The Hail Mary is the best-loved prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its first half repeats the words of the angel Gabriel and of St. Elizabeth from the Gospel of Luke. Its second half asks Mary to pray for us. Here are the full words as Catholics pray them:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst 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.
Catholics pray the Hail Mary on its own, fifty-three times in a five-decade Rosary, three times in the Angelus, and at the end of many other prayers. Below you will find the Latin and Spanish texts, the Bible verses behind each line, a short explanation of its meaning, and answers to common questions.
Where the words come from
Almost every word of the first half comes straight from Scripture. The Douay-Rheims translation of St. Luke gives both greetings:
| Words of the prayer | Source |
|---|---|
| Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee | The angel Gabriel at the Annunciation: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28) |
| Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb | St. Elizabeth at the Visitation: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42) |
| Jesus | The name the angel gave: “thou shalt call his name Jesus” (Luke 1:31) |
| Holy Mary, Mother of God | The Church’s title for Mary, defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431 |
| pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death | The Church’s petition, added in the late Middle Ages |
So the Hail Mary is a prayer the Gospel itself puts on our lips, followed by a short request in the Church’s own words.
The Hail Mary in Latin (Ave Maria)
The Latin text is the original form used in the Western Church. It is the text sung in the many musical settings of the Ave Maria.
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.
A rough pronunciation in Church Latin: AH-veh mah-REE-ah, GRAHT-see-ah PLAY-nah, DOH-mee-noos TAY-koom. The words gratia plena mean “full of grace,” and nunc et in hora mortis nostrae means “now and at the hour of our death.”
The Hail Mary in Spanish (Dios te salve, María)
Many Spanish-speaking Catholics learned this traditional form, sometimes called the Avemaría:
Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia, el Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres, y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros, pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amén.
Some countries begin with Dios te salve, María and others with Ave María. Both are correct, so use the words your parish uses.
What each line means
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains the Hail Mary phrase by phrase in paragraphs 2676 and 2677. In summary:
- Hail Mary. The greeting is first God’s, spoken through his angel. When we say it, we join God’s own delight in the humble young woman he chose. The Greek word behind “hail” also means “rejoice.”
- Full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her. The Catechism says the grace that fills her is the presence of Christ himself, the source of all grace.
- Blessed art thou amongst women. We repeat the words of Elizabeth, who spoke them “filled with the Holy Ghost” (Luke 1:41). Mary is blessed because she believed God’s word (Luke 1:45).
- And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. The name of Jesus stands at the center of the prayer. Every Hail Mary points to her Son.
- Holy Mary, Mother of God. Because Jesus is truly God, his mother is truly the Mother of God. We bring our needs to her as a mother.
- Pray for us sinners. We do not ask Mary to replace Christ. We ask her to pray for us, as we would ask a friend, and we admit that we need mercy.
- Now and at the hour of our death. We entrust to her both the present moment and our last hour. We ask her to be with us as she stood by her Son at the cross.
A short history of the Hail Mary
Christians have repeated the angel’s greeting since early times. In the Latin West it was in common use as a prayer by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, at first only the two scriptural greetings. The name Jesus was added at the end of the first half during the Middle Ages.
The second half grew more slowly. Different forms of “Holy Mary, pray for us” circulated in the fifteenth century. The full ending we know today, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, was fixed for the whole Roman Rite when Pope St. Pius V published the reformed Roman Breviary in 1568. The original Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Hail Mary traces this history in detail.
How Catholics pray the Hail Mary
- In the Rosary. Each decade is one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and one Glory Be, while you think about a mystery from the life of Jesus and Mary. See today’s Rosary mysteries or the interactive Rosary.
- In the Angelus. Three Hail Marys mark the morning, noon and evening. See the Angelus prayer.
- Three Hail Marys. Many Catholics say three Hail Marys at bedtime for purity of heart or for a particular need.
- As a short prayer. One Hail Mary takes about fifteen seconds. It is easy to pray while walking, waiting or before a difficult conversation.
- For the dying. Because the prayer asks for help “at the hour of our death,” it is a natural prayer at a deathbed. See our prayers for the dead.
Pray it slowly. One Hail Mary said with attention is worth more than many rushed through.
Teaching the Hail Mary to children
Children often learn the Hail Mary in two halves. Teach the angel’s words first, then add Elizabeth’s words, and finally the request to Mary. Explain that the first part comes from the Bible and that “the fruit of thy womb” means the baby Jesus. Praying one Hail Mary together at bedtime is the simplest way to make it stick.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Hail Mary in the Bible?
The first half is. The greetings of Gabriel and Elizabeth are in Luke 1:28 and 1:42. The second half is the Church’s petition, based on the Church’s teaching that Mary is the Mother of God.
Do Catholics worship Mary when they pray the Hail Mary?
No. Worship belongs to God alone. Catholics honor Mary and ask her prayers, as they would ask any member of the Church to pray for them. The Catechism says devotion to Mary “differs essentially” from the adoration given to God (CCC 971).
Why do Catholics say “amongst” or “among”?
Both appear in English prayer books. Older books such as the Baltimore Catechism print “amongst”; many modern books print “among.” The meaning is the same.
What is the difference between the Hail Mary and the Hail Holy Queen?
The Hail Mary is the short prayer above. The Hail, Holy Queen (Salve Regina) is a longer antiphon usually said at the end of the Rosary. See the Hail, Holy Queen prayer.
How many Hail Marys are in a Rosary?
A five-decade Rosary has fifty Hail Marys in the decades plus three at the beginning, fifty-three in all.
More Catholic prayers
- Ave Maria (Schubert and Gounod)
- Do Catholics pray to Mary and the saints?
- The Annunciation
- The Magnificat
- The Three Hail Marys devotion
- Catholic prayers: the basic prayers every Catholic should know
- The Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer)
- The Apostles’ Creed
- The Memorare
- The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- The mysteries of the Rosary
Texts and sources
- English text: A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, No. 3 (Baltimore Catechism, ed. Kinkead, 1891), “The Angelical Salutation,” public domain (Project Gutenberg); punctuation lightly modernized.
- Luke 1:28, 1:31, 1:41–45, Douay-Rheims Bible.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2673–2679 (the Hail Mary explained), and 971 (devotion to Mary).
- Herbert Thurston, “Hail Mary,” Catholic Encyclopedia (1910).