The Hail, Holy Queen (Latin: Salve Regina) is one of the Church’s oldest and most beloved Marian prayers, composed by Hermann of Reichenau in the 11th century. If you feel far from home today, or if the world feels harder than it should, this prayer names that exile and asks Mary to turn her gaze toward you.
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. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Hermann of Reichenau, 11th century
How this prayer works
The prayer asks Mary, as Mother of mercy and our Advocate, to look upon us in our exile and lead us to her Son. It names the Christian life honestly: we are banished children of Eve, living in a valley of tears. Hermann of Reichenau, a Benedictine monk born with severe physical disabilities, wrote this prayer from his own experience of limitation and longing. The Church has prayed it at Compline (night prayer) for centuries, making it the last word before sleep.
When you pray it, you are naming your weariness and handing it to Mary. You are admitting that this world is not yet home. The prayer does not ask Mary to remove the exile, only to turn her eyes toward us while we walk through it. That gaze is enough.
Pray it at the end of the day, after the dishes are done and the house is quiet. Pray it when the news weighs heavy. Carry the line our life, our sweetness, and our hope as a truth stronger than what you feel.
Pray it slowly tonight.
