A popular German religious manual of the fifteenth century ("Der Selen Troïst", 1474) even divides the Hail Mary into four portions, and declares that the first part was composed by the Angel Gabriel, the second by St. Elizabeth, the third, consisting only of the Sacred Name.
Luke 1:26-28 – In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”
Actually, we owe the first half of it to the angel Gabriel and to Mary's cousin Elizabeth. “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” are the words of the angel when he greets Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1:28).
The Hail Mary is traditionally prayed by Catholics, but many people (both Christian and non-Christian) feel drawn to Mary. They recognize her powerful witness as a faithful disciple of Christ and seek her aid as a compassionate spiritual mother.
The petition first appeared in print in 1495 in Girolamo Savonarola's Esposizione sopra l'Ave Maria. The "Hail Mary" prayer in Savonarola's exposition reads: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Answer: But it is in the Bible. When the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary by the Father, he greeted her, “Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). When Mary visited Elizabeth, Elizabeth exclaimed, “Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:41-42).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (the official teaching of the Church) teaches that worship (or adoration) is meant for God alone. Catholics as well as the Orthodox and some older Protestant groups venerate Mary and the Saints. Mary is venerated because she is full of God's own life and love, his Grace (Luke 1:28).
Catholics do not pray to Mary as if she were God. Prayer to Mary is memory of the great mysteries of our faith (Incarnation, Redemption through Christ in the rosary), praise to God for the wonderful things he has done in and through one of his creatures (Hail Mary) and intercession (second half of the Hail Mary).
It is the most repeated prayer because it perfectly fulfills the first Christian prophecy, spoken by the same holy mother when she said, “Behold, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed.”
The good news is that we don't need to pray to Mary or to the saints in order to be heard by God. Jesus made this wonderful promise: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:3).
In point of fact there is little or no trace of the Hail Mary as an accepted devotional formula before about 1050.
The earliest recorded prayer to Mary is the sub tuum praesidium (3rd or 4th century) and the earliest depictions of her are from the Priscilla catacombs in Rome (early 3rd century).
in 1263 added the holy name of Jesus after the scriptural sentence, as the devotion of the faithful had introduced the name Mary after the first greeting.
Q: Is there a biblical basis for the Rosary? A: As you know the bible does "not" tell us to pray the Rosary because this form of prayer originated only during the middle ages. However, important elements of the Rosary are biblical and/or belong to the common Christian beliefs.
Anglicans of evangelical or low church tradition tend to avoid honouring Mary. Other Anglicans respect and honour Mary because of the special religious significance that she has within Christianity as the mother of Jesus Christ. This honour and respect is termed veneration.
The Marian Psalter was a prayer developed by the Cistercians, which involved praying 150 Hail Mary's divided into groups of 10 by Our Fathers.
The phrase "pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death" demonstrates that Catholics view Mary not as a goddess to be worshipped, but as a helpful ally in the life-long struggle against sin and temptation. In all of the Marian prayers offered by Catholics, there is not a single claim of Mary's divinity.
The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in history. There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into five main mysteries which correspond to the five decades of the rosary. Five Joyful Mysteries are prayed on Mondays and Saturdays.
Today, Roman Catholics use a rosary made up of 59 beads. The 6 large beads are used for praying the Our Father prayer, and the 53 smaller beads are used for praying the Hail Mary prayer.
Tradition does hold that St. Dominic (d. 1221) devised the rosary as we know it. Moved by a vision of our Blessed Mother, he preached the use of the rosary in his missionary work among the Albigensians, who had denied the mystery of Christ.
Why not pray directly to God? The mother of Jesus Christ and the other saints have no meaning or power independent of God. Catholics and many other Christians venerate the saints as ongoing examples of what a life generously open to God's grace can look like in a great variety of circumstances.
Let's summarize: Catholics confess their sins to a priest because that is the method of forgiveness that God established. The Almighty alone has the power to forgive sins, and the Son of God granted that authority to His Apostles.
Catholics do not view Mary as equal to Christ, but rather venerate Mary because of her relationship to Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it” (CCC 964).
A number of prayers to Jesus Christ exist within the Roman Catholic tradition. These prayers have diverse origins and forms. Some were attributed to visions of saints, others were handed down by tradition.
While he was there with Mary, she gave birth to Jesus; but because there was no place for them in the inn, she used a manger as a cradle. From the age at which Jewish maidens became marriageable, it is possible that Mary gave birth to her son when she was about thirteen or fourteen years of age.