Prayers to Virgin Mary
From the Church's beginnings, prayers to Virgin Mary have held a place of honor for Catholics.
Here are some of the most fundamental and majestic.
These prayers prayers to Virgin Mary take varied forms. Most of them combine:
- Prayers to God, modeled after the faith of Mary.
- Meditations on the Incarnation, Mary's unique role in salvation history, or her perfect examples of virtues like faith, humility, and charity.
- Prayers to Mary, asking for her help and protection.
Like all prayers to Saints, our prayers to Virgin Mary rely on the Saints' special power to intercede for us before Christ and the Father. But since Mary has a unique role in salvation, and a unique relationship to the Trinity, our prayers to the Blessed Virgin also rely on her special power of intercession.
"Mary is the perfect Orans (prayer), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope." (Catechism, 2679)
"Because of Mary's singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church loves to pray in communion with the Virgin Mary, to magnify with her the great things the Lord has done for her, and to entrust supplications and praises to her." (Catechism, 2682)
This is a collection of some of the more cherished Catholic prayers to Virgin Mary.
Hail Mary
(This prayer is also listed in the article about basic Catholic prayers.)
The Angelus
The Angelus is traditionally said daily at 12 noon. Many Catholic churches ring their church bells at noon, the Angelus bells, to call the faithful to prayer.
This is often said as a group prayer, with the leader speaking the V parts and the group responding with the R lines. If you're saying it alone, just read both parts together.
(This prayer is also a part of daily Catholic prayer.)
V — The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R — And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary... (Say The Hail Mary here.)
V — Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R — Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary...
V — And the Word was made Flesh.
R — And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary...
V — Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R — That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
LET US PRAY: Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ, your Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by his passion and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Hail Holy Queen
The Magnificat
The Church recites this beautiful prayer daily at Evening Prayer (Vespers) in the Liturgy of the Hours.
(Luke 1:46-55)