Traditional prayer
The Litany of Loreto (Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray for us.
Holy Virgin of virgins, pray for us.
Mother of Christ, pray for us.
Mother of divine grace, pray for us.
Mother most pure, pray for us.
Mother most chaste, pray for us.
Mother inviolate, pray for us.
Mother undefiled, pray for us.
Mother most amiable, pray for us.
Mother most admirable, pray for us.
Mother of good counsel, pray for us.
Mother of our Creator, pray for us.
Mother of our Saviour, pray for us.
Virgin most prudent, pray for us.
Virgin most venerable, pray for us.
Virgin most renowned, pray for us.
Virgin most powerful, pray for us.
Virgin most merciful, pray for us.
Virgin most faithful, pray for us.
Mirror of justice, pray for us.
Seat of wisdom, pray for us.
Cause of our joy, pray for us.
Spiritual vessel, pray for us.
Vessel of honor, pray for us.
Singular vessel of devotion, pray for us.
Mystical rose, pray for us.
Tower of David, pray for us.
Tower of ivory, pray for us.
House of gold, pray for us.
Ark of the covenant, pray for us.
Gate of heaven, pray for us.
Morning star, pray for us.
Health of the sick, pray for us.
Refuge of sinners, pray for us.
Comforter of the afflicted, pray for us.
Help of Christians, pray for us.
Queen of angels, pray for us.
Queen of patriarchs, pray for us.
Queen of prophets, pray for us.
Queen of apostles, pray for us.
Queen of martyrs, pray for us.
Queen of confessors, pray for us.
Queen of virgins, pray for us.
Queen of all saints, pray for us.
Queen conceived without original sin, pray for us.
Queen of the most holy Rosary, pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us!
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.
About this prayer
A litany is a prayer of names. The Baltimore Catechism describes this one as “a form of prayer in which we address our Blessed Lady by many beautiful titles, such as Mother of God, Virgin Most Pure, Refuge of Sinners, &c., asking her after each to pray for us” (No. 3, Q. 47). Each title is a small window: Seat of wisdom, Ark of the covenant, Morning star, Health of the sick. Pray it slowly enough to look through a few of them.
It takes its name from the Holy House of Loreto in Italy. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) admits “a great lack of documentary evidence concerning its origin”; historians place its composition in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, and records of litanies sung at Loreto go back to 1531. Pope Sixtus V gave it formal approval by the bull Reddituri of 11 July 1587. The Church has guarded it closely: in 1601 Clement VIII forbade the publication of new litanies, or the use in public worship of those already published, without the approval of the Congregation of Rites, and since then new titles have entered it chiefly by decree of the Holy See.
Leo XIII added Queen of the most holy Rosary for the whole Church on 24 December 1883, and Mother of good counsel by decree of 22 April 1903; both stand in the 1911 text above. Popes have added more since. Benedict XV fixed Queen of peace (Regina pacis) in the Litany from 1 June 1917, during the First World War. On 20 June 2020 the Congregation for Divine Worship, at Pope Francis’s wish, added three: Mater misericordiae after Mater Ecclesiae, Mater spei after Mater divinae gratiae, and Solacium migrantium after Refugium peccatorum. In English: Mother of mercy, Mother of hope, Solace of migrants (our translation of the Latin). Mother of the Church, which that 2020 letter takes as already in place, is among the newer titles, so your parish’s booklet will be longer than the 1911 text.
Every vocation can find herself here. Virgin most faithful, Mother most amiable, Queen of martyrs, Queen of virgins, Comforter of the afflicted: the Church gathers into one woman the dignity of every state of life, and asks her to pray for all of them.
When to pray it
- On feasts of Our Lady.
- After the Rosary, with or in place of the Hail, Holy Queen.
- As a family: one voice reads the titles, everyone answers.
- When you need to remember who she is before you ask her for anything.