AVE MARIA. - A prayer to the Virgin, also called, since the Middle Ages, the angelic salutation. It is composed today of two distinct parts: in the first, the words of the archangel Gabriel, Ave gratia plena; Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus (Lk. 1:28), are sealed with those of St. Elizabeth, Et benedictus fructus ventris tui (Lk. 1:42); in the second is contained the Church's confident invocation of the Mother of God. The names of Jesus and Mary were added to the biblical text as clarification (cf. Lk. 1:27, 31) and as an expression of filial piety.
I. a) According to the style of the Septuagint (cf. Zeph. 3:14; Joel 2:21; Zech. 9:9; Lam. 4:21) and the constant interpretation of the Greek Fathers, the angel's "humble greeting": χαῖρε, κεχαρισμένη (in Hebrew probably ronni mūhanhāh), expresses an invitation to the joy proper to the new messianic era: Rejoice!; while the term gratia ("full of grace" [a fine alliteration, in Greek, with the greeting], with a possession not transitory but permanent) indicates the Virgin's moral perfection and her sublime greatness, as it were a new creation of the supernatural order (cf. Hugon, p. 72) in which, as in the first (Gen. 1:31), the divine Artificer takes delight (cf. Song 4:1, 7 and Mt. 3:17).
b) The words Dominus tecum (with est understood, not sit, nor erit), better clarified afterwards by the others: Ne timeas, Maria, invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum (v. 30), constitute the essential word of the divine message. The expression in fact, quite frequent in Sacred Scripture to signify a glorious and formidable task that God, in extraordinary circumstances, entrusts, with the assurance of his help and the implicit prophecy of a happy outcome (cf. Is. 8:10 and Rom. 8:31), to a person chosen by him, as to the Patriarchs and the leaders of Israel (cf. Gen. 15:1; 26:24; Ex. 3:12; Deut. 31:23; Judg. 6:12, 16; 1 Sam. 10:7), denotes the singular mission of the Virgin in the order of divine redemption: she is the one chosen by God to bring to fulfillment the great promise: Inimicitias ponam inter te et Mulierem; et semen tuum et semen Illius (Gen. 3:15). Mary's cause will be that of her Son himself. To the epic struggle, in which Christ and the Virgin are the protagonists on one side, Satan and his own on the other, the aged St. Simeon also alludes in his prophecy (Lk. 2:34-35). For this reason in Catholic liturgy the Most Holy Virgin is honored as the warrior (cf. Song 6:9), vanquisher of all heresies, powerful help of Christians.
c) The other words Blessed art thou among women (the expressions inter mulieres [cf. v. 42 Vulg.] and in mulieribus, a Hebraism with the value of a superlative, are equivalent; cf. however J. Beelen, Gramm. Graecit. N. T., Louvain 1857, p. 254) according to the best Greek codices, such as the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus, which omit them, would not belong to the angelic message. Nevertheless they are given not only by other codices and ancient versions, by the textus receptus and by the Vulgate (cf. J. Knabenbauer, in h. l. and A. Merk, N. T. gr. et lat., 4th ed., Rome 1942, p. 189); but also by the Protoevangelium of James (XI, 1), by Tertullian (De Virgin. vel., 6: PL 2, 897), by Eusebius (Demonstr. evang., VII, 1: PG 22, 517): testimonies which M.-J. Lagrange (on Lk. 1:28) judges "d'excellentes autorités," while adding that they "sont suspectes d'avoir harmonisé avec v. 42." It must however be observed with other critics and exegetes that nothing forbids such a praise having been addressed to the Virgin twice, by the archangel Gabriel (v. 28) and by St. Elizabeth (v. 42), who, "filled with the Holy Spirit" (v. 41), completed it by giving its profound reason in the blessed fruit of her womb, in whom precisely, according to the messianic promises to the Patriarchs, "all nations" would be "blessed" (Gen. 22:18; 26:4; 28:14, and Jn. 1:16 and Gal. 3:8-16). Theologically those words are essential: without them the angelic message would remain incomplete, neglecting the true reason for the "Dominus tecum"; they are demanded by the intimate relationship that the Annunciation (v.) has with the Protoevangelium (Gen. 3). With them in fact Mary is proclaimed the "new Eve," true "mother of the living" whom the Evangelist will call "children of God" (Jn. 1:12; 1 Jn. 3:1), the only one among women who did not merit and did not transmit the condemnation, but the blessing, because through her God has loosed the ancient curse and has blessed the wretched children of Eve (cf. St. Sophronius, Orat., II, 22: PG 87, 3242; ps.-Hier. [Pasch. Radbertus], Ep. 9, 5: PL 30, 127; St. Bernard, Hom. II super Missus est, n. 3: PL 183, 62 ff.).
d) Thus, concise but rich in theological content ("arcana mysteria reserans": St. Bernard, De diversis, Serm. 52, 2: PL 183, 675), the salutatio (Lk. 1:29) of the archangel Gabriel, already messenger of the messianic era in the Old Testament (Dan. 9:21-27), announces, dawn of redemption, that Mary is the Immaculate ("full of grace"): cf. Pius IX, bull "Ineffabilis," Dec. 8, 1854), because chosen by God as co-redemptrix of the human race ("the Lord is with thee"), as the new Eve ("blessed art thou among women"), Mother of God and our Mother, universal mediatrix of grace. And it is only in this messianic light that the unique dignity of the Virgin must be considered, in order to be rightly understood, the dignity to which the Church rightly renders a special cult called that of "hyperdulia."
e) The Angel's colloquy further recalls Isaiah's prophecies about the Emmanuel (7:14), "prince of peace" (9:6-7). If the prophetic name of Emmanuel alludes directly to the mystery of the divine Incarnation that was still to be accomplished, that of Jesus, announced by the Angel (Lk. 1:31; 2:21), better expresses the task of the Messiah already come among men as "savior" (Mt. 1:21-25; Lk. 2:11); but, with Cornelius a Lapide, Knabenbauer, Holzmeister, it must immediately be noted (cf. Mt. 1:22-23) that the name of Emmanuel, "God with us," that is, "God who is present to help and to save," is, formally, the same as Jesus ("God is salvation"): the holiest, the sweetest, the most joyful of names (cf. Jubilus de nom. Jesu: PL 184; 1317-20).
f) As in the A., so in the divine history of the Redemption and in the life of the Church, the name of Mary is indissolubly joined with that of Jesus. Therefore the A., which sums up all the privileges and glories of the Virgin, is, after the Pater, the most deeply felt, the most beautiful prayer of Christians, ever new and sweet, which has inspired the greatest geniuses. Dante hears it sung in paradise, intoned by Gabriel, to whom the blessed respond in choirs with a visible increase of their brightness (Par., XXXII, 94 ff.; cf. III, 121 f. and XXIII, 88-111).
II. The history of the A. counts a millennium of gradual development, from the 6th century, when it arose as a liturgical expression, to the 16th, when it established itself in its present text.
a) For the East we find testimony in two Egyptian ostraca, of the 6th or 7th century, on which the first part of the A. is read, in Greek (text in Leclercq). The ancient liturgies, moreover, as a whole, attest to a certain unanimity of the Eastern Churches in thus honoring the Virgin (Syriac Liturgy of St. James, the Egyptian of St. Mark, and the Ethiopic of the Twelve Apostles, in F. E. Brightmann, Liturgies Eastern and Western, I [Oxford 1896], 56, 128, 218). To the twofold biblical salutation they added the words: "For thou hast borne the Savior of our souls."
For the West, the offertory of the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the Roman liturgy is of great importance; it dates back to the time of St. Gregory the Great and gives us the text in its original form, as it was in use throughout the Middle Ages: Ave, Maria, gratia plena: Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui. The Ambrosian liturgy has the variant, according to the Vulgate in Lk. 1:42, inter mulieres (Transit. of the Sixth Sunday of Advent).
b) Although it was inserted into the liturgy, the A. did not immediately become a customary formula of prayer for the people. Only at the end of the 12th century do we find the first prescriptions concerning the recitation of the A. The bishop of Paris, Odo of Sully, at the Synod of 1198 recommended: «Exhortentur populum semper presbyteri ad dicendum Orationem dominicam, et Credo in Deum, et 'Salutationem Beatae Virginis'» (Mansi, XXII, 861). In the following century, many councils of every nation would repeat similar prescriptions (for example, the Synod of Coventry in England, of 1237: ibid., XXIII, 432); hence, from this period onward, the use of the A. became widespread and, thanks above all to the Marian rosary (v.), the A. became one of the prayers most dear to Christian piety.
The introduction of the name of Jesus into the text of the Hail Mary is attributed to Urban IV (1261-64), but this is not certain. The invocation Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen, which took shape gradually in its individual phrases between the 13th and 15th centuries, also entered into the practice of the faithful. The present integral formula of the Hail Mary was fixed by St. Pius V, who in 1568, in reforming the Roman Breviary, prescribed its recitation, together with that of the Our Father, at the beginning of every canonical hour. The Dominicans, however, have preserved the ancient formula (down to Jesus) in the Officium Parvum B. M. V., which is recited every day in their novitiates and studentates.
c) In the liturgy, the Ave Maria appears as an antiphon (Vespers of the feast of the Annunciation) and as an offertory in Masses in honor of the Virgin. — Polyphonists took this prayer as a motet, developing the Gregorian theme: thus Josquin des Prés, Palestrina and Victoria. In the centuries closer to our own, musicians have treated the text with greater freedom.
Some of these compositions have remained famous, such as the A. of Schubert, Gounod, Cherubini, Mozart, Mendelssohn and many others, all in an extra-liturgical style and therefore to be excluded from sacred functions, but worthy elevations of the spirit and a noble homage of art to the Virgin Mother.
Bibliography7 works
Inoltre: F. Zorell, Was bedeutet der Name Jesus?, in Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 30 (1906), pp. 764-66; id., Maria, soror Mosis, et Maria, Mater Dei, in Verbum Domini, 6 (1926), pp. 257-63; id., s. v., in Lexicon Graecum N. T., 2ª ed., Parigi 1931, col. 797 s., con bibl.; C. Beckermann, «Et nomen virginis Maria» (Lc. 1, 27), in Verbum Domini, 1 (1921), pp. 130-136; E. Hugon, Marie pleine de grâce, 5ª ed., Parigi 1926 (commento teologico al detto: Plena sibi, superplena nobis).
II. J. Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B., sacc. V. Praef, nn. 119-28; G. C. Trombelli, De cultu publico ab Ecclesia B. Marine exhibito, Dm.
4ª, in J. J. Bourassé, Summa Aurea de laud. B. V. M., IV, Parigi 1862, pp. 209-42; Th. Esser, Storia della Salutazione Angelica, in Il Rosario, Memorie Domenicane, 3 (1886), pp. 334-338, 375-79, 462-67, 494-99, 615-23, 749-53, tradotto dal Historisches Jahrbuch der Görresgesellschaft, 5 (1884), pp. 88-116; U. Berlière, Angelique (salutation), in DTRC, I (1905), coll. 1273-1277; H. Leclercq, Prière à la Vierge Marie sur un ostrahou de Lousser, in Bulletin d'ancienne littérature et d'archéologie chrétienne, 2 (1912), pp. 3-32; l'importante articolo fu riassunto dal Vacandard, L'histoire de l'Ave Maria, in Revue du Clergé Français, 71 (1912, III), pp. 315-19; fu poi riprodotto in Hefele-Leclercq, V, Parigi 1913, coll. 1734-59, app. 4ª (Sur la Salutation Angélique prescrite par le canon 7 du Concile de Béziers en 1246), quindi, con leggere varianti, in Monumenta Ecclesiae Liturgica, I, II, Parigi 1913, pp. CCXVI-CCXXVIII (§ 52: Salutation Angélique et prière à la Vierge Marie), e s. v. Marie (Je vous salue), in DACL, X (1932), coll. 2043-62; E. Campana, Maria nel Culto Cattolico, I, Torino 1933, pp. 519-64; M. Roschini, L'A. M.: note storiche, in Marianum, 5 (1943), pp. 177-85. Interessanti riferimenti in A. Wilmart, Auteurs spirituels et textes dévots du Moyen Age Latin, Parigi 1932 (v. indice).
Per la bellezza dell'A. e il suo posto nella musica religiosa, J. Bricout e A. Gastoué, in Dict. pratique des connaissances religieuses, I, Parigi 1925, coll. 568-71.
Per la letteratura ascetica ricordiamo solo s. Alfonso, Le Glorie di Maria, parte 2ª (Oscopis); e l'Expositio Salutationis Angelicae, da attribuirsi a s. Tommaso d'Aquino, come dimostra Giov. Rossi dandone l'ediz. critica in Divus Thomas, 34 (Piacenza 1931), pp. 445-79.