Type of the Priesthood with its Virgin Spouse,
The Immaculate Church, our Mother ever fair!
Since even to me God's wondrous grace allows
An office more than seraphim may share,
I kneel to thee, most gentle Saint, and dare
To choose thee patron of the trust. Oh! make
My evermore fidelity thy care,
And keep me Mary's, for her own sweet sake!
Her knight before, and poet, now her priest
(Nor less her slave—a thousandfold the more),