The Three Great Marian Prayers

When one speaks of the three great Marian prayers of the Catholic tradition, one speaks of compositions with radically distinct histories: the Ave Maria was born of two biblical greetings (Lk 1:28 and Lk 1:42) and received its present form only in the sixteenth century. The Angelus is a medieval creation associated with the ringing of the bell at three moments of the day. The Rosary, in its Dominican configuration, was fixed by Saint Pius V in 1569 and expanded by John Paul II in 2002 with the Luminous Mysteries. To trace the history of each one is to understand the theological layers that the Church has deposited in them over the centuries.

The Ave Maria took its present form with the Bull Quod a nobis of Pius V (1568). The Angelus, born of the monastic practice of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was consolidated in the three daily rings of the bell that punctuate the Christian day. The Holy Rosary received its classical structure of fifteen mysteries through the Dominican reform and was expanded by the five Luminous Mysteries of John Paul II in 2002. Three prayers with distinct chronologies, but converging in the contemplation of the Gospel with Mary.

The Ave Maria: historical composition, biblical sources (Lk 1:28 and Lk 1:42) and the form fixed by Pius V

The Ave Maria is composed of two parts. It begins with the heavenly greeting pronounced by the archangel Gabriel:

• “Ave Maria.” It is God himself who sends the angel to greet the Virgin of Nazareth with these solemn words. We dare to take up this greeting with great respect.
• “Full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her. She is filled with the presence of the One who is the source of all grace. “Shout for joy and acclaim with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” (Zeph 3:14, 17). Mary is the ark of the covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. Mary, full of grace, is wholly given over to the One who will come to dwell in her and whom she is about to give to the world.
• “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.” Elizabeth’s greeting is now our own. Elizabeth was the first of many to call Mary blessed. Mary is blessed among women because she believed what was said to her by the Lord. Abraham believed and became a blessing for all the nations of the world. Mary believed and became the Mother of believers. Through her, all the nations of the world receive the blessing of God, the Redeemer Jesus, the “fruit of your womb.”
• “Holy Mary, Mother of God.” The Church opens the second part of the Ave Maria by declaring that Mary is the Mother of God. This Christological title proclaimed at the Council of Ephesus is precious to us. Mary’s Son, Jesus, is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, who assumed human nature. We know that we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her and, through her, hand ourselves over to the will of God.
• “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” In asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge that we are poor sinners, in need of the help of the Mother of Mercy now and at the crucial moment of our death (cf. CCC 2676, 2677).

Mary’s devotees must never allow familiarity to distract them from the biblical and Christian depth of the Ave Maria.

The Angelus: medieval origin, the three Ave Marias, and the ringing of the bell at dawn, at midday, and at nightfall

The Angelus is a prayer that, in the Latin Church, is recited in the morning, at midday, and in the evening. It is entirely biblical. Its three sentences are Christocentric: the message of the Incarnation, the acceptance of the Virgin, and the accomplishment of the Incarnation. An Ave Maria follows each of these three sentences, which gives the faithful the opportunity to meditate on the blessed Mother, in whom the Incarnation was accomplished.

The Angelus is simple in its structure, biblical in character, historical in origin, since it is linked to prayer for peace and security, and almost liturgical in its rhythm of morning, midday, and evening. It recalls the Paschal Mystery, since it evokes the Incarnation and prays that we may be led through the Passion and the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection. It is a prayer that leads to contemplation.

Nowadays, people from all over the world are accustomed to seeing the Pope recite the prayer of the Angelus at midday, from the window of his study in the Vatican, every Sunday. After this, a brief Angelus message from the Vicar of Christ is expected. It is common to hear the church bells ring in a particular way at the moment of the Angelus and to see Catholics stop what they are doing to offer this most beautiful Marian invocation.

One observes, for example, vendors and customers in the market of Onitsha, in Nigeria, the largest market in West Africa, reciting this prayer at midday as soon as the bells begin to ring. Those who are not Catholics are moved by this explicit confession of faith. During the Easter season, the Angelus is replaced by the Regina Coeli, which is even more profoundly scriptural and Christological.

The Holy Rosary: the Dominican tradition, the form fixed by Pius V (1569) and the Luminous Mysteries of John Paul II (2002)

The Rosary is a long Marian prayer that is also biblical, Christocentric, and deeply rooted in history. It is marked by the following elements: the Creed, the Our Father, and three Ave Marias, followed by an Our Father, ten Ave Marias, and a Glory Be to the Father for each of the twenty decades. The three original groups of five decades are the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries, to which the Luminous Mysteries were added. The Rosary can be prayed in various ways: alone, in a group, as a family, in a Catholic community, or by radio or television. It can be enriched with biblical readings, short homilies, hymns, or moments of silence. Traditionally promoted by the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans), the Rosary has been praised and recommended by many Popes, such as Saint Pius V, Pius VI, Leo XIII, Pius XII, Saint John XXIII, Saint Paul VI, Saint John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. Pope Pius XII, in his letter to the archbishop of Manila in 1946, called the Rosary a “compendium of the entire Gospel.” Saint John Paul II proclaimed a Year of the Rosary from October 2002 to October 2003. Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, and Blessed Bartolo Longo were deeply attached to the Rosary.

The Rosary is a prayer inspired by the Gospel. In it, reflection is concentrated on the principal saving events accomplished by Christ, together with their effects on the blessed Virgin Mary and on the nascent Church. As can be seen, the concentration is Christocentric. This Christocentric emphasis is clearly evident: the first thirteen Mysteries and all five Luminous Mysteries are about Jesus, and only the last two focus explicitly on the blessed Virgin Mary. “The Rosary is also a path of proclamation and deepening, in which the mystery of Christ is continually re-presented at the different levels of Christian experience. Its format is that of a prayerful and contemplative presentation, which aims to shape the disciple according to the heart of Christ.”

Those who pray the Rosary must not remain only in repetitive prayer. This Marian prayer leads strongly to contemplation, with its calm and persistent rhythm, marked by the holy names of Jesus and Mary, and by the doxology Gloria Patri. “The Rosary,” says Saint John Paul II, “is situated in the best and most proven tradition of Christian contemplation. Developed in the West, it is a typically meditative prayer and, in a certain way, corresponds to the ‘prayer of the heart’ or ‘Jesus prayer,’ which germinated in the Eastern Christian context. It has the simplicity of a popular prayer, but also the theological depth of a prayer suited to those who feel the need for a more mature contemplation” (RVM 5, 39).

The Second Vatican Council in no way discouraged the prayer of the Rosary. Certainly, the Council stressed that “every liturgical celebration, as the work of Christ the priest and of his body, which is the Church, is a sacred action par excellence, and no other action of the Church equals its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree” (SC 7). But the Council also declared, in the same document, that “the sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire action of the Church” (SC 9). Therefore, there is room also for penance, for catechesis, for the Sacred Scriptures, and for popular devotion. In fact, “not only does [the Rosary] not stand in opposition to the Liturgy, but it sustains it, since it introduces it well and echoes it, making it possible to live it with full interior participation, gathering its fruits in daily life” (RVM 4). Saint Paul VI had already borne witness to the same: “The Rosary is a pious exercise that draws its motive from the Liturgy and, if practiced according to its original inspiration, naturally leads to it” (MC 48).

Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort calls the Rosary “a priceless treasure inspired by God, a divine synthesis of the mysteries of the life, of the passion and death, and of the glory of Jesus and Mary.” The devotees of our blessed Mother will find this book of Saint Louis Marie precious and of great help. These considerations are a great encouragement for all followers of Christ to pray the Holy Rosary every day with devotion.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian apparitions, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.

Marian devotion is deeply rooted in the Magisterium of the Church. The document Marialis Cultus of Pope Paul VI explores in depth the value of Marian prayers in Christian life.

Learn to pray the Rosary in our guide: How to Pray the Rosary, Step by Step.