“No sin would touch her, so that she would be a fitting and worthy vessel of the Son of God. The Immaculate Conception does not refer to the virginal conception and the birth of Christ, but rather to Mary’s being conceived without inheriting Original Sin.” (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, 142-143)

In this presentation by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Richard-Jacob Forcier, OFM Conv. explains the prayer, “Tota Pulchra es Maria” which is prayed during Advent instead of “The Angelus.” Friar Richard-Jacob is our Province Secretary, working from our Provincial House, in Ellicott City, MD. He also serves as Director and Rector of The Shrine of St. Anthony and Spiritual Guardian of the Companions of St. Anthony, who produced the video below.

Tota Pulchra

℣.     You are all fair, O Mary.
℟.    You are all fair, O Mary.
℣.     The original stain is not in you.
℟.     The original stain is not in you.
℣.     You are the glory of Jerusalem.
℟.     You are the joy of Israel.
℣.     You are the honor of our people.
℟.     You are the advocate of sinners.
℣.     O Mary.
℟.     O Mary.
℣.     Virgin most prudent.
℟.     Mother most merciful.
℣. Pray for us.
℟. Interceded for us with Our Lord Jesus Christ.
℣. In Your Conception, O Virgin, You were Immaculate.
℟. Pray for us to the Father whose Son You have borne.
Let us pray: Father, you prepared the Virgin Mary to be the worthy mother of your Son. You let her share beforehand in the salvation Christ would bring by his death, and kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Help us by her prayers to live in your presence without sin. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Friar Richard-Jacob also speaks in the video presentation of the choral arrangement by our confrere from Rome, Friar Alessandro Borroni, OFM Conv., which is heard during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception Novena Prayers, at our Curia’s Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli, in Rome.
Enjoy this recording of it from 2013:

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On December 8, 2020, Friar Richard celebrated Mass for the Solemnity with the lay staff and Br. Douglas, of the Ellicott City Campus Ministries, in our Chapel at The Shrine of St. Anthony: