Tota Pulchra Es

Tota pulchra es, Maria
et macula originalis non est in te.
Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut sol.
Tota pulchra es, Maria,
et macula originalis non est in te.
Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri.
Tota pulchra es, Maria.

You are completely beautiful, Mary,
and the stain of original sin is not within you.
Your clothing is white like snow, and your face is like the sun.
You are completely beautiful, Mary,
and the stain of original sin is not within you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you are the honoured of our people.
You are completely beautiful, Mary

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. (Genesis 3:15)

And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. (Luke 1:28)

Does not wisdom call,
does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights beside the way,
in the paths she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
"To you, O men, I call,
and my cry is to the sons of men.
O simple ones, learn prudence;
O foolish men, pay attention.
Hear, for I will speak noble things,
and from my lips will come what is right;
for my mouth will utter truth;
wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth are righteous;
there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
They are all straight to him who understands
and right to those who find knowledge.
Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold;
for wisdom is better than jewels,
and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
I, wisdom, dwell in prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.
The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
I have counsel and sound wisdom,
I have insight, I have strength.
By me kings reign,
and rulers decree what is just;
by me princes rule,
and nobles govern the earth.
I love those who love me,
and those who seek me diligently find me.
Riches and honor are with me,
enduring wealth and prosperity.
My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,
and my yield than choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness,
in the paths of justice,
endowing with wealth those who love me,
and filling their treasuries.
The LORD created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the sons of men.
And now, my sons, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
Happy is the man who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
For he who finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the LORD;
but he who misses me injures himself;
all who hate me love death." (Proverbs 8)

Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee. (Canticle of Canticles 4:7)

Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people,
And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,
And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly.
And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:
I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:
I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:
I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.
I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,
And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,
And in every nation I have had the chief rule:
And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord.
Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,
And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.
From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him.
And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.
And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.
I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion.
I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:
As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted.
I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:
And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.
I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.
As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.
Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.
For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.
My memory is unto everlasting generations.
They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.
He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin.
They that explain me shall have life everlasting.
All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth.
Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel.
He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever.*
Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the days of the new fruits.
Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest.
Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in the time of the vintage.
Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not search her out.*
For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels more deep than the great ocean.
I, wisdom, have poured out rivers.
I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water; I, like a channel of a river, and like an aqueduct, came out of paradise.
I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.
And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near to a sea:
For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off.
I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord.
I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring even to the holy age.
See ye that I have not laboured myself only, but for all that seek out the truth. (Ecclesiasticus 24)

Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array? (Canticle of Canticles 6:10)

And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (Revelation 12:1)

"Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5)

When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:26-27)

Comments

[A Simple Sinner]

I was not familiar with the origin of this beautiful prayer so I looked it up online and thought I would share. I was glad I did so!

"Tota pulchra es"

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Tota pulchra es is an old Catholic prayer, written in the fourth century AD. It is one of the five antiphons for the psalms of Second Vespers for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The title means "You are completely beautiful" (referring to the Virgin Mary). It speaks of her immaculate conception. It takes some text from the apocryphal book of Judith, and other text from Song of Songs.

[Jeanette O'Toole]

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