Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;
blessed art thou amongst 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.
Text: the Baltimore Catechism (1885), public domain.
In Latin
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
About this prayer
Its first half joins the angel Gabriel's greeting (Luke 1:28) and Elizabeth's words to Mary (Luke 1:42). The closing petition came into general use in the late Middle Ages and was fixed in the Roman Breviary of 1568. Catholics pray it on its own, three times in the Angelus, and fifty times in the five decades of the Rosary.