Comfortable Words

Prayers and Creeds

Hail, Mary!

A short prayer to Mary, blended from the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel and the greeting of her cousin Elizabeth.

From The Gospel According to St Luke

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An icon of the Virgin Mary.

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

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Hail, Mary!

Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source

An icon of the Virgin Mary.

‘The Akathist Icon of the Theotokos’, from the Zografou Monastery on Mount Athos. The Akathist Hymn, attributed to Romanos the Melodist (?490-?556), recalls the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary, when he announced the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit with the words ‘Rejoice (or Hail), Mary, full of grace!’. This particular icon was at the centre of a remarkable miracle: see Image of Joy.

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Prayers and Creeds (19)

Introduction

This famous acclamation joins the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel when he announced to Mary the conception of her child Jesus, to the greeting of her cousin Elizabeth when the two women, now both pregnant, subsequently met. In both East and West today, additional lines are usually added; in the service books of the English Church of the Middle Ages, these two lines were enough.

Hail, Mary!

HAIL, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.* Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.*

From The Gospel According to St Luke

* The greeting of the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunication to Mary in Luke 1:26-35.

* The greeting of Mary’s cousin Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-45. Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist.

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