“O Sanctissima" (O most holy) is a Roman Catholic hymn in Latin, seeking the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and often sung on her feast days. O SANCTISSIMA O Most Holy One Marian May Crowning Blessed Mother ASSUMPTION Hymn lyrics words text
O sanctissima, o piissima,
dulcis Virgo Maria!
Mater amata, intemerata,
ora, ora pro nobis.

Tu solatium et refugium,
Virgo Mater Maria.
Quid quid optamus, per te speramus;
ora, ora pro nobis.

Ecce debiles, perquam flebiles;
salva nos, o Maria!
Tolle languores, sana dolores;
ora, ora pro nobis.

Virgo, respice, Mater, aspice;
audi nos, o Maria!
Tu medicinam portas divinam;
ora, ora pro nobis.

O most holy, o most loving,
sweet Virgin Mary!
Beloved Mother, undefiled,
pray, pray for us.

You are solace and refuge,
Virgin, Mother Mary.
Whatever we wish, we hope it through you;
pray, pray for us.

Look, we are weak and deeply deplorable;
save us, o Mary!
Take away our lassitude, heal our pains;
pray, pray for us.

Virgin, look at us, Mother, care for us;
hear us, o Mary!
You bring divine medicine;
pray, pray for us.

An 1820 book claims, without verification, that the first lines of the Latin text were already engraved at Speyer Cathedral at the time of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153).

After being published anonymously by European Magazine in 1792[1] and then by an American magazine in 1794,[3] by the early 1800s "O Sanctissima" was spreading widely in multiple languages. J.G. Herder included the song posthumously in his prominent book of traditional folksongs (Stimmen der Völker in Liedern, 1807),[4] while Haydn (Hob. XXIIIc:F2)[5] and Beethoven (WoO 157:4)[6] each wrote choral arrangements of the Latin hymn. A German-language version ("O du fröhliche", c.1816)[7] became a well-known Christmas carol, with original lyrics by J.D. Falk referring not to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but rather to Jesus himself and his day of birth. In English:

O, how joyfully; O, how merrily
Christmas comes with its grace divine.
Grace again is beaming; Christ the world redeeming.
Hail, ye Christians, hail the joyous Christmas time!

Or, in another English-language rendition:

O thou happy, O thou holy,
Glorious peace bringing Christmas time.
Angel throngs to meet thee; on Thy birth we greet Thee:
Hail to Christ, the Son of God, our newborn king!

In the 20th century, a group of textual variants commonly known as "O Thou Joyful" became popular in the United States. Although most of these texts are anonymous, one has been attributed to William Glass.[8]

By 1835, the tune (with its first half repeated) also came to be used for the English recessional hymn "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing",[9] and by 1945 it appears to have influenced the melody of the American civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome", with a close match between the first half of both tunes. from WIKI

VIDEO AND Vocals/Instrumentals COPYRIGHT (c) 2018
by CHARLES ELMER SZABO, BMI

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