An Old Prayer for a New Year

Abbot Brendan Thomas • December 31, 2024

Mother of God, Mary Most Holy

Manchester might be an unlikely place, but there is preserved a small fragment of an Egyptian papyrus, precious to us, because it is the oldest known prayer we have to Our Lady, older than the Hail Mary. It is dated to as early as the year 250.

It addresses the Virgin as Theotokos, God-bearer, Mother of God. We sing that prayer many an evening at Compline, in Latin or English: Sub Tuum Praesidium, confugimus. “Mother of God, Mary most holy, our refuge in every need.”

The Church had long valued the special prayer and protection of Mary, and when the Council of Ephesus formally adopted the title of Mother of God to Mary in 431 the people spontaneously took to the streets in celebration. They carried their torches, the women led the way with their censers, and joy spread throughout the city.

Mary has long accompanied the Church in its procession down the centuries, the pilgrim people of God on their way. As we move to a new calendar year, we celebrated the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and we entrust what has been of this past year to God, and ask Mary to continue to accompany us in this New Year, in whatever it might bring.

Help us, Mary,
by teaching us to treasure what you treasure, Christ,
by teaching us to ponder the graces we have received from God.
Help us to live this New Year well,
renewed by our celebration of the mystery of Christ’s birth.

We thank all our friends for the love and support you have showed us this last year. Be assured of our continued prayers for you and your loved-ones. Please remember us here at Belmont and our brothers in Peru and on our parishes.

Abbot Brendan

This fragment is believed to be not only the earliest copy (in Greek) of the prayer, but also the earliest evidence that survives of Christians addressing the Virgin Mary as "theotokos" ("bearer of God"), a title which was only officially authorized at the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE. Roberts, the first editor of the papyrus, dated it tentatively to the fourth century CE. The date was estimated palaeographically, by comparing the handwriting with other manuscripts. However, papyrologists have suggested a later date range, from the fifth to the eighth century CE.

The Prayer in English

We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God; Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

The Prayer in Latin

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.

University of Manchester link

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