Hail Mary

Also known as the Ave Maria (Latin) or Angelic Salutation, the Hail Mary is a traditional Christian prayer asking for the intervention of the Blessed Mother in the lives of individuals on Earth. In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, a similar prayer is used in formal liturgies, both in Greek and in translations. It is also used by many other groups within the Catholic tradition of Christianity including Anglicans, Independent Catholics, and Old Catholics. Some Protestant denominations, such as Lutherans, also make use of a form of the prayer.

Based on the greeting of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary in the Gospel of Luke, the prayer takes different forms in various traditions. It has often been set to music, although the most famous musical expression of the words Ave Maria — that by Franz Schubert — does not actually contain the Hail Mary prayer.

Biblical source

The prayer incorporates two passages from Saint Luke's Gospel: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee," and "Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." In mid-13th-century Western Europe the prayer consisted only of these words with the single addition of the name "Mary" after the word "Hail," as is evident from the commentary of Saint Thomas Aquinas on the prayer.

Ave Maria (Schubert)

"Ellens dritter Gesang" ("Ellens Gesang III", D. 839, Op. 52, No. 6, 1825), in English: "Ellen's Third Song", was composed by Franz Schubert in 1825 as part of his Opus 52, a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott's popular epic poem The Lady of the Lake, loosely translated into German.

It has become one of Schubert's most popular works, recorded by a wide variety and large number of singers, under the title of "Ave Maria", in arrangements with various lyrics which commonly differ from the original context of the poem. It was arranged in three versions for piano by Franz Liszt.

The Lady of the Lake and the "Ave Maria"

The piece was composed as a setting of a song (verse XXIX from Canto Third) from Walter Scott's popular epic poem The Lady of the Lake, in a German translation by Adam Storck (1780–1822), and thus forms part of Schubert's Liederzyklus vom Fräulein vom See. In Scott's poem the character Ellen Douglas, the Lady of the Lake (Loch Katrine in the Scottish Highlands), has gone with her exiled father to stay in the Goblin's cave as he has declined to join their previous host, Roderick Dhu, in rebellion against King James. Roderick Dhu, the chieftain of Clan Alpine, sets off up the mountain with his warriors, but lingers and hears the distant sound of the harpist Allan-bane, accompanying Ellen who sings a prayer addressed to the Virgin Mary, calling upon her for help. Roderick Dhu pauses, then goes on to battle.

Ave Maria Press

Ave Maria Press is a Roman Catholic publishing company which was founded in 1865 by Father Edward Sorin, a Holy Cross priest who had founded the University of Notre Dame.

Sorin founded the company in order to publish the Ave Maria magazine, a magazine focused on Catholic families, honoring The Virgin Mary, and showcasing Catholic writings. Sorin then made Sister Angela Gilespie, a nurse veteran of the Civil War, in charge. By 1900, Ave Maria was the largest English-language Catholic magazine worldwide. The magazine was started in 1865 and continued until 1970 when it was dropped due to decline in circulation. Ave Maria Press now focuses solely on the publishing of Catholic books.

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