drive far from me all the snares and craft of my enemies. Amen.
Hail, Mary, &c. Holy Mary, Mother of God, as God the Son in the excellence of his unsearchable wisdom hath endued thee with so great knowledge, and filled thee with so great light that thou knowest the most Holy Trinity more truly and intimately than all saints, do thou so enlighten my soul in the hour of my death with the knowledge of the faith, that no error or ignorance may lead it astray. Amen.
Hail, Mary, &c. Holy Mary, Mother of God, as the Holy Spirit hath poured into thee the sweetness of his love with such abundance, that thou art after God the sweetest and most benign of beings, do thou pour into my soul at the hour of my death the sweetness of divine love, that its every bitterness may be rendered sweet to me. Amen.
Our Lord himself taught St. Gertrude to invoke his blessed Mother daily with the words: O thou our Advocate, turn on us those pitying eyes of thine; assuring her that she would thus receive great consolation in her last hour.
THE SWORDS OF SORROW
Which pierced the heart of the Blessed Virgin in the Passion of her Son.
THE FIRST SWORD.
O Most sorrowful Virgin Mary, I recall to thy mind now that sword of sorrow which pierced
