Omnis expertem

Lo! Mary is exempt from stain of sin

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Omnis expertem maculæ Mariam
Edocet summus fidei magister;
Virginis gaudens celebrat fidelis
Terra triumphum.
Ipsa se præbens humili puellæ
Virgo spectandam, recreat paventem,
Seque conceptam sine labe sancto
Prædicat ore.
O specus felix, decorate divæ
Matris aspectu! veneranda rupes,
Unde vitales scatuere pleno
Gurgite lymphæ.
Huc catervatim pia turba nostris,
Huc ab externis peregrina terris
Affluit supplex, et opem potentis
Virginis orat.
Excipit Mater lacrimas precantum,
Donat optatam miseris salutem;
Compos hinc voti patrias ad oras
Turba revertit.
Supplicum, Virgo, miserata casus,
Semper o nostros refove labores,
Impetrans mœstis bona sempiternæ
Gaudia vitæ.
Sit decus Patri, genitæque Proli,
Et tibi compar utriusque virtus
Spiritus semper, Deus unus, omni
Temporis ævo.

Lo! Mary is exempt from stain of sin,
Proclaims the Pontiff high;
And earth applauding celebrates with joy
Her triumph, far and high.
Unto a lowly timid maid she shows
Her form in beauty fair,
And the Immaculate Conception truth
Her sacred lips declare.
O honored cave, by Mary’s smile adorned!
O hallowed rock, whence spring
The living waters of a gushing stream,
The gifts of life to bring.
And thither from the farmost bounds of earth
The pilgrims wend their way,
And suppliant around the Virgin’s shrine
Her powerful help they pray.
The sufferers’ cry the Mother fondly hears,
And grants the longed-for grace;
And health restored, the pilgrim throng returns
Unto its native place.
O Virgin! have compassion on our needs,
Refresh us laboring on;
Obtain for us the joys of heavenly life,
When sorrow all is gone.
All praise and honor to the Father be,
And to His only Son,
And to the Spirit, power of both, for aye,
In Godhead ever One.

Author: Unknown. Meter: Sapphic and Adonic. Translation by the Benedictines of Stanbrook. There are two translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for II Vespers on the Feast of the B.V.M. Immaculate. The hymn for I Vespers is the Ave maris stella. See the note on hymn 98.

“The supreme teacher of faith solemnly affirms that Mary is free from all stain; the faithful everywhere rejoicing celebrate the triumph of the Virgin.” Summus magister: Pope Pius IX, who proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, 1854.
“The Virgin revealing herself in all comeliness to an humble maid reassures the trembling girl, and with sacred lips declares herself to have been conceived without sin.” The lowly maid to whom the Blessed Virgin appeared on eighteen different occasions was a fourteen-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubiroux. On one occasion she revealed her identity saying: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
“O fortunate grotto, honored by the apparition of the Blessed Mother! O hallowed rock, whence living waters in full stream gush forth!” The reference is to the mysterious spring from which flows the wonder-working water of Lourdes.
“Hither in troops do pious pilgrims come from our own country; hither from the foreign lands suppliant pilgrims come, and implore the aid of the powerful Virgin.” Huc: hither, to Lourdes in France. Nearly five million pilgrims, in 5,297 pilgrimages visited Lourdes from 1867 to 1908.
“The Mother receives the tears of the petitioners and grants to the afflicted the desired health; having obtained their wish the pilgrims return to their own countries.” Precantum for precantium.
“O Virgin, thou who dost compassionate the misfortunes of thy suppliants, ever alleviate our sufferings and obtain for the afflicted the blessed joys of eternal life.”