A brief history of the Hail Mary prayer.

1. The History of the Hail Mary
Intercession of the Blessed Virgin

2. Hail, full of grace,
the LORD is with thee
Angel Gabriel to the Virgin
Mary at the Annunciation.
Luke 1:28
Artist: Unknown
Title: The Annunciation to Mary
Date: circa 1000 AD

3. Blessed art thou
among women and
blessed is the fruit
of thy womb
The greeting of St. Elizabeth
to the Blessed Virgin.
Luke 1:42
The Visitation
Dunois Master (fl. from 1435 until 1466 )

4. Hail Mary Full of grace, the lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among
women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
The first line is known as the
Angelic Salutation. The second line
is called the Evangelical
Salutation.1 The joining of those two
verses first made its way into the
texts of the Mass during the sixth
century as an offertory verse on the
feast of the Annunciation,2 and
became a widespread personal
devotion during the 11th century in
monastic communities.
In the Synod of 1198, Bishop Odo of
Siliac obliged the clergy to teach
the people to recited the Our
Father, the Creed, and the Hail
Mary (Statuta Odonis, n.1; Mansi
22:681). The practice attained such
popularity that the prayer came to
be regarded almost as an appendix
to the Our Father.3

5. JESUS
The Holy Children with a Shell by
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682)

6. Jesus
Pope Urban IV is attributed
with adding the phrase
“Jesus Christ, Amen” in
1261.4

7. Holy Mary, Mother
of God, pray for us
sinners
The consecrated
being sheltered
under the protective
mantle of the Virgin,
Ravensburg, c.
1480. Attributed to
Michel Erhart

8. Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners
By 1493, this petition was
included. It is found in
the breviaries of the
Camaldolese monks, and in
that of the Order de
Mercede c. 1514.5
Jan van Boendale (1279–1350) Title
Ave Maria, Pater noster en Credo from Der leken spieghel

9. Now and at the
hour of our death
Life of the Virgin: 17. The Death of Mary
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)

10. Now and at the hour of our death
The second half of the Hail Mary,
the petition — "Holy Mary, Mother
of God, pray for us sinners, now
and at the hour of our death" —
came later. That first appeared —
except for the word "our" — in
print in 1495 in the writings of
Girolamo Savonarola and became part
of the reformed breviary of Pope
Pius V in 1568 following the
Council of Trent.6
The Black Death, which ravaged all
Europe and wiped out one-third of
its population, prompted the
faithful to cry out to the Mother
of Our Lord to protect them, at a
time when the present moment and
death were almost one.7
The official recognition of the Ave
Maria in its complete form was
finally given in the Roman Breviary
of 1568.8

11. Beginning of the
Hail Mary Prayer
Illuminated with a
human alphabet
from the Heures
de Charles
d'Angoulême
Date: 15th
century

12. Citations
1 Calloway, Donald MIC, “The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon,”
(Stockbridge, MA: Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M.
2016), 28.
2 DE MARCO, A. A. "Hail Mary." New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 6,
Gale, 2003, pp. 616-617. Gale eBooks, https://link.gale.com/. Accessed 2 Mar.
2020.
3 "Hail Mary." New Catholic Encyclopedia, Accessed 2 Mar. 2020.
4 "Hail Mary." New Catholic Encyclopedia, Accessed 2 Mar. 2020.
5 Calloway, Donald MIC, “The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon,” 53.
6 Herbermann, Charles George “Hail Mary,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7:
Gregory XII-Infallibility, 2003 www.pwlawrence.com/

13. Citations continued
7 Calloway, Donald MIC, “The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon,” 54.
8 Herbermann, Charles George “Hail Mary,” The Catholic Encyclopedia,
www.pwlawrence.com/
* All images used are public domain.