TheHail Mary orAve Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as theAngelic Salutation,[1][2] is a traditionalCatholic prayer addressingMary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in theGospel of Luke: theAngel Gabriel's visit to Mary (theAnnunciation) and Mary's subsequent visit toElizabeth, the mother ofJohn the Baptist (theVisitation). It is also called theAngelical Salutation, as the prayer is based on the Archangel Gabriel's words to Mary.[3] The Hail Mary is a prayer of praise for and of petition to Mary, regarded as theTheotokos (Mother of God). Since the 16th century, the version of the prayer used in theCatholic Church closes with an appeal for herintercession. The prayer takes different forms in various traditions and has often been set to music.
The Latin version of the prayer is the most common in English-speaking and other Western countries.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Translation:
Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us sinners, Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
The prayer incorporates two greetings to Mary recorded in theGospel of Luke: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee",[a] and "Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb".[b][8] In mid-13th-century Western Europe, the prayer consisted only of these words with the single addition of the name "Mary" after the word "Hail", as is evident fromThomas Aquinas's commentary on the prayer.[9]
The first of the two passages from the Gospel of Luke is the greeting of theAngel Gabriel to Mary, originally written inKoine Greek. The opening word of greeting,χαῖρε (chaíre), here translated "hail", literally has the meaning "rejoice" or "be glad". This was the normal greeting in the language in which the Gospel of Luke is written and continues to be used in the same sense inModern Greek. Accordingly, both "hail" and "rejoice" are valid English translations of the word ("hail" reflecting the Latin translation, and "rejoice" reflecting the original Greek).
According toPope Benedict XVI, "at first sight the term chaire "rejoice", seems an ordinary greeting, typical in the Greek world, but if this word is interpreted against the background of the biblical tradition it acquires a far deeper meaning. The same term occurs four times in the Greek version of the Old Testament and always as a proclamation of joy in the coming of the Messiah (cf. Zeph 3:14, Joel 2:21; Zech 9:9; Lam 4:21). The Angel’s greeting to Mary is therefore an invitation to joy, deep joy. It announces an end to the sadness that exists in the world because of life’s limitations, suffering, death, wickedness, in all that seems to block out the light of the divine goodness. It is a greeting that marks the beginning of the Gospel, the Good News."[10]
The wordκεχαριτωμένη (kecharitōménē), here translated as "graceful", admits of various translations. Grammatically, the word is the feminineperfectpassiveparticiple of the verbχαριτόω (charitóō), which means "to show, or bestow with, grace" and here, in the passive voice, "to have grace shown, or bestowed upon, one".[11]
The text also appears in the account of the annunciation contained in chapter 9 of the apocryphalInfancy Gospel of Matthew.
The second part of the prayer is taken fromElizabeth's greeting to Mary as recorded in Luke 1:42: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."[12] Taken together, these two passages are the two times Mary is greeted inchapter 1 of the Gospel of Luke.
After considering the use of similar words inSyriac, Greek and Latin in the 6th century,Herbert Thurston, writing in theCatholic Encyclopedia concludes that "there is little or no trace of the Hail Mary as an accepted devotional formula before about 1050"[12] – though a later pious tale attributed toIldephonsus ofToledo (fl. 7th century) the use of the first part, namely the angel's greeting to Mary, without that of Elizabeth, as a prayer. All the evidence suggests that it took its rise from certainversicles and responsories occurring in theLittle Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which just at that time was coming into favour among the monastic orders.
Thomas Aquinas spoke of the name "Mary" as the only word added at his time to the Biblical text, to indicate the person who was "full of grace". But at about the same time the name "Jesus" was also added, to specify who was meant by the phrase "the fruit of thy womb".
The Western version of the prayer is thus not derived from the Greek version: even the earliest Western forms have no trace of the Greek version's phrases: "Mother of God and Virgin" and "for thou hast given birth to the Saviour of our souls".
To the greeting and praise of Mary of which the prayer thus consisted, a petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death" was added later. The petition first appeared in print in 1495 inGirolamo Savonarola'sEsposizione sopra l'Ave Maria.[13] The "Hail Mary" prayer in Savonarola's exposition reads: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."[c]
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.[14]
Eleven years later, the sentence was included in theCatechism of the Council of Trent of 1566. The catechism says that to the first part of the Hail Mary, by which "we render to God the highest praise and return Him most gracious thanks, because He has bestowed all His heavenly gifts on the most holy Virgin ... the Church of God has wisely added prayers and an invocation addressed to the most holy Mother of God. ...We should earnestly implore her help and assistance; for that she possesses exalted merits with God, and that she is most desirous to assist us by her prayers, no one can doubt without impiety and wickedness."[15] Soon after, in 1568Pope Pius V included the full form as now known in his revision of theRoman Breviary.[16]
The current Latin version is thus as follows, with accents added to indicate how the prayer is said in the currentEcclesiastical Latin pronunciation:
Áve María, grátia pléna, Dóminus técum. Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus.[d] Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus, nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstrae. Amen.
Translation:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Because recitation of theAngelus, a prayer within which the Hail Mary is recited three times, is usually accompanied by the ringing of the Angelus bell, words from the Ave Maria were often inscribed on bells.[12]
The Hail Mary prayer of theEastern Orthodox Church andByzantine Rite Catholic Churches is similar to the first part of theLatin Church form, with the addition of a very brief opening phrase and a short concluding phrase. It is well known and often used, though not quite as frequently as in the Western Church. It appears in several canons of prayer. It is typically sung thrice at the end ofVespers during anAll-Night Vigil, and occurs many times in the course of daily prayer.
TheGreek text, of which those in other languages are translations, is:
God-bearing Virgin, rejoice, grace-filled Mary, the Lord with thee. Praised thou among women, and praised the fruit of thy womb, because it was the Saviour of our souls that thou borest.
To the Biblical texts this adds the opening invocation "Theotokos Virgin", the name "Mary", and the concluding phrase "because it was the Saviour of our souls that thou borest".
Another English rendering of the same text reads:
Mother of God[e] and Virgin, rejoice, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast given birth to the Saviour of our souls.
or:
God-bearing (or: Theotokos) Virgin, rejoice, O Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast brought forth the Savior of our souls.
Богородице дѣво радѹйсѧ ѡбрадованнаѧ Марїе Господь съ тобою благословена ты въ женахъ, и благословенъ плодъ чрева твоегѡ, Якѡ родила еси Христа Спаса, Избавителѧ дѹшамъ нашимъ.
Bogorodice děvo, radujsę, obradovannaę Marie, Gospodǐ sǔ toboju. blagoslovena ty vǔ ženaxǔ, i blagoslovenǔ plodǔ čreva tvoego, Jako rodila esi Xrista Spasa, Izbavitelę dušamǔ našimǔ.
Theotokos Virgin, rejoice, (or: Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos) Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast borne Christ the Saviour, the Deliverer of our souls.
Bogorodice děvo, radujsę, Blagodatnaę Marie, Gospodǐ sǔ toboju: Blagoslovena ty vǔ ženaxǔ, I blagoslovenǔ plodǔ čreva tvoego, jako Spasa rodila esi dušǔ našixǔ.
Theotokos Virgin, rejoice, (or: Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos) Mary full of grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls.
Church SlavonicBogorodice děvo in traditional Cyrillic script
„Născătoare de Dumnezeu, Fecioară, bucură-te! Ceea ce ești plină de har, Marie, Domnul este cu tine. Binecuvântată ești tu între femei și binecuvântat este rodul pântecelui tău, că ai născut pe Mântuitorul sufletelor noastre”.
The Hail Mary is the last prayer in Appendix V of the presentRoman Missal, the last of seven prayers under the heading "Thanksgiving After Mass". There it appears with "with you" instead of the traditional "with thee", "are you among" instead of the traditional "art thou amongst" and "your womb" in place of the traditional "thy womb":
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
The Hail Mary is the central part of theAngelus, a devotion generally recited thrice daily by many Catholics, as well ashigh church Anglicans, and Lutherans who usually omit the second half.
The Hail Mary is an essential element of theRosary, a prayer method in use especially amongRoman Rite (Western) Catholics. TheEastern Catholic Churches say a similar version.
The Rosary consists traditionally of three sets of fiveMysteries, each Mystery being meditated on while reciting a decade (a set of ten) of Ave Maria. The 150 Ave Maria of the Rosary thus echo the 150psalms. These Mysteries concern events of Jesus' life during his childhood (Joyful Mysteries), Passion (Sorrowful Mysteries), and from his Resurrection onwards (Glorious Mysteries). Another set, the Luminous Mysteries, is of comparatively recent origin, having been proposed byPope John Paul II in 2002. Each decade of Ave Maria is preceded by theOur Father (Pater Noster orThe Lord's Prayer) and followed by theGlory Be (Gloria Patri orDoxology). The repetition of these fixed-language prayers assists recitation from the heart rather than the head.Pope Paul V said that "the Rosary is a treasure of graces ... even for those souls who pray without meditating, the simple act of taking the beads in hand to pray is already a remembrance of God – of the supernatural".[citation needed]
Martin Luther believed that Mary should be held in highest reverence, advocating the use of the original Hail Mary (that is, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.") as a sign of reverence for and devotion to the Virgin.[20][21][j] The 1522Betbüchlein (Prayer Book) retained the Hail Mary.[5] The last part of the prayer used in Catholicism today ("Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death") was not in use in Germany at the time.[16]
SomeAnglicans also employ the Hail Mary in devotional practice.Anglo-Catholic Anglicans use the prayer in much the same way asRoman Catholics, including use of theRosary and the recitation of theAngelus. Many Anglican churches contain artistic depictions of theVirgin Mary, but only a minority use Marian devotional prayers such as the Hail Mary.[23] That manifestation of veneration of Mary, decried by some Protestants asMariolatry, was largely removed from Anglican churches during theEnglish Reformation but was reintroduced to some extent during theOxford Movement of the mid-1800s.
The Hail Mary (Ave Maria in Latin) has been set to music numerous times. The title "Ave Maria" has been given also to musical compositions that are not settings of the prayer.
One of the most famous is theversion by Franz Schubert (1825), composed asEllens dritter Gesang (Ellen's Third Song), D839, part 6 of his Opus 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's popular epic poem "The Lady of the Lake", translated into German byAdam Storck. Although it opens with the greeting "Ave Maria" ("Hail Mary"), the text was not that of the traditional prayer, but nowadays it is commonly sung with words of the prayer. Its music was used in the final segment of Disney'sFantasia.[24][25]
Anton Bruckner wrote three different settings, the best known being amotet for seven voices.Antonín Dvořák's version was composed in 1877. Another setting of Ave Maria was written byGiuseppe Verdi as part for his 1887 operaOtello. Russian composerCésar Cui, who was raised Roman Catholic, set the text at least three times: as the "Ave Maria", op. 34, for one or two women's voices with piano or harmonium (1886), and as part of two of his operas:Le flibustier (premiered 1894) andMateo Falcone (1907).
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, Virgo serena. Ave cuius conceptio, solemni plena gaudio, celestia, terrestria, nova replet letitia. Ave cuius nativitas, nostra fuit solemnitas, ut lucifer lux oriens verum solem preveniens. Ave pia humilitas, sine viro fecunditas, cuius annunciatio nostra fuit salvatio. Ave vera virginitas, immaculata castitas, cuius purificatio nostra fuit purgatio. Ave preclara omnibus angelicis virtutibus, cuius fuit assumptio nostra glorificatio. O Mater Dei, memento mei. Amen.
The much-anthologized "Ave Maria" byJacques Arcadelt is actually a 19th-century arrangement byPierre-Louis Dietsch, loosely based on Arcadelt's three part madrigal "Nous voyons que les hommes".
In the 20th century,Franz Biebl composedAve Maria (Angelus Domini), actually a setting of the Angelus prayer, in which the Ave Maria is repeated three times, but its second part only once as the climax.
^Luke 1:28:Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ;Chaire, kecharitōmenē, o Kyrios meta sou.[6]
^Luke 1:42:Εύλογηένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξὶν καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου;Eulogēmenē su en gynaixin kai eulogēmenos o karpos tēs koilias sou.[7]
^The prayer is printed in Latin on the first page of the exposition and reads:"Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum Benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus Fructus uentris tui Iesus sancta Maria mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc et in hora mortis. Amen".
^WithPope John XXIII's edition of theRoman Missal, the use of the letter J in printing Latin was dropped even in liturgical books, which had preserved that usage long after it ceased in the printing of ordinary Latin texts, including documents of the Holy See.
^Θεοτόκε literally means "God-bearer". The Greek phraseΜήτηρ Θεοῦ, corresponding literally to "Mother of God", appears regularly, in the abbreviated formΜΡ ΘΥ, inicons representing her.
^This formula translates the AramaicChalom and theArabicSalam.
^British Library - Rare Books Department, shelfmark: IA 27542.
^This sentence appeared for the first time in his catechism of 1555: Petrus Canisius, CATECHISMI Latini et Germanici, I, (ed. Friedrich Streicher, S P C CATECHISMI Latini et Germanici, I, Roma, Munich, 1933, I, 12.
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