Hello Rosary lovers! In this post we will ask: What are the Hail Mary prayer words?

Elsewhere, I have already written about the Catholic Hail Mary prayer. You can check that out if you’re interested.

In this post, however, we shall look at the words of this amazing prayer in a variety of languages.

The Hail Mary in English

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Hail Mary in Latin

Ave, María, grátia plena,
Dóminus tecum.
Benedicta tu in muliéribus,
et benedíctus fructus ventris
tui, Iesus.
Sancta María, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.

The Hail Mary in Spanish

Dios te salve, María, Llena eres de gracia, el Señor es contigo. Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres, y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús. Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros, pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte. Amen.

The Hail Mary in Italian

Ave, o Maria, piena di grazia, il Signore è con te. Tu sei benedetta fra le donne e benedetto è il frutto del tuo seno, Gesù. Santa Maria, Madre di Dio, prega per noi peccatori, adesso e nell’ora della nostra morte. Amen.

The Hail Mary in Russian

Радуйся, Мария,
благодати полная,
Господь с Тобою,
благословенна Ты между жёнами,
и благословен плод чрева Твоего Иисус.
Святая Мария, Матерь Божия, молись о нас,
грешных, ныне и в час смерти нашей.
Аминь

The Hail Mary in Mandarin

万福玛利亚，你充满圣宠，
主与你同在，你在妇女中受赞颂，
你的亲子耶稣，同受赞颂。
天主圣母玛利亚，
求你现在和我们临终时，
为我们罪人祈求天主。
阿门

The Hail Mary in Filipino

Aba Ginoong Maria, napupuno ka ng grasiya,
Ang Panginoong Diyos ay sumasaiyo.
Bukod kang pinagpala sa babaeng lahat
At pinagpala rin naman ang anak mong si Hesus.
Santa Maria, Ina ng Diyos
Ipanalangin mo kaming makasalanan
Ngayon at kung kami’y mamamatay.
Amen.

The Hail Mary in Hindi

प्रणाम मरिया कृपा पूर्ण, प्रभु तेरे साथ है।

धन्य है तू स्त्रियों में,

और धन्य है तेरे गर्भ का फल येसु।

हे संत मरिया, परमेश्वर की माँ,

प्रार्थना कर हम पापियों के लिए,

अब और हमारे मरने के समय,

आमेन।

Its Popularity and Meaning

The Hail Mary is one of the most popular prayers in the world. It is revered by Catholics as second only to the Lord’s prayer.

It is an extremely powerful prayer, because saying it from the heart is a total throwing of ourselves into the arms of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

To cast ourselves onto Mary is to also cast ourselves onto the fruit of her womb: Jesus Christ, our infinite and eternal God.

This prayer is a prayer of worship to God. We worship God by honouring his Mother in this prayer. We call Mary blessed and we call Jesus Christ blessed.

‘The truths contained in the Hail Mary are so sublime, so wonderful that no man or Angel could fully understand them.’ – St. Jerome

In saying ‘Hail Mary’, we are offering her a great greeting of tremendous respect, the sort of greeting we would offer royalty. Mary is a Queen.

We also greatly honour Mary when we later call her ‘Mother of God’.

In saying ‘full of grace’, and later ‘Holy Mary’, we are proclaiming that Mary is free from all corruption of any kind. She was immaculately conceived in the womb of her mother, St Anne, the Grandmother of God.

Mary was preserved from the first moment of her existence from all stain of original sin. Her entire life she remained free from sin of any kind.

In saying ‘the Lord is with thee’, we are proclaiming that God is with Mary in a very special way. God is her very own and only Son. She is God’s very own and only Mother.

To call upon Mary is to call upon the one who in a very special way always has the ear of God open to her every request.

The prayer asks Mary to pray for us now. Everything we need help with, all our needs and desires, are fulfilled when we pray this prayer. This prayer is a guarantee that Mary prays for us now, precisely at the moment we ask her to.

Also, it is an investment prayer. We ask in this prayer that Mary would pray for us at the hour of our death.

Every single time we pray the Hail Mary from the heart, we are building up an incredible investment. When it comes our time to die, every Hail Mary we’ve ever said will come to fruition, and Mary will pray for us with great power.

The more Hail Marys we’ve said, the more assured we can be at our death that Mary is praying for us.

The more Hail Marys we’ve said, the more Mary will pray for those we love at the time of their deaths.

In short, much like the Lord’s prayer, the Hail Mary says everything we need to say to God and Mary, now and for the future.

Therefore, it doesn’t matter at all whether a Catholic chooses to pray the Lord’s Prayer many times everyday, or the Hail Mary many times everyday, or a mixture of both (like in the holy Rosary).

Either way, both prayers are more or less saying the same thing to God.

The Power of this Prayer

A venerable nun was once asked on her deathbed what she would do if she could have a healthy life again. She said: ‘I’d go back and say, from the heart, with as much devotion as possible, a single Hail Mary.’

One Hail Mary, prayed from the heart, cancels out all venial sins. If it is said purely out of love for God and the Virgin Mary, it should also cancel out all mortal sins.

A Prayer Cherished by Mary

It’s little wonder that Mary loves the Hail Mary more than any other prayer that could be offered to her.

‘Desist, dear child, from your labor for no prayer you could possibly compose would give me the joy and delight of the Hail Mary.’ – Our Lady to St. Mechtilde

Here at Rosary Lovers, we massively encourage the Rosary and the Hail Mary. Check out our many posts on the Rosary.

God bless.