«PRAECLARA CUSTOS VIRGINUM». — Hymn of Matins for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, composed in the seventeenth century and introduced into the Breviary in 1845. The author is unknown.
In this inspired composition, the poet addresses the Immaculate Virgin with the most beautiful titles, so that she may
guide men among the reefs of this stormy sea.
BIBL.: J. K. Hefele, Beiträge zur Liturgik, Tübingen 1864, p. 313; C. Albin, La poésie du Bréviaire, Lyon n. d., pp. 519–21; V. Terreno, Gli inni dell'Ufficio divino, Mondovì 1932, p. 168; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Naples 1947, pp. 162–64. Silverio Mattei