Blessed Mother,
Saint Augustine, the bright light of doctors, contemplated you,
and you appeared to him so fair and beautiful,
that he called you the countenance of God,
and it did not seem to him adulation.
Your devout son Albert the Great contemplated you,
and to him it seemed that all the graces and gifts
which were in the most celebrated women of the old dispensation,
were all in a much higher degree in you:
The golden mouth of Sarah, which, smiling,
rejoices Heaven and earth;
the sweet and tender look of the faithful Lia,
with which you softened the heart of God,
hardened against sinners;
the splendor of countenance of the beautiful Rachel,
for with your beauty you eclipsed the sun;
the grace and demeanor of the discreet Abigail,
by which you appeased an angry God;
the vivacity and strength of the valiant Judith,
for by your power and grace you subdued
the most ferocious hearts.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.