External Solemnity of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary 2024
Recessional hymn: Daily, Daily Sing to Mary, 912
Kyriale: Mass IX, 731; Credo I, 768
Motet at the offertory: Ave Maria, Reverend Jean Mouton
Hymn at the communion: Ave Maris Stella, Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474)
This past Friday was the feast of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is again celebrated this Sunday as an External Solemnity for the Sung Mass. There are plentiful settings of the Ave Maria but today’s setting by Reverend Jean Mouton uses some notable variations to this perennial prayer. It begins with Hail Mary the Lord is thee, as normal then adds, in your heart, and in your womb. Fr. Mouton lived prior to the Council of Trent, and as such the latter invocation had not become standard to the prayer. Yet in this setting to the final portion of the composition he adds, O Mary, bearer of God, pray for us.
Reverend Jean Mouton (c. 1459–1522) was a French priest and composer of the Renaissance. He was famous both for his motets, which are among the most refined of the time, and for being the teacher of the famous composer Adrian Willaert, one of the founders of the Venetian School. Over 100 of his compositions survive today and Pope Leo X rewarded him with the honorary title, apostolic notary on the occasion of a motet he composed for the pope in 1515.