For centuries, three medieval candidates vied for authorship of the *Salve Regina*: Herman Contractus of Reichenau (†1054), Bishop Adémar of Monteil, preacher of the First Crusade (†1098), and the obscure Peter of Messia. The question remains technically open, though modern consensus favors Herman. More revealing than authorship is the liturgical journey of this antiphone: adopted by the Dominicans in 1221 to conclude the Divine Office, by the Cistercians, and finally fixed by Pius V in the Roman Breviary, the *Salve Regina* became the most sung Marian text in the Western liturgical history.
The Disputed Authorship of the *Salve Regina*: Herman Contractus of Reichenau (†1054), Adémar of Monteil, and the Medieval Sources Problem
The *Salve Regina* in the 11th Century: The Golden Age of Marian Piety and Early Attestations
The *Salve Regina* is well attested in the 11th century, known as the golden age of Marian piety, and in some ways it encapsulates the devotion to Mary of that period. No era ever sang the mercy of Mary with such ecstatic and unanimous enthusiasm as the Middle Ages. The Gregorian melody, as old as the prayer itself, so beautiful and laden with hope, certainly contributed to its spread. As is known, it was attributed to many authors. We remember, for example, the Spanish bishop Pedro Martinez (†1000), the French bishop Adémar (†1098), papal legate in the First Crusade, the Italian Anselmo of Lucca (†1086), Saint Bernard, and others.Today, it is believed that it was most likely composed by Herman of Reichenau, better known as Herman the Cripple (†1054), also the author of the *Alma Redemptoris Mater*.
English Translation:The English Jesuit Cyril Martindale became captivated by the story of Hermann after discovering a Latin volume detailing his life in the Oxford library. The biographical accounts of Hermann in these pages, according to Martindale, do not depict a disabled castoff, but a child entrusted to the loving care of the monks, quickly becoming a valuable companion to the religious. This unique figure was born on July 18, 1013, to Eltrude and Godfrey, Count of Altstausen in Suabia, and was baptized as Hermann. Due to his severe physical deformity (he could not stand or walk), he earned the nickname “
Coxo” (from the Latin “
contractus“, meaning contracted, shriveled, but also crippled).At the age of seven, he was sent to the Benedictine monastery at Reichenau, on a small island in Lake Constance, where he remained for life, becoming a monk in 1043. The biography also reveals that Hermann was not only a very learned scholar, knowledgeable in mathematics, Greek, Latin, Arabic, astronomy, and music, but also a man marked by a passionate humanity, a person “
agreeable, friendly, always smiling. Tolerant, joyful“, who found in the monastery the beauty of friendship and the warmth of home. To his close friend Bertoldo, who accompanied him daily, Hermann confided his deepest thoughts during the days of pleurisy that would lead to his death.The friend would become moved and cover his ears when the little monk expressed being “
tired of living“. “
Life“, writes the biographer Bertoldo, “
is so full of pulsating vitality that Hermann lived it truly […] by his courage, the beauty of his soul, his serenity in pain, his eagerness to play, the sweetness of his manners that made him beloved by all. […] Hermann proves that pain does not mean unhappiness, nor pleasure, happiness.”
Cluny’s Salve Regina and its Adoption by Mendicant Orders in the 13th CenturyFurther information about the “
Salve Regina” indicates that initially, the antiphone was an expression of monastic piety. It was sung as a processional hymn in Cluny, during the time of Abbot Peter the Venerable (†1156), who instituted it during the procession for the feast of the Assumption and other major festivals. The “
Statutes of the Cluny Congregation“, drafted around 1135, prescribed: “
It has been established that on the feast of the Assumption, during the procession, the antiphone composed for the holy Mother of the Lord, beginning with the words: Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae, must be sung by the community. The same must be done in processions from the main church of the Apostles to the church of the same Virgin Mother […].The reason for this prescription is that, after the Creator of all things, each rational creature should nourish a supreme and highest love for the Mother of the Creator of the universe.The “Salve” was also used by the Cistercians, which explains one of the most widespread attributions to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153). Blessed Godfrey of Auxerre (d. c. 1188), a Cistercian monk, friend, and confidant of Saint Bernard, is considered the author of the oldest commentary on the “Salve Regina.” It is also known that the Cistercien Antifonary, reformed between 1135 and 1145, provided for the singing of the “Salve” as an antiphona to the Gospel, or to the “Benedictus” or “Magnificat,” at the four medieval feasts of Saint Mary:– Purification (February 2),
– Annunciation (March 25),
– Assumption (August 15),
– Nativity (September 8).Through a series of legislative interventions, from 1174 to 1251, the General Chapters of the Order progressively expanded the use of the “Salve,” conferring upon it greater importance and solemnity. Thus, the “Salve Regina” was adopted by the Mendicant Orders. In 1221, the Dominicans introduced the daily singing of the “Salve” after Compline, first in Bologna and then in other convents of the Lombardy Province, from where it quickly spread throughout the Order. In the case of the Friars Minor, it is known that, after the liturgical reform carried out by Minister General Friar Aimon of Faversham (d. 1244), the “Salve Regina” was included among the four antiphons sung after Compline, according to the liturgical times of the year. Among the Mendicant Orders, the Servites of Mary stood out for their frequent use of the “Salve Regina.” The ancient Constitutions, drafted in 1280, prescribed in Chapter I: “The ‘Salve Regina’ must not be omitted at any time of the liturgical year, after each hour and after the common meal, except during the Triduum of the Parasceve. Each night, the ‘Salve’ must be sung with great devotion after the third reading of the Vigil of Our Lady, when this is celebrated. If the Vigil is not celebrated, the ‘Salve Regina’ must be sung after Vespers. All the friars present in the convent, including the provincials and other officials, must participate from the beginning, setting aside any other engagements. And so that the friars may not have any excuses, the bell must be rung.”During the singing of the “Salve,” the Servites bowed their heads and knelt at the words “Salve Regina,” until the second “salve.” At the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Bologna, one can admire the icon of the Madonna della Salve, by an anonymous author of the 13th century. Tradition holds that Saint Philip Benizi (d. 1285) donated this icon to the friars of the Bologna convent.The community processed to this icon, singing the Salve. David Maria Turoldo, the most famous friar of the Servants of Mary, in a poetic passage, presents in a suggestive manner the filial relationship between the Virgin and her Servants in relation to our antiphone: “How many friars and what a chorus of voices to greet me every night! And I, without them noticing, with a gentle smile, greeted them all one by one every night.”In this historical evocation, we cannot fail to remember another unforgettable servant of Mary, Friar Inácio Maria Calabuig (†2005). In his study on the Vigil of Our Lady, the eminent mariologist and liturgist dedicates several pages to the Salve Regina and presents in three expressions its content:«The Salve Regina, for its content, is simultaneously an expression of greeting, a form of ‘clamor’, and a voice of supplication:a) A greeting from the servants to the Queen of Mercy. A solemn greeting, expressed with a happy literary disposition: the same term opens and closes the first stanza: ‘Salve, Regina […] spes nostra, salve’.b) A clamor in the biblical-liturgical sense of a cry from a people oppressed, rising to heaven (cf. Ex 2,23. 3,9). A clamor, therefore, that rises from the servants to their Advocate, oppressed by the consciousness of sin and groaning in a land of exile, so that she may intercede on their behalf and obtain for them liberation and return to their homeland.c) A supplication from the servants to the Mother of Jesus, that she ‘after this exile’ show them the Son, ‘blessed fruit’ of her womb»The Salve Regina, initially an expression of monastic piety and adopted by the mendicant orders, holds an important place in popular piety, gaining great sympathy among the people. To cater to this devotion, in the 16th century it was established that, on festive days, the antiphone should be sung immediately after Vespers and not in the Compline. In the 17th century, to make the nightly tribute to the Virgin more popular, the custom spread among religious orders of sprinkling holy water, during the singing of the Salve, on the friars and the people.Bernardo of Claraval (†1153) on the six verbs of invocation and the theology of Mary’s compassion in the Salve ReginaThe Italian text of the *Salve Regina*, as a salutation and invocation to the Virgin, concludes the Liturgy of the Hours and, in the Completes, appears as follows:Hail, Queen,
Mother of mercy,
Life, sweetness, and hope of ours, hail!
To You we cry,
the banished sons of Eve.
To You we give voice,
with tears streaming down,
in this valley of tears.
Come then, our advocate,
look upon us with Your merciful eyes.
And after this exile,
show us Jesus, the blessed fruit
of Your womb.
O clement, o merciful,
o sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, Holy Mother of God,
that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.Among the commentaries that have honored the *Salve Regina*, three authors stand out: Godfrey of Auxerre (†1188), St. Lawrence of Brindisi (†1619), and St. Alphonse M. de Ligori (†1787).Godfrey of Auxerre (†1188): The first commentary on the *Salve Regina*, Homily on the Nativity of Mary at Clairvaux (1162-1165)As mentioned, it is believed that a homily by the Cistercian monk Godfrey of Auxerre, delivered for the feast of the Nativity of Mary, likely during his tenure as Abbot of Clairvaux (1162-1165), constitutes the first commentary on the *Salve Regina*. This homily-commentary marked a significant novelty in the field of monastic homiletics, a novelty destined for lasting success. It was novel because Godfrey’s homilies always commented on a biblical text, while on September 8th of that year, he began to comment on a “liturgical text“, recently included in the Cistercian Antiphonary mentioned earlier.In the second part of the homily, the blessed explains the three attributes that accompany the title of *Regina misericordiae* applied to Mary, namely: “life, sweetness, and hope of ours.” According to Godfrey, Mary is our life because, through the examples of her holy life, she generates and educates for life. She is our sweetness because she brings immense kindness values, such as love for contemplation, joy in her remembrance, and the confidence her merciful eyes instill in us. Mary is our hope, primarily, because she is “hope of resurrection.”Contemplating already accomplished in her what we await with intimate and ardent desire, victory over death and eternal happiness, we feel encouraged and filled with confidence.She is also “hope of mercy” because, considering the Virgin as an icon of divine mercy, we trust to obtain through her intercession what we do not deserve because of our sins, and above all, to see “after this exile, Jesus, the blessed fruit of her womb.” These three attributes resound intensely in the heart of the Christian: they remind him of the mysterious fact of his existence (life), his need for consolation in bitterness (sweetness), and the need to live in a hope that does not disappoint (hope). Godfrey does not face the difficulty that represents the use of these terms applied to the Virgin. He certainly does not ignore that, strictly speaking, our life is only Christ, he is the source of supreme sweetness, he is our only hope.He knows this, and like his master Bernard, he sings it in the liturgical coral hymn Jesu Rex Admirabilis: “Jesu… vita desiderabilis/… dulcedo ineffabilis/… spes paenitentium.” But for Godfrey, as for Bernard, all this is taken for granted: in Mary, there is no light that is not a reflection of the light of Christ. The Virgin is life, sweetness, and hope for us only as an effective reflection of Christ’s salvific action. Godfrey’s assumption in commenting on Salve is familiar to medieval devotional literature: the awareness of his own misery and sin, and at the same time, the longing for liberation and life. Before the throne of the Regina misericordiae, Godfrey and his monks are poor seeking help, sinners asking for forgiveness.Saint Lawrence of Brindisi (d. 1619), a Capuchin friar, priest, doctor of the Church, and renowned biblical scholar, was one of the greatest devotes of Mary ever known. He is the author of 84 discourses on the Virgin, of which 6 are commentaries on Salve Regina. The Mariale is the title given to the discourses collected and published for the first time in 1928 by the Venetian Province of the Capuchin Friars. In the six discourses on Salve, the saint returns to the ancient question about the relationship between the titles “Queen” and “Mother” attributed to Mary: what is their origin? How do they harmonize?More than a real problem, it is an academic question, or better, a pastoral tool to illustrate Mary’s greatness and deepen her mission in the life of the Church. Saint Lawrence identifies the origin of the two titles in Mary’s similarity to God and Christ.God is supremely powerful (= King) and supremely good (= Father).Similarly, Mary possesses great power (= Queen) and is full of goodness (= Mother).To indicate Mary’s power and goodness, the saint calls the Virgin “Queen” and “Mother of Mercy“, as rightly begins Salve.According to our author, God made Mary a powerful Queen and Mother of Mercy to intervene on behalf of the Church and humanity. In this perspective, he presents the exercise of Mary’s royalty as a maternal service of mercy and expresses the inner emotion that the title Mater Misericordiae evokes in the devotee: “Mother of Mercy. How sweet is the name of mother! It cannot be expressed, it cannot be understood. And the Virgin is not only a mother, but a mother of mercy, supremely merciful. A mother full of clemency, tenderness, and love.”Great missionary, zealous bishop, and celebrated writer, he is the author of the work The Glories of Mary, published in 1750. The book achieved extraordinary success and was translated into several languages. Some scholars consider it the saint’s magnum opus, which he published after a long period of historical and theological research. Over sixteen years, he listened to and examined the vast tradition with the curiosity of a burning love, the pastoral sense of an excellent missionary, and the rigor of a theologian to whom Pius IX would grant the title of Doctor of the Church.The work is a testament to the saint’s great devotion and an expression of gratitude to the Mother of God for the help she granted him throughout his life, as evidenced by the declaration in the “Plea of the Author to Jesus and Mary” at the beginning of the book: “To thee, therefore, I address myself, my dearest Lady and my Mother Mary: thou knowest well that, after Jesus, in thee I have placed all my hope of eternal salvation. For all my good, my conversion, my vocation to leave the world, and all other graces that I received from God, I recognize that I received them through thee.”The volume is divided into two parts: the first comprises a comprehensive commentary on Salve Regina, and the second presents “The Virtues of Mary.” In the commentary on Salve Regina, which constitutes the most important part of the famous book, Saint Alphonse vividly, sometimes dramatically, describes the numerous interventions of the Virgin in favor of the faithful. Mary obtains their forgiveness, reconciles them with God, brings them back from sin that separates and distances them from God, she brings them close, reconciles, and unites. She intervenes to keep the converted sinner in grace: she invites him to prayer, obtains him light and strength, prevents him from falling again, and obtains the final grace of perseverance. As a powerful advocate and a mother full of mercy, Mary does not refuse to defend the causes of the most wretched.She is always watchful to see, have compassion for, and rescue, especially in moments of danger and, above all, at the hour of death: thus, she is more present than ever to comfort her devotes, defend them from evil, save them from hell, and lead them to herself into paradise for an eternal encounter with God.The Salve Regina in Contemporary Liturgy: The Breviary, the Roman Rite, and the Relevance of the Medieval Antiphona
Now, let us turn to the third point: the value and meaning of the Salve Regina for our time. We mentioned that, in its language and cultural attitude, by the social context it reflects, and by the theological conception it expresses, the Salve Regina is a typical expression of the Middle Ages. From that period, it conveys eternal religious values:– Awareness of the need for mercy.
– Awareness of being in a state of exile.
– Living in a world as a place for building the Kingdom.
– Longing to contemplate the face of Christ.
– Trust in the Mother of Mercy, to whom God has entrusted a special mission of grace and intercession on behalf of his people.For these values, the Salve Regina has been and is loved by generations of the faithful. It is a genuine prayer on the lips of early believers and still resonates truly, despite cultural changes, on the lips of the faithful of our time. The Christian people invoke the Mother of Mercy because they recognize in her the Father’s mercy in maternal form, composed of tenderness, gratuity, generosity, and welcome. Sometimes, these manifestations take on a public character. Think, for example, of ex-votos and votive boards hanging on the walls of shrines: they bear witness to Mary’s mercy in helping in dangers, obtaining cures and graces. The title “Mother of Mercy,” present in the Salve Regina, celebrates this very thing. First, because she is the Mother of Him who is Mercy, Christ, as Saint John Paul II affirms in his encyclical Dives in misericordia. Sent into the world by God, Christ becomes man out of love for humanity, to share his pain, solitude, fear, and death. Furthermore, because this title reminds us that Jesus on the Cross offered the Church a mother: “Behold your Mother” (Jn 19:25), as a guide and consolation for the pilgrim children on earth, and entrusted his brothers to her: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26), making them all his beloved children, also in need of a mother at the foot of the cross.Confidently turning to the Mother of Mercy is not only a request for intercession for sins among the devoted people, but above all a plea for her help to become merciful, as the Son of God commands: “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). This attitude is required by the Lord of those to whom he grants mercy.Let us then ask a simple question: what does it mean for us to be merciful? Literally, it means to have a sensitive heart towards the miseries of others, to be ready to help. It is the attitude of the good Samaritan who, finding a stranger beaten by the side of the road, of a different religious faith, feels compassion (cf. Lk 10:33), feels a pain in his heart that leads him to a series of acts of aid. It means to perceive the other instead of “passing by,” to be sensitive to his needs, to help him concretely, using his own means, time, strength, and even his life. Aware that on the path of conformity to Christ we are subject to falls and errors, we implore help from one who, like no one else, experienced God’s mercy: she felt looked upon with love and loved by Him (Lk 1:48), proclaiming in the Magnificat that His mercy “is extended from generation to generation” (Lk 1:50).Therefore, when praying/singing to the Mother of Mercy through the Salve Regina, we can commit ourselves to follow Christ, the path that the Mother of God teaches us to tread: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). As if to say: “This my Son can tell you something that may seem strange to you, but trust, as I learned to trust, even when His words seemed strange” (cf. Lk 2:49-50). Indeed, the Son tells the servants something quite strange: the guests want wine, and you bring them water. They trust, and the “great sign” occurs: “the water of the Law” (“the water for the Jewish ablutions”: Jn 2:6) becomes wine when brought to the master of the house. “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).How? By abandoning feelings of anger and purposes of vengeance against those who afflict us, resuming broken dialogues, conquering evil with good, hatred with love, indifference with love, offense with forgiveness, and ingratitude with gratitude.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.To deepen your devotion to the Virgin Mary through prayer, refer to the Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus by Pope Paul VI.Graduate Studies in Mariology
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