Traditional prayer
The Angelus
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R. And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.
Hail Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His Passion and cross, be brought to the glory of His resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Latin
V. Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae.
R. Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.
Ave, Maria…
V. Ecce ancilla Domini.
R. Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
Ave, Maria…
V. Et Verbum caro factum est.
R. Et habitavit in nobis.
Ave, Maria…
V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei genetrix.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
Oremus.
Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem, ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
About this prayer
The Baltimore Catechism defines it in one line: “The Angelus is a prayer giving a brief history of the Incarnation” (No. 3, Q. 43). Three short versicles walk through the Annunciation: the angel’s message, Mary’s answer, the Word made flesh. After each comes a Hail Mary, and a closing prayer asks that the grace of the Incarnation carry us through the Passion and the Cross to the glory of the Resurrection.
The middle versicle is Mary’s own consent, close to the words St. Luke records: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38, Douay-Rheims). A young woman said it in Nazareth, a city of Galilee (Luke 1:26, Douay-Rheims), and by that answer, the Church teaches, the gates of the Redemption were opened (Mater Populi Fidelis, 26). The Catechism teaches that by that yes she gave her whole self to her Son and to His work of redemption (CCC 494). The Angelus asks for the same yes in the middle of an ordinary day.
The same catechism gives each hour its own meaning: said in the evening the Angelus recalls the Incarnation, in the morning the Resurrection, and at noon the Passion of Our Lord (No. 3, Q. 45).
The custom grew slowly. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) traces it to the evening bell: a Franciscan General Chapter in the time of St. Bonaventure (1263 or 1269) told preachers to encourage the people to say Hail Marys when the Compline bell rang. The earliest mention of a morning practice seems to be in a chronicle of Parma in 1318; the midday bell was at first tied to the Passion and, in some places, rung only on Fridays. The three versicles as we have them seem first to have appeared in an Italian catechism printed at Venice in 1560, and the fuller form “cannot be traced back earlier than 1612.” From Easter to Pentecost the Regina Caeli takes its place.
When to pray it
- Morning, noon and evening, traditionally at the ringing of the bell.
- At noon with children, before the midday meal.
- When the day has swallowed you: one minute, three Hail Marys, and you are back in the presence of God.
- From Easter Sunday to Pentecost, pray the Regina Caeli instead.