Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To thee do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious Advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile
show unto us the blessed fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy
of the promises of Christ.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus
exsules filii Hevae;
ad te suspiramus,
gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos
ad nos converte;
et Iesum, benedictum fructum
ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur
promissionibus Christi.
The Complete Structure in the Rosary
After the fifth decade of the Rosary, the Hail Holy Queen is followed by the versicle-response dialogue and then the Closing Prayer. The full sequence:
Related prayers: Apostles' Creed — opens the Rosary; Hail Mary Prayer — the heart of each decade; Litany of Loreto — traditionally prayed after the Hail Holy Queen.
[After the fifth decade — the Glory Be and Fatima Prayer]
Hail, holy Queen...
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin 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: O God, whose Only Begotten Son, by His Life, Death, and Resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that while meditating on these mysteries of the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
[Sign of the Cross]
[Post quintum decennium]
Salve, Regina...
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
Oremus: Deus, cuius Unigenitus per vitam, mortem et resurrectionem suam nobis salutis aeternae praemia comparavit, concede, quaesumus: ut haec mysteria sacratissimo beatae Mariae Virginis Rosario recolentes, et imitemur quod continent, et quod promittunt assequamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
[Signum Crucis]
Word-by-Word Translation
Salve (imperative of salvere — to be well) shares its root with salus — salvation, health, safety. The opening greeting is simultaneously an invocation of the salvation whose source Mary bore. Regina (Queen) has a precise biblical foundation: in Israel the gebirah — the king's mother — held the formal office of Queen (1 Kings 2:19), making intercession before the king on behalf of petitioners. Since Christ is King, Mary his mother is Queen by the logic of this office; Revelation 12:1 provides the apocalyptic vision. Mater misericordiae (Mother of Mercy): misericordia is etymologically "a heart that feels for the miserable" — Mary is Mother of Mercy because she is the mother of the one who is divine mercy incarnate. Pope Francis added "Mater misericordiae" explicitly to the Litany of Loreto on 20 June 2020.
Three theological titles, not poetic flourishes. Vita (life): not biological life but supernatural life flowing from the Author of Life she bore and mediates through intercession. Dulcedo (sweetness): the quality of grace made accessible through Mary's maternal intercession — what the Catechism calls her "manifold intercession" by which she "continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation" (CCC 969, citing Lumen Gentium 62). Spes (hope): theologically grounded in the certainty of the Resurrection and in Mary's Assumption — she in glory is the image of what redeemed humanity becomes, the personal face of our corporate hope (CCC 972: "The Virgin Mary... is a sign of sure hope and solace to the People of God during its sojourn on earth").
Hevae — note the spelling, not Evae. The Hebraicised form preserves the root from Hebrew Chavvah (mother of all living, Genesis 3:20), retained in traditional liturgical Latin. We are "banished children" in the Augustinian theological sense: since the Fall, humanity exists in exile from its original state of grace and from the perfect communion with God that was its first condition. Mary as the New Eve — whose fiat (Luke 1:38) reversed the disobedience of the first Eve — is the natural advocate for Eve's exiled children. The Catechism: "By her Fiat Mary is herself the type and the most perfect realization of the Church" (CCC 967).
The triple vocabulary of lamentation: suspirium (sigh), gemitus (groan — gementes), fletus (weeping — flentes). This is not self-pity but honest prayer from within suffering: the prayer acknowledges the reality of earthly life without pretending otherwise. Lacrimarum valle (valley of tears) draws on Psalm 84:6 ("the valley of weeping") and the Augustinian tradition of earthly existence as exile from the homeland of God — a vale of tears precisely because the heart is made for a joy it has not yet fully found. The prayer turns from this condition not by denying it but by naming it and crying out from within it.
Eia — an exclamation of urgent appeal: "now! come!" Advocata (Advocate) translates the Greek Parakletos — Paraclete, Helper — the same word used of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26), here applied to Mary in her participatory role of intercession. Lumen Gentium 62 and CCC 969 carefully subordinate this advocacy to Christ's unique mediatorship: "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace... will last without interruption until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her constant intercession continued to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation." The turn of Mary's gaze (oculos... converte — turn those eyes) is a visual theology of intercession: to look with mercy upon someone is already to begin interceding for them.
The prayer concludes by naming Jesus — Iesum in the accusative, the direct object of "show us." This is the inner logic of the Salve Regina and of all authentic Marian prayer: it is ultimately Christocentric. We ask Mary not to show herself but to show her Son. The Catechism's definition of Marian prayer (CCC 2675) describes "two movements" — magnifying what God did for Mary, and entrusting supplications to her — which always return to Christ as their object and end. The fructus ventris (fruit of the womb) echoes both the Hail Mary and Elizabeth's blessing (Luke 1:42), tying the Salve Regina back to the Gospel narrative that grounds all Marian devotion.
The triple O — a rhetorical figure of accumulated urgency and affection. Clemens (merciful, mild — the quality of one who sees guilt and chooses leniency). Pia (devout, filled with pietas — the Roman virtue of reverent love toward God and toward those entrusted to one's care). Dulcis (sweet, gentle — one whose presence brings consolation rather than judgement). Together they describe the Mary who makes the prayer safe to pray: approachable in her clemency, devoted in her piety, gentle in her sweetness. The ending is attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) by medieval tradition; recent scholarship attributes the full prayer to Herman of Reichenau (1013–1054). The attribution remains disputed but the 11th-century origin of the complete form is generally accepted.
History of the Salve Regina
The Salve Regina is one of the four great Marian antiphons of the Church — the others being the Alma Redemptoris Mater, Ave Regina Caelorum, and Regina Caeli. Each is traditionally sung at the end of Compline (Night Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours) during a different season of the liturgical year; the Salve Regina is sung from Trinity Sunday through the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent.
The prayer is traditionally attributed to Hermann of Reichenau (1013–1054), a Benedictine monk known as Hermann the Lame (Hermannus Contractus), though the attribution is disputed. Other candidates include Adhémar de Monteil, Bishop of Le Puy and papal legate to the First Crusade (died 1098). The prayer is first documented with certainty in a liturgical book from the 11th century; by the 12th century it was sung in Cistercian monasteries, and its use spread rapidly throughout the Western Church.
The legend that St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) added the closing invocation "O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria" is ancient and widespread, though not historically verifiable. What is certain is that by the 13th century the prayer was in its present form and was universally used throughout the Latin Church.
The Dominican Order made the Salve Regina a constitutive part of the Rosary in its development as a popular devotion, and since then it has been inseparable from the Rosary's structure. In 1884, Pope Leo XIII enriched it with a plenary indulgence when prayed after the Rosary. The Second Vatican Council's reform of the Liturgy of the Hours preserved the Salve Regina in its ancient place at Compline.
The Meaning of "Valley of Tears"
The phrase "mourning and weeping in this valley of tears" (gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle) is the theological centre of the prayer. It names the condition of the Church in pilgrimage — exsules filii Hevae, the banished children of Eve — living in a world marked by suffering, sin, and mortality, far from the homeland of heaven. The prayer does not deny or flee from this suffering; it names it and then turns it toward Mary as Advocate, asking her to intercede with her Son. The metaphor of exile and homecoming is Augustinian in spirit: "our heart is restless until it rests in Thee."
The final line of the body — "show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus" — ensures that the prayer remains Christocentric. Mary is invoked, but the destination is Jesus. This is the consistent pattern of authentic Marian devotion: to Mary, always through Mary, and toward Christ.
Close the Rosary with the Salve Regina.
Orabimus guides you through every prayer — from the Apostles' Creed to the Hail Holy Queen — with audio in English and Latin. Free, no account needed.
Pray the Rosary now →Audio EN & LA · All four Mystery sets · Live community
Authorship — Blessed Hermann of Reichenau
The Salve Regina is traditionally attributed to Blessed Hermann of Reichenau (18 July 1013 – 24 September 1054) — also known as Hermann Contractus (the Cripple) — a Benedictine monk of extraordinary learning who composed hymns, studied mathematics, astronomy, and history despite severe physical disability from birth. He was beatified by Pius IX in 1863; feast day 25 September. The University of Dayton Marian Library notes the attribution is disputed: the prayer is first mentioned in writings associated with Anselm II, Bishop of Lucca (1073–86); other candidates include Adhemar of Le Puy and Peter of Compostela (c. 952–1002). Most musicologists regard the text as anonymous. What is undisputed is its 11th-century origin and immediate adoption across the medieval Church.
Sources: University of Dayton Marian Library · Encyclopedia.com: Salve Regina · Beatification: Pius IX, 1863
“Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope” — Vita, Dulcedo, et Spes
The three epithets — vita (life), dulcedo (sweetness), spes (hope) — are a compressed Mariology orienting the whole of Christian existence: Mary as the source of redemptive life (she bore the Author of Life), as the maternal consolation in the valley of tears, and as the eschatological sign of what we will become (the Assumption shows she has already reached the destination we are moving toward). The three also map to the theological virtues: hope (spes) is explicit; vita relates to faith (life received through the Word); dulcedo to charity (the sweetness of divine love mediated through her motherhood).
Sources: CCC 966 (Assumption as “singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection”) · Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus §44 (1950)
“Exiled Children of Eve” — Exsules Filii Hevae
Heva is the Latin transliteration of the Hebrew Havvah (Eve). The prayer frames the human condition as Edenic exile: Genesis 3:23–24, the expulsion from the garden. The lacrimarum valle (valley of tears) echoes Psalm 84:6 in the Vulgate — the valley of weeping that pilgrims pass through on their way to Zion. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD, Adversus Haereses 3.22.4): Eve’s words brought death; Mary’s fiat brought the Life of the world. The exiled children of Eve are led home not by the new Eve’s grasping but by her reception. The Salve Regina is the Church’s pilgrim prayer: crying to Mary in the valley of exile, asking her to guide us back to the life from which sin expelled us.
Sources: Genesis 3:23–24 · Psalm 84:6 (Vulgate) · Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 3.22.4 (c. 180 AD)
The Liturgy of the Hours — Compline
The Salve Regina is one of four seasonal Marian antiphons closing Compline (Night Prayer) in the Liturgy of the Hours — sung from Trinity Sunday to the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. The four rotate through the year: Alma Redemptoris Mater (Advent–Purification), Ave Regina Caelorum (Purification–Holy Thursday), Regina Caeli (Easter–Trinity Sunday). The Dominicans adopted it from 1230; the Franciscans by 1249. Pope Gregory IX (1227–41) ordered its chanting after Compline on all Fridays. It has been the Church’s last word before sleep for nearly 800 years — placing herself in Mary’s hands for the night.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com: Salve Regina liturgical history · Dominican adoption 1230; Franciscan adoption 1249 · Breviary of Pius V (1568)
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote the Salve Regina?
The Salve Regina is traditionally attributed to Hermann of Reichenau (1013–1054), a Benedictine monk. The attribution is disputed — other candidates include Adhémar de Monteil (died 1098) and, for the final invocation "O clemens, O pia, O dulcis," St. Bernard of Clairvaux. What is certain is that the prayer was in its present form and in wide use throughout the Latin Church by the 12th century.
When in the Rosary is the Hail Holy Queen prayed?
The Hail Holy Queen is prayed after the fifth and final decade of the Rosary — after the Glory Be and Fatima Prayer of the fifth Mystery. It is followed by the versicle-response ("V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.") and then the Closing Prayer. The Rosary concludes with the Sign of the Cross.
What does "exiles, children of Eve" mean in the Salve Regina?
"Exiles, children of Eve" (exsules filii Hevae) refers to the human condition after the Fall of Adam and Eve: banished from Paradise, living in a world marked by suffering, sin, and death, far from the original unity with God for which we were created. The prayer identifies the whole Church as pilgrims in exile, crying to Mary as Advocate to help us reach the true homeland of heaven.
Is the Salve Regina also sung in monasteries?
Yes. The Salve Regina is one of the four great Marian antiphons of the Liturgy of the Hours, sung at the end of Compline (Night Prayer) from Trinity Sunday through the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent. It has been sung in this context in Western monasteries since at least the 12th century — making it one of the most continuously performed pieces of sacred music in history.
What does 'valley of tears' mean in the Hail Holy Queen?
The 'valley of tears' (Latin: hac lacrimarum valle) refers to earthly life understood as exile from Paradise — the condition of the 'banished children of Eve.' The prayer draws on the Augustinian theology of the Fall: humanity, expelled from Eden, wanders in a 'valley' of suffering, mourning, and weeping, longing for the homeland of heaven. The image may echo Psalm 84:6 (the 'valley of weeping'). We cry out to Mary from within this exile, as one who has already reached the homeland and can intercede for those still journeying through it.
Who are the 'banished children of Eve' in the Hail Holy Queen?
The phrase 'poor banished children of Eve' (Latin: exsules filii Hevae) refers to all humanity — those who, through the Fall of Adam and Eve, have been exiled from the original state of grace and friendship with God. Eve's sin (and Adam's) brought not just personal consequences but a condition of exile affecting all her children. We are 'banished' not geographically but spiritually — exiled from the fullness of communion with God that was humanity's original condition. Mary, the New Eve who reversed Eve's disobedience through her fiat, is invoked precisely as our advocate in recovering what was lost.
Who wrote the Hail Holy Queen?
The Salve Regina is traditionally attributed to Blessed Hermann of Reichenau (1013-1054), also called Hermann Contractus (the Cripple) — a Benedictine monk, scholar, and composer from Reichenau Island, beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1863. His feast day is September 25. The University of Dayton Marian Library notes the attribution is historically disputed: the prayer is first mentioned in writings associated with Anselm II, Bishop of Lucca (1073-86), and other candidates include Adhemar of Le Puy and Peter of Compostela (c. 952-1002). Most musicologists regard it as anonymous. What is certain is its 11th-century origin and its immediate spread across the medieval Church.
When is the Hail Holy Queen prayed in the Liturgy of the Hours?
The Salve Regina is the Marian antiphon sung at the close of Compline (Night Prayer) from Trinity Sunday to the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. It is one of four seasonal Marian antiphons rotating through the liturgical year: Alma Redemptoris Mater (Advent through Purification), Ave Regina Caelorum (Purification through Holy Thursday), and Regina Caeli (Easter through Trinity Sunday). The Dominicans adopted it from 1230; the Franciscans by 1249. Pope Gregory IX ordered it sung after Compline on all Fridays. It has been the Church's last prayer before sleep for nearly 800 years.
What does 'exiled children of Eve' mean in the Hail Holy Queen?
The Latin 'exsules filii Hevae' frames the human condition as Edenic exile — Genesis 3:23-24, the expulsion from the garden. 'Heva' is the Latin transliteration of the Hebrew Havvah (Eve). The 'valley of tears' (lacrimarum valle) echoes Psalm 84:6 in the Vulgate — the valley of weeping that pilgrims pass through on their way to Zion. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD) established the Mary/Eve parallel: Eve's words brought death; Mary's fiat brought the Life of the world. The Salve Regina is a prayer of pilgrimage: we cry to Mary in the valley of exile and ask her to guide us home.