The Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina)

The prayer that closes the Rosary — "to thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve" — in English and the original Latin.

It is the prayer that ends the Rosary and, in monasteries the world over, ends the day: the Hail Holy Queen, the Salve Regina. It is the cry of an exile to his mother — honest about this "valley of tears" and certain of where mercy is found. Here it is in full, in English and in the Latin that has been sung for a thousand years.

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The Hail Holy Queen

In English

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

In Latin (Salve Regina)

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae, vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle. Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix. R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi. Amen.

When to pray it

Its most common use is as the closing prayer of the Rosary, prayed after the five decades (often followed by the concluding collect, "O God, whose only-begotten Son…"). It is also the Marian antiphon for Compline — night prayer — through much of the liturgical year, which is why religious communities sing it as the last words of the day.

Where it came from

The Salve Regina dates to the medieval period (commonly traced to the 11th–12th centuries) and has been attributed, without certainty, to Hermann of Reichenau. It entered universal use through the monasteries — the Cistercians and Dominicans chanted it — and became one of the four seasonal Marian antiphons of the Church's night prayer. Its theology is the theology of every Marian prayer: Mary as advocata nostra, our advocate, who turns her Son's mercy toward exiles still on the way home (cf. the Marian Dogmas).

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