Memorare

[1] It first appears as part of a longer 15th-century prayer, "Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria."

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided.

The question of predestination, the hottest point of contention between Catholic and Calvinist theologians, tormented him while he was a student in Paris.

At the age of 18, while studying at the Jesuit run Collège de Clermont at the University of Paris, according to the book The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, by Jean-Pierre Camus: The evil spirit was permitted by God to insinuate into his mind the terrible idea that he was one of the number of the damned.

His tutor and director noticing how his health was affected, and how pale, listless, and joyless he had become often questioned him as to the cause of his dejection and evident suffering, but his tormentor who had filled his mind with this delusion, being what is called a dumb devil, the poor youth could give no explanation.

In late December, at last, led by a divine inspiration, he entered a church to pray that this agony might pass.

On his knees before a statue of the Blessed Virgin he implored the assistance of the Mother of Mercy with tears and sighs, and the most fervent devotion.

[3]According to De Sales' Selected Letters, the "torment of despair came to a sudden end" as he knelt in prayer before the statue of Our Lady of Good Deliverance (the Black Madonna) at the church of Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Paris, saying the Memorare.

Bernard's devotion to Our Lady under the title Consolatrix Afflictorum (Comforter of the Afflicted) led him to promote recourse to her intercession among the poor and condemned prisoners.

Claude Bernard, known as the "Poor Priest", zealously dedicated himself to the preaching and aiding of prisoners and criminals condemned to death.

Bernard then goes on to write in his letter that he was ashamed of his ingratitude in attributing the cure to natural causes, and asked for God's forgiveness in the matter.The "Memorare" played a part in the conversion of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne,[6] when upon the dare of a Catholic acquaintance he agreed to wear the Miraculous Medal and recite the prayer for a month.

[7] The prayer became popular in England by way of France, and appeared in the 1856 edition of Bishop Richard Challoner's The Garden of the Soul.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum of 2004 provides for partial indulgence for devoutly reciting the prayer under the normal conditions.