Hail Mary
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- This article is about a Christian prayer. For other meanings, see Hail Mary (disambiguation).
Hail Mary or Angelic Salutation (from the Latin Ave Maria (Salutatio Angelica)), is a traditional Catholic and Eastern Orthodox prayer calling for the intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Rooted mainly in Biblical texts, the Ave Maria developed in the Middle Ages; in this context, Mary is known as the Theotokos or Blessed Virgin. The prayer is also used by other denominations in the Catholic tradition, notably Anglo-Catholic members of the Anglican Communion. In the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, it is known as the "Angelic Salutation" as well as being called the "Hail Mary."
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[edit] Origin and Greek text
The original Greek text of the prayer is as follows:
- Θεοτόκε Παρθένε, χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη Μαρία, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ. εὐλογημένη, σὺ ἐν γυναιξί, καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου, ὅτι Σωτήρα ἔτεκες τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν.
- Mother of God and Virgin, hail, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, for thou hast given birth to the Saviour of our souls.
The first part of the prayer is the salutation of the Archangel Gabriel as reported in the Gospel of Luke 1:28 "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee". The second is from the greeting given to Mary by her cousin Elizabeth in Luke 1:42 "Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb", and a reinforcement of basic Christian belief in the real divinity and real humanity of Jesus.
The words "full of grace", as noted above, come from Luke 1:28. The Greek behind this phrase consists of the single word kecharitomene which admits of various translations. Renderings can include "graced one" (hence "full of grace") or "favored one" or "the one to whom has been given freely [or: bestowed]" and since kecharitomene is a feminine word, one could also say "she who is full of grace" or "Lady full of grace," etc. The concept of grace meant one thing in the Bible and something else later on, and the later concept of grace is one Orthodox and Roman Catholic faithful are more comfortable with than are Protestant Christians, in relation to the Virgin Mary. Hence the translation "full of grace" reflects an understanding of Luke 1:28 that is more popular with Orthodox and Roman Catholics, while other versions of Luke 1:28, emanating from Protestant circles, have tended to use a wording such as "highly favored." The Greek word in the hymn translated "hail" is indeed a greeting that carries that meaning, while the word etymologically has the meaning "rejoice", which latter rendering is favored among many Orthodox translators of the hymn (see below).
[edit] Latin version
As a separate formula for Roman Catholic devotion, the "Hail Mary" dates to the 11th century [1]– though a pious tale has it miraculously recited to Ildephonsus of Toledo (fl. 7th century). For most of the Middle Ages, the form taken by the prayer in the Roman Catholic world was:
- Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum.
- Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
- Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
- Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
A closing petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." became common practice in the West around the time of the Council of Trent and is stated by the official "Catechism of the Council of Trent" to have been "framed by the Church itself" [2].
The current Latin version is as follows:
- Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum. Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.
- Sancta María, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatóribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.
- 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.
[edit] Usage
In the East, the prayer is very common in the original Greek form, or in translations from it. Although it is not said as often as in the West, it is well known, oft-invoked, and appears in several canons of prayer. The prayer, in its Orthodox rendering "Rejoice Virgin" (see below) is typically sung thrice at the end of Vespers, as well as occurring many times in the course of daily prayer.
The Hail Mary is the essential element of the Rosary, a prayer method practiced primarily by Roman Catholics, comprised of three sets of five Mysteries meditating upon the Birth, Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. Each of these Mysteries is prayed as a decade (ten), consisting of one Our Father (Pater Noster or The Lord's Prayer), ten Hail Marys, and one 'Glory Be' (Gloria Patri) (Doxology). As the devotion to the Rosary is foreign to the East (except to the heavily Latinised Ukrainian and Maronite Churches), it does not appear in the East in the form of the Rosay. It is also the central part of the Angelus, a devotion generally recited thrice daily by many Catholics, as well as some Anglicans and Lutherans.
[edit] Translations of the Hail Mary from the Greek
[edit] Romanian
- Născătoare de Dumnezeu, Fecioară, bucură-te
- cea ce eşti plină de dar,
- Domnul este cu tine,
- binecuvântată eşti tu între femei
- şi binecuvântat este rodul pântecelui tău,
- că ai născut pe Christos,
- mântuitorul sufletelor noastre.
[edit] Slavonic
There exist two variant versions in Church Slavonic:
- Богородице дѣво радѹйсѧ
- ωбрадованнаѧ Марїе
- Господь съ тобою
- благословена ты въ женахъ,
- и благословенъ плодъ чрева твоегω,
- Якω родила еси Христа Спаса,
- Избавителѧ дѹшамъ нашимъ.
- Virgin Mother of God, rejoice,
- Mary full of grace,
- the Lord is with thee.
- Blessed art thou among women,
- and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
- for thou hast borne Christ the Saviour,
- the Deliverer of our souls.
- Богородице дѣво, радѹйсѧ,
- Благодатнаѧ Марїе,
- Господь съ тобою:
- благословена Ты въ женахъ,
- и благословенъ плодъ чрева Твоегω;
- якω Спаса родила еси дѹшъ нашихъ.
- Virgin Mother of God, rejoice,
- Mary full of grace,
- The Lord is with thee.
- Blessed art thou among women,
- and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
- for thou hast borne Christ the Saviour of our souls
The first is the older, and remains in use by the Old Believers as well as those who follow the Ruthenian recension (among them the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Ruthenian Catholic Church). The second appeared in 1656 under the liturgical reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, and is in use by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church).
[edit] Translations of the Hail Mary from the Latin
[edit] Musical settings
The Hail Mary in Latin, as the Ave Maria, has been set to music numerous times. Among the most famous settings is the version by Charles Gounod (1859), adding melody and words to Johann Sebastian Bach's first prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier. Antonín Dvořák's version was composed in 1877. Another setting of Ave Maria was written by Giuseppe Verdi for his 1887 opera Otello. Russian composer César Cui, who was raised Roman Catholic, set the text at least three times: as the "Ave Maria," op. 34, for 1 or 2 women's voices with piano or harmonium (1886), and as part of two of his operas: Le Flibustier (premiered 1894) and Mateo Falcone (1907).
In Slavonic, the text was also a popular subject for setting to music by Eastern European composers. These include Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Bortniansky and several others.
This text was also very often set by composers in the Renaissance, including Jacques Arcadelt, Josquin Desprez, Orlando di Lasso, and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Before the Council of Trent there were actually different versions of the text, so the earlier composers in the period sometimes set versions of the text different from the ones shown above. Josquin Desprez, for example, himself set more than one version of the Ave Maria. Here is an example of a text set by Josquin which begins with the first six words above, but continues with a poem in rhymed couplets:
- Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, Virgo serena.
- Ave cuius conceptio,
- solemni plena gaudio,
- celestia, terrestria,
- nova replet letitia.
- Ave cuius nativitas,
- nostra fuit solemnitas,
- ut lucifer lux oriens
- verum solem preveniens.
- Ave pia humilitas,
- sine viro fecunditas,
- cuius annunciatio
- nostra fuit salvatio.
- Ave vera virginitas,
- immaculata castitas,
- cuius purificatio
- nostra fuit purgatio.
- Ave preclara omnibus
- angelicis virtutibus,
- cuius fuit assumptio
- nostra glorificatio.
- O Mater Dei, memento mei. Amen.
Franz Schubert's Ellens dritter Gesang (D839, Op 52 no 6, 1825) is often misidentified as "Schubert's Ave Maria" because it opens with the greeting "Ave Maria" ("Hail Mary"), even though it is not a setting of the traditional Ave Maria prayer. The original text of Schubert's song is from Sir Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake and was translated into German by Adam Storck. Adding to the confusion, the traditional Ave Maria prayer is often sung to Schubert's melody of Ellens dritter Gesang; and in Walt Disney's Fantasia, the tune is used with yet another text beginning with the phrase.
[edit] See also
- Theotokos
- Prayer to Mary (Mary, the mother of Jesus)
- Mariology, the theological study of Mary
- Prayer beads and prayer rope
- Marian apparitions
- Marian shrine
- Rosary
- Hail Mary pass
[edit] External links
- The prayer on roman-catholic-prayers.com
- Ave Maria on video/audio sung by Sharon Janis
- Catholic Encyclopedia 1910: Hail Mary
- Brief commentary on the Hail Mary from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
- Ave Maria article in Christian Cyclopedia
- Various Ave Maria hymn Ave Maria(MIDI by JE1EMU)
- Text of the Hail Mary in many foreign languages
