Paul III and the Marian feasts of the Breviary of Quiñones – hymns to Mary (Doctrina Pontificia IV, nn. 152-160)
Paul III (1534-1549) is the pope who convoked the Council of Trent, but he is also the pope who approved the Marian feasts of the Breviary of Quiñones, one of the greatest liturgical reforms of the pre-Tridentine centuries. His Marian documents (nn. 152-160) cover these feasts and three beautiful Hymns to Mary composed for the Breviary.
| Collection | Doctrina Pontificia IV: Marian Documents, nn. 152-160 |
| Popes | Leo X (1513-1521) | Adrian VI (1522-1523) | Clement VII (1523-1534) | Paul III (1534-1549) |
| Period | 1520-1536 |
| Topic | Marian feasts in the Breviary; Hymns to Mary |
Leo X (1513-1521), nn. 149-150: “Pastoris aeterni”
The Bull Pastoris aeterni (October 6, 1520) of Leo X, the pope of Luther’s excommunication, contains two Marian numbers on devotion to Mary and on the Marian confraternities in Portugal. It is notable that, in the same year in which the pope confronted the Reformation, he reaffirmed Marian devotion as an element of the Christian faith that cannot be renounced.
Adrian VI (1522-1523) and Clement VII (1523-1534)
The very brief pontificates of Adrian VI (the last non-Italian pope before John Paul II) and Clement VII (the pope of the Sack of Rome, 1527) did not produce specific Marian documents listed with a number of their own in Doctrina Pontificia IV, but both confirmed Marian devotion, against the Protestant criticisms, as a point of the Catholic faith that cannot be renounced.
Paul III (1534-1549), nn. 152-160: the Breviary of Quiñones and hymns to Mary
The Constitution Breviarium divini officii (July 3, 1536) approves the Breviary of Francisco de Quiñones, a reform of the divine office that included renewed Marian feasts with richer texts. The six documents (nn. 152-157) define the principal Marian feasts of the Breviary.
The most beautiful numbers are the Hymns to Mary (nn. 158-160), three liturgical compositions of great poetic richness approved by Paul III.
n. 158, Hymn I to Mary
«Ave Maris stella, / Dei Mater alma / atque semper Virgo / felix caeli porta. […] / Monstra te esse matrem, / sumat per te precem / qui pro nobis natus / tulit esse tuus»
, Hail, star of the sea, / nurturing Mother of God / and ever Virgin / happy gate of Heaven. […] / Show yourself a Mother, / may he receive through you the prayer, / he who, born for us, / willed to be your Son.
nn. 159-160, Hymns II and III to Mary
The two complementary hymns celebrate Mary as Dawn of salvation (“Aurora spei”), Queen of Heaven (“Regina caelorum”), and Auxiliatrix of the faithful (“Auxilium christianorum”), titles that prefigure the invocations of the Litany of Loreto.
Further reading
Explore Mariology, Marialis Cultus (Paul VI), Sacrosanctum Concilium, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.
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