The Hail Mary

The Hail Mary. Surely we must realize now that that salutation is the heavenly antidote protecting the soul against the mortal bite of the serpent, of that serpent found in so many a statue and picture of Mary, whose head she crushes under her virginal heel! What a veritable bludgeon it is, for smiting unceasingly that head which contrived and still unflaggingly contrives every plot attempted against the glory of God and of His Christ, against the honor of the Virgin Mother, against her Immaculate Heart, against the conservation and integrity of the Church, against the perfection of her saints, against the welfare of peoples, of society, of families, of individuals! The Hail Mary. It is the nail driven by the woman clothed with the sun into the temple of Sisara, the enemy of God's people; the millstone crashing on the abominable Abimelech; Judith's sword severing the head of the impious Holofernes. The Hail Mary remains the sword ever brandished by the Mother of God and ever crushing schisms, heresies, every enemy of the Christian name. With the Hail Mary she triumphs and always will triumph over Satan, the eternal murderer. Amen. So be it! Ave Maria ... Hail Mary! Take then Christian soul, that sword with which you , too, may crush the hordes of hell; with which you may overcome all temptations, in yourself and in all those you love; with which you may accomplish marvels, perform miracles, heal bodies and save souls.

                                                            - by Dom Eugene Vandeur, S.J. from the book Hail Mary, 1954

Praise of the Mother of God from St. John Chrysostom

Hail, Kecharitomene, unreaped land of heavenly grain.
Hail, Kecharitomene, virgin mother, true and unfailing vine.
Hail, Kecharitomene, faultless one carrying the immutable divinity.
Hail, Kecharitomene, spacious room for the uncontainable nature.
Hail, Kecharitomene, new bride of a widowed world and incorrupt offspring.
Hail, Kecharitomene, weaving as creature a crown not made by hands.
Hail, Kecharitomene, habitation of holy fire.
Hail, Kecharitomene, return of the fugitive world.
Hail, Kecharitomene, lavish nourisher for the hungry creation.
Hail, Kecharitomene, interminable grace of the holy virgin.
Hail, Kecharitomene, lampstand adorned with all virtue and with inextinguishable light brighter than even the sun.
Hail, Kecharitomene, challenger of spirits.
Hail, Kecharitomene, wise bearer of spiritual glory.
Hail, Kecharitomene, golden urn, contaning heavenly manna.
Hail, Kecharitomene, dispensing sweet drink ever flowing to fill those who are thirsty.
Hail, Kecharitomene, spiritual sea who holds Christ, the heavenly pearl.
Hail, Kecharitomene, splendor of heaven, having the one uncontained by the heavens in herself, God confined and unconfined.
Hail, Kecharitomene, pillar of cloud containing God, and guiding Israel in the wilderness
 -St. John Chrysostom, Christmas Day sermon

The Power of the Name of Mary (4)

As there is no proper and legitimate name, except it be found in the immutable being of God himself (for from it are participated and determined according to their right weight and measure all things in infinite wisdom) his Majesty wished himself to give and impose that name in heaven. He thereby made known to the angelic spirits, that the three divine Persons, had decreed and formed the sweet names of Jesus and Mary for the Son and Mother from the beginning before the ages, and that they had been delighted with them and had engraved them on their eternal memories to be as it were the Objects for whose service They should create all things. Being informed of these and many other mysteries, the holy angels heard a voice from the throne speaking in the person of the Father: "Our chosen One shall be called MARY, and this name is to be powerful and magnificent. Those that shall invoke it with devout affection shall receive most abundant graces; those that shall honor it and pronounce it with reverence shall be consoled and vivified, and will find in it the remedy of their evils, the treasures for their enrichment, the light which shall guide them to heaven. It shall be terrible against the power of hell, it shall crush the head of the serpent and it shall win glorious victories over the princes of hell."
                                                                                -excerpted from "The Mystical City of God" by Venerable Mary of Agreda, visionary, pages 269-270, volume 1, The Conception. (Tan Books edition)

Star of the Sea

This verse ends: 'And the Virgin's name was Mary.' Let us now say a few words about this name, which means 'Star of the Sea' and is so becoming to the Virgin Mother. Surely she is very fittingly likened to a star. The star sends forth its ray without harm to itself. In the same way the Virgin brought forth her son with no injury to herself. The ray no more diminishes the star's brightness than does the Son his mother's integrity. She is indeed that noble star risen out of Jacob whose beam enlightens this earthly globe. She it is whose brightness both twinkles in the highest heaven and pierces the pit of hell, and is shed upon earth, warming our hearts far more than our bodies, fostering virtue and cauterizing vice. She, I tell you, is that splendid and wondrous star suspended as by necessity over this great wide sea, radiant with merit and brilliant in example. O you, whoever you are, who feel that in the tidal wave of this world you are nearer to being tossed about among the squalls and gales than treading on dry land, if you don't want to founder in the tempest, do not avert your eyes from the brightness of this star. When the wind of temptation blows up within you, when you strike upon the rock of tribulation, gaze up at this star, call out to Mary. Whether you are being tossed about by the waves of pride or ambition or slander or jealousy, gaze up at this star, call out to Mary. When rage or greed or fleshly desires are battering the skiff of your soul, gaze up at Mary. When the immensity of your sins weighs you down and you are bewildered by the loathsomeness of your conscience, when the terrifying thought of judgement appalls you and you begin to founder in the gulf of sadness and despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in hardships, in every doubt, think of Mary, call out to Mary. Keep her in your mouth, keep her in your heart. Follow the example of her life and you will obtain the favor of her prayer. Following her, you will never go astray. Asking her help, you will never despair. Keeping her in your thoughts, you will never wander away. With your hand in hers, you will never stumble. With her protection you will not be afraid. With her leading you, you will never tire. Her kindness will see you through to the end. Then you will know by your own experience how true it is that 'the Virgin's name was Mary'.
                                                                                       - St. Bernard, Second homily from Missus Est

Daughter of thy Son

"Thou Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son,

Humble and high beyond all other creature,

The limit fixed of the eternal counsel,

Thou are the one who such nobility 

To human nature gave, that its Creator 

Did not disdain to make himself its creature.

Within thy womb rekindled was the love,

By heat of which in the eternal peace

After such wise this flower has germinated.

Here unto us thou art a noonday torch

Of charity, and below there among mortals

Thou are the living fountain-head of hope.

Lady, thou are so great, and so prevailing,

That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee,

His aspirations without wings would fly."

                                           -Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Paradiso Canto XXXIII, as translated by Henry W. Longfellow

Mother of God (Hymn)

At morn - at noon - at twilight dim -
Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and woe - in good and ill -
Mother of God, be with me still!
When the Hours flew brightly by,
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul, lest it should truant be,
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;
Now, when the storms of Fate o'ercast
Darkly my Present, and my Past,
Let my Future radiant shine
With sweet hopes of thee and thine!
                                -hymn by Edgar Allen Poe as quoted in Angelus Domini with Legendary Lays and Poems in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary compiled and edited by A Daughter of the Church, published by The Baker & Taylor Company Publishers 1893.

The Power of the Name of Mary (3)

1. When I pronounce the name of Mary, I feel myself inflamed with such love and joy, that between the tears and happiness with which I pronounce this beautiful name, I feel as though my heart might leave my breast! For this sweet name is like a honey-comb dissolving in the innermost recesses of my soul.
                                                                                    -Blessed Henry Suso supra, cited in booklet Mary, Our Mother, p. 52 (Clyde, Mo., 1921).

2. Give me, O glorious Virgin, the strength, talent, and speech, that I may announce to the faithful and to your clients the glory of your name. Not how much it is, nor what it is; but that I, your little servant, may tell something of your immense praises, to your glory, to my devotion, and the solace of all the readers.
                                                                                    -Saint Bernardin of Siena, O.F.M. (+1444), cited in Foreword to Fr. Fulgence's Who is She? (Cincinnati, 1935).

3. The name of Mary is joy to the heart, honey to the mouth, music to the ear.
                                                                                    -Saint Antoninus, O.P. (+1459), quoted in Abp. Kenrick's Month of Mary.

4. The devils fear the Queen of Heaven to such a degree, that only on hearing her great name pronounced, they fly from him who does so as from a burning fire.
                                                                                    -Venerable Thomas a' Kempis (+ 1471): Ad Nov., s. 23.

5. The name of Mary should be highly esteemed by all pious persons. It should be embraced by religious, recommended to seculars, preached to sinners, whispered to the sorrowing, and invoked by all men in time of danger.
                                                                                    -Venerable Thomas supra, cited in booklet Devotion to Mary (Clyde, Mo., 1943).

6. The name of Mary is glorious, holy and sweet. It is glorious because it means Lady and Queen, not of one province only, but of all created things in Heaven, on earth, and in hell . . . Mary means "full of light," and "light-giving," inasmuch as, being filled with light from Heaven, she has shed brightness upon the whole world, by giving birth to Eternal Light, Our Lord Jesus Christ, whilst still remaining in the glory of her virginity.
                                                                                     -Fra Girolamo Savonarola, O.P. (+ 1498), as quoted by Fr. Stanislaus Hogan, O.P. in art. "Savonarola's Devotion to Mary, the Mother of Christ," in Ecclesiastical Review, May, 1919.

7. After the most holy and adorable Name of Jesus, there is no name more glorious or more powerful than the name of Mary. At the mention of this name, the angels rejoice and the devils tremble; through the invocation of this name, sinners obtain grace and pardon.
                                                                                     -Saint Peter Canisius, S.J., Doct. of Church (+ 1597), cited in Mysteries of Mary.

8. I would exchange all my learning for the merit of a single devout Hail Mary.
                                                                                     -Francisco Suarez, S.J. (+ 1617), cited in Mary, Our Mother, p. 43.

9. As often as the sweet name of Mary comes to your lips, you ought to represent to yourself a masterpiece of God's power, so perfect and so sublime that even the arm of the Almighty could not produce anything more perfect in the shape of a pure creature.
                                                                                     -Saint Leonard of Port Maurice, O.F.M. (+ 1751), cited in Fr. Griffith's booklet The Hail Mary, p. 19 (Dublin, 1926).

10. Salvation is occasionally more easily obtained, says Saint Anselm [De Excell. Virg., c. 6] by calling on the Name of Mary than by invoking that of Jesus. Not that he is not the source and Lord of all graces, but because, when we have recourse to the Mother, and she prays for us, her prayers have greater efficacy than ours, as being those of a mother.
                                                                                      -Saint Alphonsus Liguori, C. SS. R., Doct. of Church (+ 1787): Glories of Mary, pt. II, disc. v, p. 389 (ed. Grimm).