And the stars shall fall from heaven,
Whelm’d beneath destruction’s flood.
Flame and fire, and desolation
At the Judge’s feet shall go:
Earth and sea, and all abysses
Shall His mighty sentence know."
"Ave, Maris Stella." This is the favorite mediaeval Mary hymn, and perhaps the very best
of the large number devoted to the worship of the "Queen of heaven," which entered so deeply into
the piety and devotion of the Catholic church both in the East and the West. It is therefore given
here in full with the version of Edward Caswall.^502
"Ave, Maris Stella,^503
Dei Mater alma
Atque semper Virgo,
Felix coeli porta.
Hail, thou Star-of-Ocean,
Portal of the sky,
Ever-Virgin Mother
Of the Lord Most High!
Sumens illud Ave
Gabrielis ore,
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans nomen Evae.^504
Oh, by Gabriel’s Ave
Uttered long ago
Eva’s name reversing,
’Stablish peace below!
Solve vincla reis
Profer lumen coecis,
Mala nostra pelle,
Bona cuncta posce.
Break the captive’s fetters,
Light on blindness pour,(^502) Daniel (I. 204) says of this hymn: "Hic hymnus Marianus, quem Catholica semper ingenti cum favore prosecuta est,
in omnibus breviarriis, quae inspiciendi unquam mihi occasio data est, ad honorem beatissimae virginis cantandus praescribitur,
inprimis in Annunciatione; apud permultos tamen aliis quoque diebus Festis Marianis adscriptus est. Quae hymni reverentia
ad recentiora usque tempora permansit." It is one of the few hymns which Urban VIII. did not alter in his revision of the
Breviary. Mone (II. 216, 218, 220, 228) gives four variations of Ave Maris Stella, which is used as the text.
(^503) This designation of Mary is supposed to be meant for a translation of the name; maria being taken for the plural of
mare: see Gen. I: 10 (Vulgate) "congregationes aquarum appellavit maria. Et vidit Deus, quod esset bonum." (See the note in
Daniel, I. 205). Surely a most extraordinary exposition, not to say imposition, yet not too far-fetched for the middle ages, when
Greek and Hebrew were unknown, when the Scriptures were supposed to have four senses, and allegorical and mystical fancies
took the place of grammatical and historical exegesis.
(^504) The comparison of Mary with Eve—the mother of obedience contrasted with the mother of disobedience, the first
Eve bringing in guilt and ruin, the second, redemption and bliss—is as old as Irenaeus (about 180) and is the fruitful germ of
Mariolatry. The mystical change of Eva and Ave is mediaeval—a sort of pious conundrum.