Blessed Be Your Purity
Bendita sea tu pureza
A Franciscan friar in Spain, Antonio Panes, wrote this ten-line poem in the 1600s, and it crossed the ocean with the missionaries. It praises Mary, hands her soul, life and heart, and ends with a child’s plea not to be left alone. Across Latin America it is prayed after the rosary and at the bedside, often as the very last words of the day.
Fray Antonio Panes, O.F.M., 17th century
Blessed be your purity,
and blessed may it ever be,
for God himself takes his delight
in beauty so full of grace.
To you, heavenly Princess,
holy Virgin Mary,
I offer on this day
my soul, my life and my heart.
Look on me with compassion;
do not leave me, my Mother.
Amen.