A mass performed in honor of the Virgin Mary for pregnant women or women laboring in childbirth included the following prayers:

To your assistance, oh Mary, poor women; in labor flee. I entreat you not to despise them in their necessity, but, virgin ever blessed, free them from every danger. . . .

Oh, Mary, handmaid of Christ, mother."of God, hear a poor sinner truly sighing unto you, lest infants be in danger in their mother's womb. .

Who, not being baptized, ensnared in the net of original sin, descend together into limbo, which is part of hell.

And so, Mary, succor the wretched little children, who, on account of the heavy cloud [of sin] of Adam, the first man, are there forever deprived of the vision of God.

Oh the abyss of God's many judgements, who although they perish without...