Prayers after the Office

PRECES POST OFFICIUM

To those who, after the Little Office, shall on their knees recite with devotion the following prayer, Pope Leo X granted an indulgence in respect of those shortcomings and faults which they may have committed through human frailty while saying Office.

Coronation of the Virgin. Willem Vrelant 
Flemish, early 1460s
Getty Center [Public domain]

SACROSÁNCTÆ, et indivíduæ Trinitáti, crucifíxi Dómini nostri Jesu Christi humanitáti, beatíssimæ et gloriosíssimæ sempérque Vírginis Maríæ fœcúndæ integritáti, et ómnium Sanctórum universitáti sit sempitérna laus, honor, virtus et glória ab omni creatúra, nobísque remíssio ómnium peccatórum, per infiníta sæcula sæculórum.
TO the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the manhood of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, to the fruitful virginity of the most blessed and glorious Mary, ever a Virgin, to the entire assembly of the saints, be ascribed everlasting praise, honor, power, and glory, by every creature; and to us be granted the remission of all our sins, world without end.

R. Amen.
R. Amen

V. Beáta víscera Maríæ Vírginis, quæ portavérunt ætérni Patris Fílium.
V. Blessed is the Virgin Mary’s womb, which bore the Son of the Everlasting Father.

R. Et beáta úbera quæ lactavérunt Christum Dóminum.
R. And blessed are the paps that gave suck to Christ our Lord.

Then is said secretly a Pater and an Ave; an ‘Our Father’ and a ‘Hail Mary’.

Commentary on the image

The opening words in black letters are:

Deus in adjutórium meum inténde.Dómine, ad adjuvándum me festína.
O God,come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.

The words in red letters seem to be:

h(a)ec (verba) sunt matutine de adventu domi(ni)
Ad vesp(er)as
Literally, These (words, verba, nominative neut pl) are in the morning of the Lord's advent.
At Evensong.

The scene is set in the court, decorated with rich draperies, recalling but exceeding similar scenes here on earth such as the meeting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold between Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France in 1520.Two angels in the background represent the celestial choirs of singers and musicians.

A young woman is kneeling, her hands raised in prayer. Her hair flows loosely indicating she is a virgin. She wears a blue tunic and a blue mantle trimmed with gold. She has a halo and is wearing a crown. This is accordingly Blessed Mary, ever virgin, crowned as Queen of Heaven and our own gentle Queen and Mother.  Her blue garments recall the blue sky of heaven and the fact that she is not only Queen of Heaven but Mother of God. She is gazing to her right and seems lost in thought, recalling St Luke's words in his verses on the Nativity:

[18] And all that heard, wondered; and at those things that were told them by the shepherds.
Et omnes qui audierunt, mirati sunt : et de his quae dicta erant a pastoribus ad ipsos.
[19] But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
Maria autem conservabat omnia verba haec, conferens in corde suo. [Luke 2]

 And when recounting the finding of Jesus in the Temple:

[50] And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.
Et ipsi non intellexerunt verbum quod locutus est ad eos.
[51] And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.
Et descendit cum eis, et venit Nazareth : et erat subditus illis. Et mater ejus conservabat omnia verba haec in corde suo.  [Luke 2]

The figure on the right of the Virgin has His right hand raised in blessing. He too has a halo and is wearing a crown. This is the All Holy, God the Father of Heaven. His left hand rests upon an orb, signifying His kingship and dominion over all the earth. His royal robes include a white tunic and a rich rose-coloured mantle lined with green and trimmed with white and gold. The rose-coloured mantle recalls the liturgical colours specified my Holy Mother Church for Gaudete and Laetare Sundays in Advent and Lent.

At His right hand is seated another figure who is the mirror image of Himself: His only begotten Son, Jesus, God the Son. It is written that God made man in His own image and likeness. This is shown to be true of His only begotten Son. Jesus said to His disciples in his discourse after the Last Supper:

[7] If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him.
Si cognovissetis me, et Patrem meum utique cognovissetis : et amodo cognoscetis eum, et vidistis eum.
[8] Philip saith to him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us.
Dicit ei Philippus : Domine, ostende nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis.
[9] Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father?
Dicit ei Jesus : Tanto tempore vobiscum sum, et non cognovistis me? Philippe, qui videt me, videt et Patrem. Quomodo tu dicis : Ostende nobis Patrem? [John 14]

Between the Father and the Son is the form of a dove, hovering over Mary. This is the Holy Ghost who overshadowed the Virgin at the Incarnation of God the Son, the Word made flesh in her virginal womb. His halo completes the trinity of haloes of the one Godhead  and recalls the threefold prayer to |God in heaven:

[8] And the four living ... rested not day and night, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.
Et quatuor animalia ... requiem non habebant die ac nocte, dicentia : Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus omnipotens, qui erat, et qui est, et qui venturus est. [Apoc 11]