengthens the feeble sight and appeases every desire of our souls, from Mary to Jesus, from the Mother to the Son, there is but a step!----