Hail Mary

Hail Mary or in Latin Ave Maria is a traditional Christian prayer to Mary, the mother of Jesus. It is the central point of the Rosary, a prayer recited by Catholics, comprised of 5 decades, each consisting of

• One Our Father (Pater Noster or The Lord's Prayer)\n* Ten Hail Marys \n* One Glory be to the Father

Table of contents

1 The Words of the Hail Mary 1.1 English 1.2 Latin 2 Musical settings

The Words of the Hail Mary

English

\n \nHail Mary, full of grace,
\nour Lord is with thee,
\nblessed art thou among women,
\nand blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
\nHoly Mary, mother of God,
\npray for us sinners, now, and in
\nthe hour of our death.
\n
\nAmen.

Latin

Ave Maria, gratia plena,
\nDominus tecum,
\nbenedicta tu in mulieribus,
\net benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus.
\nSancta Maria mater Dei,
\nora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
\n
\nAmen

Musical settings

The Ave Maria has been set to music numerous times. Among them is the version by Charles Gounod (1859), adding melody and words to Johann Sebastian Bach's first prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier. Franz Schubert's version (1825) was originally set to a German translation of an English poem, not to the Latin text of the Ave Maria prayer that is commonly sung today, often at weddings. Schubert's version was reused by Giuseppe Verdi in his 1887 opera Otello.

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A "Hail Mary" or a "Hail Mary pass", in American football, is a play in which the quarterback throws the ball as far downfield as possible, hoping one of his receivers can catch the ball or that a defensive player commits a penalty which allows the offense to gain possession of the ball at the point of the foul. This play usually occurs at the very end of a half, and especially when the team on offense is trailing in the score. The phrase is often used outside of the sports context to refer to a desperate measure or a final effort in a project or business setting.