Hail Mary
From The Catholic Guide
Also known as the “Ave Maria” from the first words in its Latin form, the most familiar of all the prayers used by the Church in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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Composition
The Hail Mary has three distinct parts, from three separate sources. The first, "Hail (Mary) full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women", comes from the words used by the Angel Gabriel in saluting the Blessed Virgin (Luke, I, 28).The second, "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb (Jesus)", is borrowed from the divinely inspired greeting of St. Elizabeth (Luke 1:42). Finally, the petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." is stated by the official Catechism of the Council of Trent to have been framed by the Church itself.
Origin and Development
It was antecedently probable that the striking words of the Angel's salutation would be adopted by the faithful as soon as personal devotion to the Mother of God manifested itself in the Church. Legend narrates how one night St. Ildephonsus of Toledo found our Blessed Lady seated in the apse of the church in his own episcopal chair with a choir of virgins around her who were singing her praises. Then St. Ildephonsus approached while genuflecting, repeating at each genuflection the words of the Angel’s greeting. Our Lady then showed her pleasure at this homage and rewarded the saint with the gift of a beautiful chasuble. The story, however, in this explicit form cannot be traced further back than Hermann of Laon at the beginning of the twelfth century.
The great collections of Marian legends which began to be formed in the early years of the twelfth century show us that this salutation of our Lady was fast becoming widely prevalent as a form of private devotion, though it is not quite certain how far it was customary to include the clause "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb".
In the thirteenth century, the Ave Maria ended with the words of St. Elizabeth: "benedictus fructus ventris tui"; it has since been extended by the introduction both of the Holy Name and of a clause of petition. As regards the addition of the word "Jesus," it is commonly said that this was due to the initiative of Pope Urban IV (1261) and to the confirmation and indulgence of John XXII. The evidence does not seem sufficiently clear to warrant positive statement on the point. Still, there, can be no doubt that this was the widespread belief of the later Middle Ages.
As Salutation
Those who first used this formula fully recognized that the Ave Maria was merely a form of greeting. It was therefore customary to accompany the words with some external gesture of homage, a genuflection, or least an inclination of the head. Kneeling at the Ave Maria was enjoined in several of the religious orders. This concept of the Hail Mary as a form of salutation explains in some measure the practice, which is certainly older than the epoch of St. Dominic and the Rosary, of repeating the greeting as many as 150 times in succession.
As Prayer
It was often made a subject of reproach against the Catholics by the Reformers that the Hail Mary which they so constantly repeated was not properly a prayer. It was a greeting which contained no petition. This objection would seem to have long been felt, and as a consequence it was not uncommon during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries for those who recited their Aves privately to add some clause at the end, after the words "ventris tui Jesus". Traces of this practice meet us particularly in the verse paraphrases of the Ave which date from this period.
In various languages there was a general tendency to conclude with an appeal for sinners and especially for help at the hour of death, as in our current form. Nevertheless, a good deal of variety prevailed in these forms of petition. At the close of the fifteenth century there was not any officially approved conclusion, and for liturgical purposes the Ave down to the year 1568 ended with "Jesus, Amen".
The official recognition of the Ave Maria in its complete form, though foreshadowed in the words of the Catechism of the Council of Trent, was finally given in the Roman Breviary of 1568. The practice of preachers interrupting their sermons near the beginning to say the Ave Maria seems to have been introduced in the Middle Ages and to be of Franciscan origin. On account of its connection with the Angelus, the Ave Maria was often inscribed on bells.
Text
| Latin | English |
|---|---|
| Ave, Maria, gratia plena, | Hail, Mary, full of grace, |
| Dominus tecum. | The Lord is with thee. |
| Benedicta tu in mulieribus, | Blessed art thou amongst women, |
| Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. | And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. |
| Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, | Holy Mary, Mother of God, |
| Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, | Pray for us sinners, |
| Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. | Now and at the hour of our death. |
| Amen. | Amen. |
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
