The Memorare

"Never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection was left unaided." The great prayer of confidence to Our Lady.

Some prayers ask; the Memorare trusts. It is the prayer you reach for when you are out of other options — a plea to the Mother of God built entirely on the certainty that she does not turn away the desperate. Saints have called it the prayer that storms heaven; men in trouble have prayed it nine times in a row and called it a flying novena.

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The Memorare

The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

When to pray it

Pray it in any need, but especially the urgent ones — when you do not know how to pray for a thing, hand it to the Mother of God in these words. It is often prayed nine times in succession as a "flying novena" when help is needed now. It is a fitting prayer at the end of the Rosary and a strong one to teach a child to pray in fear.

Where it came from

The Memorare is often attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux — but that is a case of mistaken identity. The prayer first appears as part of a longer 15th-century devotion, and its spread in the 1600s is owed to a French priest, Fr. Claude Bernard, who printed and distributed it widely; over time his surname pulled the great Cistercian's name onto the prayer. What is true is older than the wording: the unbroken Catholic conviction that Mary, given to us as Mother at the foot of the Cross (John 19:26–27), intercedes for those who turn to her. For the doctrine behind the devotion, see Sed Contra: the Marian Dogmas.

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