Mary

Scots, Mary Queen of (b. Dec. 8, 1542; d. Feb. 8, 1587). A metrical prayer in Latin:—
"0 Domine Deus! speravi in Te; 0 care mi Jesu! nunc libera me. In dura catena, in misera poena, desidero te; Languendo, gemendo, et genu flectendo, Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me" is given in several works including Julian Sharman's Poems of Mary, Queen of Scots, 1873, as the composition of the ill-fated Queen. It is said that it was written by her on the fly-leaf of her prayer-book (Horae in laudem B. M. Virgin) the night before her execution. This book—or at any rate what is regarded as such—is in the library of Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. It has been examined for the purposes of this Dictionary. The Prayer is not therein, nor is there any evidence of any portion of the book having been torn away. This fact raises a grave doubt as to its authorship which we are unable to settle. The Praye has been translated by several persons, including J. Fawcett, 1782, J. W. Hewett, 1859, p. 145, &c.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)