An eleventh-century Marian antiphon, sung at Compline for much of the liturgical year and said at the close of the rosary. It is also sung at Catholic funerals, notably for clergy and religious. Widely known in Latin chant and in numerous English prose renderings.
Every text below comes from the edition named under it and was checked twice, independently, before it appeared. Neither check was a person. That is a claim about wording only: nothing here is selected or endorsed for a particular situation, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed it. Older spelling is kept as the edition prints it.
Salve Regina (Baltimore Manual 1889)
An eleventh-century Marian antiphon, sung at Compline for much of the liturgical year and said at the close of the rosary. It is also sung at Catholic funerals, notably for clergy and religious. Widely known in Latin chant and in numerous English prose renderings.
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 towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus; O clement, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary.
The Catholic Publication Society Co., New York, and Burns and Oates, London, 1889. Published 1889, before 1929, US public domain. Source
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This page describes a prayer and, where we hold one, prints a named edition of it. It does not tell you whether to say it, or when. That judgment belongs to someone credentialed in the tradition, and nobody has signed anything here.
Content last changed 15 October 2026. Dates come from this page’s own revision history, not from the last time the site was deployed.
