Hail Mary
[4] In addition, the Eastern Orthodox Churches have a common private prayer quite similar to the Hail Mary, though without the explicit request for intercession.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
[9] The first of the two passages from the Gospel of Luke is the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, originally written in Koine Greek.
According to Pope 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.
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.
After considering the use of similar words in Syriac, Greek and Latin in the 6th century, Herbert Thurston, writing in the Catholic 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 to Ildephonsus of Toledo (fl.
All the evidence suggests that it took its rise from certain versicles and responsories occurring in the Little 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".
The Dutch Jesuit Petrus Canisius is credited with adding in 1555 in his Catechism the sentence Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.
εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξί, καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου, ὅτι Σωτῆρα ἔτεκες τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν.
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.
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.
blagoslovena ty vǔ ženaxǔ, i blagoslovenǔ plodǔ čreva tvoego, Jako rodila esi Xrista Spasa, Izbavitelę dušamǔ našimǔ.
Богородице дѣво, радѹйсѧ, Благодатнаѧ Марїе, Господь съ тобою: благословена Ты въ женахъ, и благословенъ плодъ чрева Твоегѡ; якѡ Спаса родила еси дѹшъ нашихъ.
Bogorodice děvo, radujsę, Blagodatnaę Marie, Gospodǐ sǔ toboju: Blagoslovena ty vǔ ženaxǔ, I blagoslovenǔ plodǔ čreva tvoego, jako Spasa rodila esi dušǔ našixǔ.
The Hail Mary is the central part of the Angelus, a devotion generally recited thrice daily by many Catholics, as well as broad and high church Anglicans, and Lutherans who usually omit the second half.
The Hail Mary is an essential element of the Rosary, a prayer method in use especially among Roman Rite (Western) Catholics.
Each decade of Ave Maria is preceded by the Our Father (Pater Noster or The Lord's Prayer) and followed by the Glory Be (Gloria Patri) (Doxology).
[5] The second 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.
[23] That manifestation of veneration of Mary, decried by some Protestants as Mariolatry, was largely removed from Anglican churches during the English Reformation but was reintroduced to some extent during the Oxford Movement of the mid-1800s.
Russian composer César Cui, who was raised Roman Catholic, set the text at least three times: as the "Ave Maria", op.
Settings also exist by Mozart, Liszt, Byrd, Elgar, Saint-Saëns, Offenbach, Rossini, Brahms, Stravinsky, Mascagni, Lauridsen, David Conte and Lorenzo Perosi as well as numerous versions by less well-known composers, such as J.
In the Renaissance, this text was also set by numerous composers, including Josquin des Prez, Orlando di Lasso, Tomás Luis de Victoria, and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Here is the text of his motet "Ave Maria ... Virgo serena", which begins with the first six words above and continues with a poem in rhymed couplets.
Ave cuius nativitas, nostra fuit solemnitas, ut lucifer lux oriens verum solem preveniens.
These include Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Bortniansky, Vavilov (his version often misattributed to Caccini), Mikhail Shukh, Lyudmyla Hodzyumakha and others.
A famous setting for the Orthodox version of the prayer in Church Slavonic (Bogoroditsye Djevo) was composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in his All-Night Vigil.
Since Protestant Christianity generally avoids any special veneration of Mary, musical settings of the prayer are sometimes sung to other texts that preserve the word boundaries and syllable stresses.
