The Hail Mary

The Hail Mary is the most prayed Marian prayer in the Catholic Church. It is composed of three parts: the words of the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation (Luke 1:28), the words of Saint Elizabeth at the Visitation (Luke 1:42), and a closing petition for the Mother of God's intercession that became universal in the Western Church by the sixteenth century. Each part has its own scriptural and historical foundation, and together they form the prayer that has structured Catholic Marian devotion for fifteen hundred years.

Origin and historical development

The first part of the Hail Mary ("Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee") is the greeting of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin at the Annunciation, recorded in Luke 1:28. The Greek kecharitōmenē ("full of grace") is a perfect passive participle of the verb charitoō (to grace), indicating that Mary has been graced in a complete and abiding way. The Catholic theological tradition has always read this verse as the scriptural foundation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, defined by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus (1854).

The second part ("Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb") is the greeting of Saint Elizabeth at the Visitation, recorded in Luke 1:42. The early Church combined the angel's and Elizabeth's greetings into a single Marian salutation. The name Jesus was added at the end of the salutation (the Greek text reads "the fruit of thy womb" without specifying Jesus, but the Christian tradition added the divine Name explicitly in the prayer).

The third part ("Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death") is the petition added during the Western Middle Ages. The petition appears in various forms from the eleventh century, was crystallized in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and was approved in its current form by Pope Pius V in 1568 in the Roman Breviary. The petition draws on the title Theotokos (Mother of God), defined as a dogma by the Council of Ephesus in AD 431 against the Christological errors of Nestorius.¹

Theological structure

The Hail Mary, in its developed form, is itself a small treatise in Catholic Marian theology. The first part contemplates Mary's graced election by the Father to be the Mother of the Incarnate Word. The second part contemplates the Virgin's role as bearer of the Son of God to the world. The third part appeals to the Theotokos for her intercession on behalf of the sinful Church on its pilgrimage to heaven.

The phrase "now and at the hour of our death" names the two extremes of Christian life: the present moment, in which we labor under the conditions of fallen humanity, and the moment of death, in which the soul stands before its Judge. Catholic tradition holds that the constant recourse to Mary throughout life prepares the soul for her particular intercession at the hour of death.

When the Hail Mary is prayed

The Hail Mary is prayed:

• In every decade of the Holy Rosary, ten Hail Marys per decade, on the small beads.
• In the Angelus at six in the morning, noon, and six in the evening, three times.
• At the close of every novena (see the novenas hub).
• In the Catholic morning and evening prayers, often three times for an increase of faith, hope, and charity.
• At any moment of need or recourse to the Mother of God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that "the prayers in which she now turns to her Son in our favor" are the heart of Marian intercession (CCC 2675). The Hail Mary is the principal form of this Catholic recourse.

The Hail Mary and the Rosary

The structure of the Holy Rosary places fifty Hail Marys in the standard five-decade rosary, or two hundred Hail Marys in a complete rosary covering the four sets of mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous). The repetition of the Hail Mary in the Rosary is not a mechanical recitation; it is a meditative chant under which the soul contemplates the mysteries of the life of Christ as seen through the eyes of His Mother. Saint Padre Pio is reported to have called the rosary "the weapon for these times" and to have prayed many rosaries each day in his cell.

Pairing the Hail Mary with other prayers

The Hail Mary is paired in Catholic practice with:

• The Our Father and the Glory Be, in the basic rosary structure.
• The Memorare of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, when the Marian petition is intensified.
• The Hail Holy Queen, at the close of the rosary.
• The Angelus and the Regina Caeli, in the daily Marian rhythm.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Council of Ephesus (AD 431), defining Theotokos. Pope Pius V, Roman Breviary (1568), in which the current form of the Hail Mary was approved for the universal Roman Rite. Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), "Hail Mary," available at newadvent.org. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2676-2678 (the Marian prayer of the Church). ↩