Hail Mary

Hail Mary, a principal prayer of the Roman Catholic Church, comprising three parts, addressed to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is recited in the devotional practice of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin and is often assigned as penance during the sacrament of reconciliation (confession).

The Latin text of the prayer reads:

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.

The English translation is as follows:

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Hail, Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among 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 first part, the words of the archangel Gabriel when he announced to Mary the birth of Jesus (an event often referred to as the Annunciation; Luke 1:28), appears in liturgies as early as the 6th century. The second part, the words of Elizabeth when she was visited by Mary about the sixth month of her pregnancy with St. John the Baptist (an event referred to as the Visitation; Luke 1:42), was added to the first part by about 1000 ce, with the appositive Jesus being added some two centuries later, possibly by Pope Urban IV (reigned 1261–64). The closing petition came into general use during the 14th or 15th century and received its official formulation in the reformed breviary of Pope Pius V in 1568.

Of the many musical settings of the prayer, the “Ave Maria” of Franz Schubert is perhaps the most widely known.