Maria, Maria! / The sun cannot compare, / the moon is not so fair, / no treasure is so rare as Mary. / Pronounce her name so sweet / till praises rise to greet / the stars strewn at her feet, Maria!
Maria, Maria! / Draw to the Father nigh / with thy dear Son on high, / and pray for those who cry to Mary. / To thee our cause we plead, assist us in our need, / we beg thee, intercede, Maria!
Maria, Maria! / Beg Jesus Christ, thy Son, / the sole-begotten One, / that our guilt be undone, O Mary. / So that we may exclaim, / set free from every shame, / the wonders of thy name: Maria!
Maria, Maria! / Pray that the Spirit, He / Who overshadowed thee, / our light and guide would be, sweet Mary! / Kept steadfast in His love, / make us partakers of / unending joys above, Maria!
Alright, here's my crack at it. I decided to forego the czech arrangement with repeat symbols in favor of it being written out; this allowed me to keep the stave height to a minimum as well as alter the harmonization for the repetition of the melody. I hope you all like it. Let me know if there is a typo or voice leading error. I whipped this up pretty quickly. I'm attaching the score as well as a quick organ recording so you can hear the harmonization.
I am putting this in front of our congregation this week as our entrance hymn since it is a month of Mary. I'm excited to show it to our choir tonight. I suspect they will love it as much as I do.
PS—I re-uploaded the SATB score in my comment above with a few tweaks.
Just an update on this: we’ve used it multiple times now, and our congregation really has responded to it very well. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite hymns.
To participate in the discussions on Catholic church music, sign in or register as a forum member, The forum is a project of the Church Music Association of America.