To this form of thanksgiving the church of God has wisely added prayers to, and an invocation of, the most holy Mother of God, by which we piously and humbly fly to her patronage, in order that, by interposing her intercession, she may conciliate the friendship of God to us miserable sinners, and may obtain for us those blessings which we stand in need of in this life and in the life to come.
When we say by way of prayer: ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women,’ we render to God the highest praise and return him most grateful thanks, because he accumulated all his heavenly gifts on the most Holy Virgin and to the Virgin herself, for this her singular felicity, we present our respectful and fervent congratulations.Īnd this is the description in the Catechism of the second part: The first part of the Angelical Salutation. This is what the Catechism says about the first part: The Catechism of the Council of Trent breaks down the Hail Mary prayer into two parts when defining what it means. Theotokos Virgin, rejoice, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with You.īlessed are You among women, and blessed is the fruit of Your womb,įor You have borne the Savior of our souls.
It is usually sung three times at the end of Great Vespers during an All-Night Vigil, as well as many times in the course of daily prayer. The Hail Mary is used by Orthodox Christians (Eastern Orthodox) and Oriental Orthodox. The Hail Mary, also known as Hail Mother of God, The Angelic Salutation, or Ave Maria (Latin title used by Roman Catholics) is a traditional Christian prayer asking for the intercession of the Holy Virgin Mary known in the Orthodox Church as Theotokos (meaning "God-bearer" or "Birth-giver to God"), the mother of Jesus Christ. Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesus. and ‘benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui’ occurred in almost every part of the Cursus, and though we cannot be sure that these clauses were at first joined together so as to make one prayer, there is conclusive evidence that this had come to pass only a very little later.Īnd blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Two Anglo-Saxon manuscripts at the British Museum, one of which may be as old as the year 1030, show that the words ‘Ave Maria’ etc. All the evidence suggests that it took its rise from certain versicles and responsories occurring in the Little Office or Cursus of the Blessed Virgin which just at that time was coming into favor among the monastic orders. In point of fact, there is little or no trace of the Hail Mary as an accepted devotional formula before about 1050. Though the two verses are from the same book in the Bible, these lines were not put together until about the 11th century. To many Catholics, this event is also called the Visitation. The second passage can be found in Luke 1:42, and it says, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” These words were said by Elizabeth when she visited Mary and greeted her.
The first one, found in Luke 1:28, says, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” This was mentioned by the angel Gabriel when she greeted Mary this event is also known as the Annunciation. The Hail Mary prayer stems from two passages in the gospel of Luke.