“TE MATER ALMA NUMINIS.” — Hymn at Lauds on the feast of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, inserted into the office of the feast and approved by Benedict XIV for Venice and its dioceses on 16 August 1751 (Decreta SS. Rituum Congr. ab an. 1751 usque ad an. 1753, fol. 242).
It was introduced into the Breviary in 1931 when Pius XI extended the feast to the Universal Church in commemoration of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus, at which, against Nestorius, the Blessed Virgin was acclaimed Mother of God. In it we pray the Madonna to shield us from the snares of Satan and to win for us the divine clemency.
BIBL.: G. G. Belli, Gli inni del Breviario tradotti, Roma 1856, p. 512; C. Albin, La poésie du Breviare, Lyon n.d., p. 516; A. Mirra, Gli inni del Breviario romano, Napoli 1947, p. 185. Silvestro Mattei