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On the first day of the year, I would like to share with you, dear Reader, the Ronald Knox translation of Dante Alighieri's hymn to Mary:
Maiden, yet a mother,
Daughter of thy Son,
High beyond all other,
Lowlier is none;
Thou the consummation
Planned by God's decree,
When our lost creation
Nobler rose in thee!
Thus his place preparèd,
He who all things made
'Mid his creatures tarried,
In thy bosom laid;
There his love he nourished,
Warmth that gave increase
To the root whence flourished
Our eternal peace.
Lady, lest our vision,
Striving heavenward, fail,
Still let thy petition
With thy Son prevail
Unto whom all merit,
Pow'r and majesty
With the Holy Spirit
And the Father be.
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