Marston Childbirth Prayer

(Version 1)

All Powerful, Eternal God,
     without end of beginning,
     who created everything out of nothing;
by whose power the sea was created,
     which never extends to the furthest reaches;
who made the earth and contains the flow of winds in the caves,
     and who ever now brings forth seeds out of the hardest wood with unimaginable power;
who formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and forming woman from his side,
     joined her and him in matrimony,
and for the sake of growing future generations,
     gave them perpetual progeny and a blessing, saying:
"Be fruitful and multiply, 

     and fill the earth 

          and have dominion over the birds of the air 

          and the fish of the sea 

          and beasts too, of all kinds;" 

who extraordinarily made Abraham the Patriarch and his wife Sarah fertile, 

     granting the elderly pair offspring unexpectedly 

     despite their advanced age;
who also, with the Holy Spirit, 

     sent your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 

     from your bosom to the womb of the immaculate Virgin,
so that he might lie hidden in the pregnant woman 

     as in a house in accordance with the human law,
and after the proper nine months of service, 

     as if heaving his bedroom, 

     with hs birth he leaves the Virgin's womb,
who furthermore, through that son, 

     and with twelve Apostles, 

I pray to you, God the Father,
     that the aid of your pity might extend to your pregnant servant,
          heavy with child,

     so that she may prevail in producing a child pleasing to you,

     without danger of death,
     and in nourishing a child worthy of serving you
          and devoted to worshipping you. 

By our same Lord, etc.

(Version 2)

All Powerful, Eternal God,
     without end of beginning,
     who created everything out of nothing;
by whose power the sea was created,
     which never extends to the furthest reaches;
who made the earth and contains the flow of winds in the caves,
     and who ever now brings forth seeds out of the hardest wood with unimaginable power;
who formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and forming woman from his side,
     joined her and him in matrimony,
and for the sake of growing future generations,
     gave them perpetual progeny and a blessing, saying:
"Be fruitful and multiply, 

     and fill the earth 

          and have dominion over the birds of the air 

          and the fish of the sea 

          and beasts too, of all kinds;" 

who extraordinarily made Abraham the Patriarch and his wife Sarah fertile, 

     granting the elderly pair offspring unexpectedly 

     despite their advanced age;
who also, with the Holy Spirit, 

     sent your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 

     from your bosom to the womb of the immaculate Virgin,
so that he might lie hidden in the pregnant woman 

     as in a house in accordance with the human law,
and after the proper nine months of service, 

     as if heaving his bedroom, 

     with hs birth he leaves the Virgin's womb,
who furthermore, through that son, 

     and with twelve Apostles and other Christians,

made a promise, saying,

"Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you;" 

through that son, 

just as through the Holy Spirit,

I pray to you, God the Father,
     that the aid of your pity might extend to your pregnant servant,
          heavy with child,

     so that she may prevail in producing a child pleasing to you,

     without danger of death,
     and in nourishing a child worthy of serving you
          and devoted to worshipping you. 

By our same Lord, etc.

-- Anonymous (translated from Latin by Runqi Zhang). From a medieval manuscript known as the Marston Book of Hours, originally from England. While the original manuscript is dated from 1250, this prayer is believed to have been added later, in the 4th century. Found at the Global Medieval Sourcebook: A Digital Repository of Medieval Texts, at Stanford University.

As noted in the Introduction:

"Childbirth in medieval Europe was often the most dangerous experience of a woman's life. Because of poor hygiene and a lack of gynecological knowledge, scholars have estimated that as many as ten percent of women died during childbirth or immediately afterwards. Not only did mothers die in large numbers, but as many as thirty percent of children died in the process of childbirth. In the face of these dangers, medieval people used a wide variety of charms and prayers in an attempt to improve their chances of a successful delivery.

"The Marston Childbirth Prayer is a late 14th-century childbirth prayer from England, written in Latin. This prayer provides rare insight into the life of a medieval woman, speaking directly to one of the most intimate and dangerous experiences of her life.

"The prayer draws primarily on three stories from the Christian Bible: the creation of the world, the conception of Isaac, and the conception and birth of Christ. The first part of the prayer focuses on God's generative power: the creation of land and sea, plants and animals, and Adam and Eve. The next part recalls the birth of Isaac, focusing on the miraculous fertility of Abraham and Sarah despite their advanced ages. The prayer then turns to the conception and birth of Jesus, focusing both on Mary's pregnant body and on the divine nature of her son. The three biblical narratives referenced in Marston MS 22 are all concerned with generation and are the three main foundation stories in Christianity: the birth of the world, the birth of Judaism (through Isaac, the grandfather of the twelve tribes of Israel), and the birth of Christianity (through Christ). The prayer concludes with a reminder of Christ's promise that God would intervene on behalf of those who cry out in his name. This allows the prayer, in its final lines, to petition for both mother and child to survive the pregnancy.

"Of key interest here is the way this prayer may have been used to aid a woman in childbirth. By reminding her of the biblical birthing narratives, it links the individual medieval woman with her broader Christian community and the longer arc of Christian history. In this way, the woman may feel connected to the biblical mothers it mentions and draw confidence that she, too, will be able to safely give birth."

Citation: Anonymous. "Marston Childbirth Prayer." Trans. Runqi Zhang. Global Medieval Sourcebook. http://sourcebook.stanford.edu/text/marston-childbirth-prayer. Retrieved on August 1, 2023.