austerities, and the penance which thou didst so willingly undertake and so lovingly accomplish for the glory of his Name. Amen.
PRAYER TO A VIRGIN AND MARTYR.
HAIL, holy N., glorious virgin and martyr. Hail, sweetest spouse of Jesus, thou vessel of election of the Holy Ghost; like as the rose amongst thorns, and as a star in the midst of a cloud, so didst thou shine forth upon the darkness of the world. I salute and bless thee a thousandfold in that union wherewith thy loving soul is one spirit with God, and I rejoice and exult in the victory which thou hast gained in thy glorious strife. I congratulate thee on the two-fold crown, of virginity and of martyrdom, wherein thou shinest gloriously forth as a star in the firmament. For the increase of thy joy, thy glory, and thy blessedness, I offer thee the sweetest Heart of my Jesus, together with all his filial love to God the Father in his Divinity, and to Mary his Mother in his Humanity: and through that sacred-heart I commend myself to thy especial care and patronage, that by thy most holy sufferings and death, and by the merits of thy pure and virgin blood, I may obtain forgiveness of my sins, and the sure protection of divine grace in life and in death. Amen.
PRAYER TO A VIRGIN.
HAIL, holy N., graceful virgin,
