The Alma Redemptoris Mater is one of the four seasonal Marian antiphons, sung from the First Sunday of Advent through the Feast of the Presentation (February 2). It honors Mary as the "loving Mother of the Redeemer."
English
Loving Mother of the Redeemer,
gate of heaven, star of the sea,
assist your people who have fallen
yet strive to rise again.
To the wonderment of nature you bore your Creator,
yet remained a virgin after as before.
You who received Gabriel's joyful greeting,
have pity on us poor sinners.
Latin
Alma Redemptoris Mater,
quae pervia caeli porta manes,
et stella maris, succurre cadenti,
surgere qui curat, populo.
Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante,
tuum sanctum Genitorem,
Virgo prius ac posterius,
Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave,
peccatorum miserere.
Origin: Traditionally attributed to Hermann of Reichenau (1054), a Benedictine monk. Chaucer famously references this antiphon in "The Prioress's Tale."