Avé Maria

Avé Maria, also ANGELICA SALUTATIO or the Angelic Salutation, are names given by the Roman Catholics to a very common form of address to the Virgin Mary. Ave Maria are the first two words of the prayer, in Latin, which is taken from the angel Gabriel's salutation (Luke i. 28): 'Hail, Mary, highly favoured, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.' In this form, according to an ordinance of Gregory I., with the addition of Elizabeth's words, 'and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,' the invocation was at first said by the priests during mass, on the fourth Sunday after Advent. With the extended cult of the Virgin since the 11th century, the Ave Maria appears as a lay-prayer of equal use with the Pater Noster, and was sanctioned as such at the end of the 12th century. Accordingly, not only did Urban IV. (1261) add the concluding words, Jesus Christus, Amen, but since the first half of the 16th century, the prayer began to receive, more and more commonly, as an addition to the old formula, what constitutes the conclusion of the modern form: 'Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.' The complete form in Latin is: 'Ave Maria, gratia plena, benedicta tu in mulieribus, Dominus tecum; et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus nunc et in hora mortis nostræ, Amen.' An edict of John XXII. (1326) ordains that every Catholic shall, morning, noon, and evening, at the warning of the bells, repeat three aves. This ringing of bells as a summons to morning, mid-day, and evening prayer, is retained in some countries, and is still called the Ave Maria, or Angelus Domini. The whole prayer as it now stands is ordered in the breviary of Pius V. (1568) to be said daily before the Canonical Hours (q.v.), as well as after Compline. The aves are reckoned by the small beads of the rosary, which are hence called Ave Marias, while the large beads are devoted to the Pater Noster. The name Angelus Domini comes from the Latin version of the passage in Scripture introducing the salutation. There are famous musical settings of the Ave Maria by many of the great composers.