Traditional prayer
Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Thou Star of Ocean)
Hail thou star of ocean!
Portal of the sky!
Ever Virgin Mother
Of the Lord most high!
Oh! by Gabriel’s Ave,
Utter’d long ago,
Eva’s name reversing,
Stablish peace below.
Break the captive’s fetters;
Light on blindness pour;
All our ills expelling,
Every bliss implore.
Show thyself a Mother
Offer Him our sighs,
Who for us incarnate
Did not thee despise.
Virgin of all virgins!
To thy shelter take us:
Gentlest of the gentle!
Chaste and gentle make us.
Still as on we journey,
Help our weak endeavour;
Till with thee and Jesus
We rejoice for ever.
Through the highest heaven,
To the Almighty Three,
Father, Son, and Spirit,
One same glory be. Amen.
Latin
Ave maris stella,
Dei Mater alma
Atque semper virgo,
Felix cæli porta.
Sumens illud Ave
Gabrielis ore,
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans Evæ nomen.
Solve vincla reis,
Profer lumen cæcis,
Mala nostra pelle,
Bona cuncta posce.
Monstra te esse matrem,
Sumat per te preces,
Qui pro nobis natus,
Tulit esse tuus.
Virgo singularis,
Inter omnes mitis,
Nos culpis solutos,
Mites fac et castos.
Vitam præsta puram,
Iter para tutum,
Ut videntes Jesum,
Semper collætemur.
Sit laus Deo Patri,
Summo Christo decus,
Spiritui Sancto,
Tribus honor unus. Amen.
Latin The Raccolta (1910), no. 213, p. 209, the Latin printed beside the English
About this prayer
Ave maris stella: “Hail, star of the sea.” It is the hymn the Roman Breviary assigned to Vespers in the offices of Our Lady, on her feasts, on Saturdays and in her Little Office. Seven short stanzas move from praise to petition: the angel’s greeting, the Mother of the Lord, the gate of heaven, and then a run of plain requests from children who are still at sea: break our chains, give light to the blind, show thyself a Mother, keep us safe on the way, until with thee and Jesus we rejoice for ever.
It is older than most of the prayers it now stands beside. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) notes that it was once credited to St. Bernard but is found in a St. Gall manuscript of the ninth century, long before him, and that its ascription to St. Venantius Fortunatus (d. 609) lacks sufficient authority. Its author is unknown.
“Eva’s name reversing”: in Latin, the angel’s Ave is Eva read backward, and the hymn sees in that one word the whole reversal of the Fall. The Catechism gathers the same contrast from the early Fathers: the knot tied by Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience; through Eve came death, and through Mary, life (CCC 494). When the hymn begs, “Show thyself a Mother,” it asks what the Church teaches she still does: her motherhood toward us did not end when she was taken up to heaven, and every help she gives comes from Christ, the one Mediator, and rests on Him (CCC 969–970).
The English is Edward Caswall’s. In his Lyra Catholica of 1849 it began “Gentle Star of ocean!”; the Raccolta of 1910, followed here, prints it with the opening “Hail thou star of ocean!”, closer to the Latin Ave, with the Latin on the facing column. St. Louis de Montfort has those preparing for his consecration say the Ave maris stella daily, with the litany of the Holy Ghost, through each of the three weeks (True Devotion, tr. Faber, 1863, pp. 161–162).
When to pray it
- At evening prayer, above all on Saturdays and on feasts of Our Lady.
- Daily through the three weeks of preparation for Marian consecration, as St. Louis de Montfort directs.
- For anyone travelling, at sea, deployed or far from home.
- When you need to say “Show thyself a Mother” and mean every word.
Any indulgences named on this page are those recorded in the older prayer books it cites. Pope Paul VI reformed the Church's indulgences in 1967 (Indulgentiarum Doctrina); the current rules are in the Church's Enchiridion of Indulgences.