Sub Tuum Praesidium | The OLDEST Known Hymn to the Theotokos

Link to MusicIn this episode, we learn the Sub Tuum Praesidium, the oldest existing hymn to Mary as "Theotokos" or "God-Bearer." Although the church didn't definitively teach that Mary was the Mother of God until the council of Ephesus in 431, this hymn predates that council by at least 150 years! We fly to thy protection,O Holy Mother of God;Do not despise our petitionsin our necessities,but deliver us alwaysfrom all dangers,O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.Sub tuum praesidiumconfugimus,Sancta Dei Genitrix.Nostras deprecationes ne despiciasin necessitatibus nostris,sed a periculis cunctislibera nos semper,Virgo gloriosa et benedicta