Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee;
blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
AH-veh Mah-REE-ah, GRAH-tsee-ah PLEH-nah,
DOH-mee-noos TEH-koom.
Beh-neh-DEE-ktah too in moo-lee-EH-ree-boos,
et beh-neh-DEE-ktoos FROOK-toos VEN-tris TOO-ee, YEH-soos.
SAHN-ktah Mah-REE-ah, MAH-tehr DEH-ee,
OR-ah proh NOH-bees pek-kah-TOH-ree-boos,
noonk et in HOH-rah MOR-tis NOS-treh.
Ah-MEN.
Key rules: c before e, i = ch (church) · ae = eh · v = v · every vowel always pronounced · stress on second-to-last syllable if long, third-to-last if not.
The Scriptural Origin of the Hail Mary
The Hail Mary is not a human composition — it is assembled from the words of Scripture and the tradition of the Church. Every phrase has a source.
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee"
These are the words of the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. In the Greek of St. Luke's Gospel, the greeting is Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετά σου — "Rejoice, one who has been filled with grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). The Latin Vulgate renders it Ave, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. "Full of grace" (gratia plena) is the name Gabriel gives to Mary — not her given name, but a description of what she is: the one who has been uniquely and completely filled with divine grace in anticipation of bearing the Son of God.
"Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus"
These are the words of Elizabeth when Mary arrives at her house. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cries out: "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42). The name "Jesus" was added by the Church to specify the object of the blessing — the fruit of Mary's womb is Jesus, the Son of God.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners"
The first half of the prayer ends with the name Jesus. The second half is the Church's petition. "Holy Mary, Mother of God" affirms the Theotokos (God-bearer) — Mary's title defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. To call Mary "Mother of God" does not mean she existed before God; it means that the person she bore is God, the Second Person of the Trinity. "Pray for us sinners" is an invocation: we ask her to intercede for us with her Son, as she did at Cana.
"Now and at the hour of our death"
This phrase, added by the Church in the 15th century, spans the whole of human life — this present moment, and the final moment. Every time the Hail Mary is prayed, the same petition is made: be with us now, and be with us when we die. It is why the Hail Mary is prayed over the dying and at funerals — because at that hour, more than any other, we need the intercession of the Mother of God.
Word-by-Word Translation
The angel Gabriel's actual Greek word is χαῖρε (chaíre), meaning both "hail" and "rejoice." The Latin Vulgate uses Ave (imperative of avere — to be well), preserving the greeting while the joy recedes into the background. The Catechism notes that it is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary — our prayer "dares to take up this greeting to Mary with the regard God had for the lowliness of his humble servant and to exult in the joy he finds in her" (CCC 2676). The prayer opens not as human address to Mary but as divine address that we are invited to repeat.
The Catechism teaches that "these two phrases of the angel's greeting shed light on one another. Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her. The grace with which she is filled is the presence of him who is the source of all grace" (CCC 2676). Gratia plena renders the Greek κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitomene) — a perfect passive participle meaning "one who has been and remains completely graced," a permanent condition, not a momentary state. Tecum (with you) echoes the divine-presence formula given to Gideon (Judges 6:12) before his mission. The Catechism draws the Zephaniah 3:14–17 connection: Mary is the daughter of Zion in person, the ark of the covenant, "the place where the glory of the Lord dwells" (CCC 2676).
Elizabeth's greeting, spoken under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41–42) — not human admiration but pneumatic proclamation. It echoes Judith 13:18. The Catechism states: "Mary is blessed among all women because she believed in the fulfillment of the Lord's word; it is she who, by this faith, became the mother of believers" (CCC 2676). The name Jesus arrives at the end of the phrase, as the culmination: the whole angelic and Elizabethan greeting builds toward it. CCC 435 is precise: "The Hail Mary reaches its high point in the words 'blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.'" The word fructus (fruit) carries a typological echo of Genesis 3:3 — where Eve grasped the forbidden fruit, Mary bears the fruit of redemption.
The title Mater Dei (Mother of God) is the Latin form of Theotokos (God-bearer), defined as dogma at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD against Nestorius, who restricted her title to Christotokos (Mother of Christ). The Council taught that since the Person born of Mary is the divine Person of the Word, Mary is truly Mother of God. CCC 495: "The One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly 'Mother of God.'" The title is not honorary but doctrinal — it defines the nature of Christ (one divine Person in two natures) and therefore Mary's unique relationship to him.
CCC 2677: "By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the 'Mother of Mercy,' the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives." Peccatoribus (dative plural of peccator — sinner) positions the petitioner precisely: not as spectators but as those who need intercession. Peter Canisius formally introduced this petition in his 1555 Catechism; it was ratified by the Council of Trent Catechism (1566) and the Roman Breviary of Pius V (1568). The double invocation of time — nunc (now, every present moment of daily life) and in hora mortis (at death, the definitive encounter with God) — covers the entire arc of Christian existence. CCC 2677: "The Church asks Mary to pray for us also at the last moment of our life."
The Hail Mary in the Rosary
In a full five-decade Rosary, the Hail Mary is prayed 53 times: 3 at the opening (for faith, hope, and charity) and 10 in each of the five decades. The repetition is deliberate. Pope John Paul II wrote in Rosarium Virginis Mariae (2002) that the repetition of the Hail Mary is "not a mechanical exercise but a rhythm of prayer that helps one enter more deeply into the mystery being contemplated." The words become a background rhythm that allows the mind to meditate on the Mystery while the lips continue to pray.
Related prayers in the Rosary: Our Father Prayer — prayed once before each decade; Glory Be — prayed after each decade, before the Fatima Prayer; all Rosary prayers in English and Latin.
Orabimus provides audio narration of the Hail Mary in both English and Latin, guiding you through every decade of the Rosary. Try the interactive Rosary guide — free, no account required.
History of the Hail Mary
The two scriptural greetings were combined as a form of prayer in the Western Church by the 11th century. In 1196, Eudes de Sully, Bishop of Paris, ordered his clergy to teach these words to the faithful. The name "Jesus" was added to the end of the first half by Pope Urban IV in the 13th century. The second half — "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death" — first appeared in print in 1495 in Girolamo Savonarola's Esposizione sopra l'Ave Maria. Peter Canisius (Petrus Canisius, 1515–1597), the Dutch Jesuit who did more than any other individual to preserve Catholicism in German-speaking lands, included 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners' explicitly in his 1555 Catechism. It was incorporated into the Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566). Pope Pius V standardised the complete form in 1568. Pope Pius V included the complete form in his revision of the Roman Breviary in 1568. The prayer has been prayed in substantially this form ever since.
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κεχαριτωμένη — The Greek Behind "Full of Grace"
The Angel Gabriel does not greet Mary by name. He addresses her as κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitomene) — "full of grace" — as if this quality is her identity. This single Greek word carries extraordinary theological weight. It is a perfect passive participle of the verb charitoo (to grace, to favour), meaning "one who has been and remains completely graced" — a completed action with an enduring, permanent effect. The perfect tense in Greek denotes a past action whose results persist into the present: Mary was filled with grace at some prior moment and continues to be filled with it.
Crucially, Gabriel uses this word instead of her name. In Scripture, when an angel addresses someone by a descriptive quality rather than their name, it signals that quality is their defining characteristic — as when Jacob is renamed Israel ("one who wrestles with God") or Simon is called Peter ("rock"). Mary's defining characteristic, in Gabriel's address, is her having-been-graced. This is a key scriptural foundation for the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception: that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception, explaining why grace could be called her permanent and total condition.
St. Thomas Aquinas commented that the greeting implies "all the fullness of grace" in Mary, lacking nothing that grace can bring to a rational creature. The Latin Vulgate translates κεχαριτωμένη as gratia plena (full of grace) — literally accurate — and this Latin passed directly into the prayer. Modern translations of Luke 1:28 often say "highly favoured" or "favoured one," which captures the sense but loses the depth of the perfect participle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Hail Mary in the Bible?
Yes. The first half of the Hail Mary comes almost word-for-word from the Gospel of Luke: Gabriel's greeting at the Annunciation (Luke 1:28) and Elizabeth's exclamation at the Visitation (Luke 1:42). The second half — "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death" — is the Church's petitionary addition, first appearing in print in 1495.
How many times is the Hail Mary prayed in the Rosary?
In a five-decade Rosary, the Hail Mary is prayed 53 times: 3 at the opening and 10 in each decade. If all four sets of mysteries are prayed in one sitting (20 decades), the Hail Mary is prayed 203 times.
What does "full of grace" mean?
"Full of grace" (Latin: gratia plena) translates the Greek κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitomenē) — a perfect passive participle meaning "one who has been and remains filled with grace." It indicates that Mary has been uniquely and completely filled with divine grace from the beginning of her existence, in anticipation of her role as the Mother of God. It is the theological foundation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Why do Catholics pray the Hail Mary so many times?
The repetition is a feature, not a defect. Pope John Paul II explained that the rhythm of repeated Hail Marys creates a contemplative background that allows the mind to meditate on the Mysteries of Christ while the lips continue to pray. It is similar to the way sacred music or chant can carry the soul into prayer. The words of the prayer are chosen specifically to honour Mary's unique role in salvation history and to ask for her intercession — a request which never grows stale.
What does 'full of grace' mean in the Hail Mary?
Full of grace translates the Greek κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitomene), the word the Angel Gabriel uses in Luke 1:28 instead of Mary's name — as if being-graced is her defining identity. It is a perfect passive participle meaning 'one who has been and remains completely graced,' with a completed action and ongoing effect. This is a key scriptural foundation for the Immaculate Conception: Mary's fullness of grace appears total and predating the Annunciation. The Latin Vulgate translates it gratia plena, which passed directly into the prayer. Modern translations of Luke 1:28 often say 'favoured one,' but the Hail Mary preserves the traditional rendering.
Who added 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners' to the Hail Mary?
The second half developed gradually. The phrase first appeared in print in Girolamo Savonarola's writings in 1495. The Jesuit theologian Peter Canisius (1515–1597) explicitly included 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners' in his 1555 Catechism. The Council of Trent's Catechism (1566) incorporated it, and Pope Pius V standardised the complete form in the Roman Breviary in 1568. The title 'Mother of God' (Theotokos) was defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD — over a thousand years before it entered the Hail Mary's formal text.
Why does the Hail Mary end 'now and at the hour of our death'?
The phrase identifies the two moments when Mary's intercession is most urgently needed: now — in ongoing daily conversion — and at death, when the soul faces its definitive encounter with God. Theologically it reflects the Catholic belief that death is the moment of judgment and that no grace matters more than dying in a state of friendship with God. Many theologians, including St. Alphonsus Liguori, wrote that faithful recitation of the Hail Mary is itself a request for the grace of final perseverance — dying in God's grace rather than in mortal sin.