The Hail Mary prayer derives from two verses in Saint Luke’s Gospel: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1 28: Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ), and “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42: Εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξὶν καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου).

These two verses come into Latin as:

Ave, gratia plena, Dominus tecum (Lk 1:28).
Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui (Lk 1:42).

We know that in the West the names of “Maria” and “Jesus” were added by the thirteenth century as St Thomas Aquinas attests to their inclusion. So by the 1200s, the Hail Mary looked like this:

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus. Amen.

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

The last part that we pray, “Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,” is not in Scripture.

Who added this last sentence to the prayer?

Girolamo Savonarola

Well the Dominicans and Jesuits have to fight this one out. On the Dominican side, Girolamo Savonarola that ascetic Florentine Dominican priest who was burned at the stake is sometimes credited as including the words, “Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”

On the other side, the Jesuits claim that the last part of the Hail Mary was officially added by Saint Peter Canisius, a Doctor of the Church.

Regardless of where and when this last sentence came from, it was officially made a part of the “Hail Mary” in 1566 when it was printed in the form we have it today in the Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent.

If you benefited from this post, please say a Hail Mary for me!

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!