Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

I am black and beautiful,

O Daughters of Jerusalem

Like the tents of Qedar,

like the curtains of Solomon...

Your cheeks lovely in pendants,

your neck in jewels.

We will make pendants of gold for you,

and ornaments of silver...

I am a flower of Sharon,

a lily of the valleys.

 Like a lily among thorns,

so is my friend among women ...

Arise, my friend, my beautiful one,

and come!

For see, the winter is past,

the rains are over and gone ...

O Mary,

You are beautiful in every way,

there is no stain in you!

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A garden enclosed, my Queen, my Mother,

a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed!

Who is this coming up from the desert,

leaning upon her lover?

Hail, O you who crushed the error of deceit!
Hail, O you who exposed the fraud of idols!
Hail, O Sea who drowned the symbolic Pharaoh!
Hail, O Rock who quenched those who thirst for Life!
Hail, O Pillar of Fire who guided those in darkness!
Hail, O Shelter of the World, wider than the clouds!
Hail, O Food who took the place of Manna!
Hail, O Handmaid of holy delight!
Hail, O Land of the promised good!
Hail, O you who flow with milk and honey!
Hail, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!

Pray for us O holy Mother of God,

that we may be made worthy

of the promises of Christ.

Amen.

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Ed. noted:  Madonna del Carmine detta la Bruna.

The origin of the cult to St. Mary of Carmel, so-called "la Bruna", in Naples (Italy), goes back to the XIIIth century and is connected with an icon of the Virgin with the Child kept in a small church dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari. According to one tradition, the said icon was brought by the Carmelite friars who were forced to leave Mount Carmel and landed in Naples about the middle of the XIIIth century (certainly before 1268). - Source