Hail, Holy Queen
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope, all hail!
To thee we cry, poor banished sons of Eve;
to thee we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious Advocate,
thine eyes of mercy towards us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus,
O merciful, O kind, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Text: The Raccolta, translated by Ambrose St John (1880), public domain.
In Latin
Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae.
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte.
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
About this prayer
The Salve Regina was written in the eleventh century, perhaps by Hermann of Reichenau; St Bernard is often credited with its closing cry, though that is legend. Monks sang it at the end of the day, and it is still sung at Compline for much of the year. It closes the Rosary.