«MEMORARE, O PIISSIMA VIRGO MARIA». — Prayer to the Most Holy Virgin, an expression of filial trust in her, for she never closes her ear to the pleas of her children. Erroneously attributed to S. Bernardo, it nevertheless contains, in paraphrase, his words: «Sileat misericordiam tuam,
« MEMORARE, O PISSIMA VIRGO MARIA » — MEMORIA
Virgo Beata, si quis est qui invocatum te in necessitatibus suis sibi meminerit defuisse » (Serm. IV de Assumpta, 8: PL 183, 428). In its precise present form, it is no earlier than the 15th century.
At first it formed part of a longer prayer, which began with the words « Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria, ... memorare non esse auditum a saeculo... ». The oldest testimony to it known thus far is Nicola Saliceto’s Antidistarius animae, a Cistercian of Strasburgo, published in 1489 and subsequently in several editions. About ten years later, the M. already appears detached in the Hortulus animae, a collection of prayers compiled under the direction of J. Wehinger (Strasburgo 1503).
Through the work of the servant of God Claude Bernard (1588–1641), the prayer became the means of innumerable conversions and miracles. The servant of God Filippo Roothan, Superior General of the Jesuits, also propagated it with tireless zeal, obtaining an indulgence from Pio IX in 1846, and incorporated it into a prayer in honour of the Virgin of Peace: « Ave augustissima regina pacis ».
It is found in almost the same terms from antiquity among the Christians of the East as well (« Nemo ad bonitatem tuam confugit quin cito misericordiam consecutus sit » etc.: Canon, Paraclet, in SS. Deiparam, Opus Photi. Cf. A. Ballerini, Sylloge monument., I, Roma 1854, p. 481).