Hail, Queen of Heaven
The Ave Regina caelorum is a medieval Marian antiphon traditionally sung at Compline from the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called Candlemas, until Wednesday of Holy Week. Its author is unknown, though the Latin text was established in the Church’s prayer by the later Middle Ages. This traditional English verse translation is associated with Edward Caswall, the nineteenth-century Catholic priest and translator of Latin hymns. The antiphon honors Mary as Queen, the Mother through whom Christ the Light entered the world. Catholics pray it to praise her dignity and seek her intercession with her divine Son.
In Latin
Ave, Regina caelorum, ave, Domina Angelorum: salve, radix, salve, porta, ex qua mundo lux est orta. Gaude, Virgo gloriosa, super omnes speciosa: vale, o valde decora, et pro nobis Christum exora. V. Dignare me laudare te, Virgo sacrata. R. Da mihi virtutem contra hostes tuos. Oremus. Concede, misericors Deus, fragilitati nostrae praesidium: ut, qui sanctae Dei Genetricis memoriam agimus, intercessionis eius auxilio, a nostris iniquitatibus resurgamus. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.
When to pray it: Pray or sing this antiphon after Compline from Candlemas until Wednesday of Holy Week.