Ave Maria in Latin
The Ave Maria — the Hail Mary in Latin — set out in full, with a guide to praying it aloud and a clear English meaning. We mark which lines come straight from the Gospel of Luke and which were added later in the Church's prayer life, so you can see how the prayer took shape.
Working with a passage of your own? Latin translator translates Latin both ways.
Prayer in Latin
Luke 1:28, Luke 1:42; traditional Latin prayer
Transliteration
How to say it
What it means in English
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen.
The familiar wording (Traditional public-domain English form):
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among 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.
A few things worth knowing
- The first half draws on Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:42 in the Latin biblical tradition.
- The petition beginning Sancta Maria, Mater Dei is a later liturgical addition, not a direct quotation from Luke.
- Schubert's famous Ave Maria is a musical association many searchers know, but this page leads with the prayer text itself.
Biblical lines and liturgical addition
Ave Maria joins Gabriel's greeting to Mary with Elizabeth's blessing in Luke. The second half, asking Mary to pray for sinners, developed in the Western devotional tradition and is not presented as a direct biblical quotation.
Iesus or Jesus
Latin editions often print Iesus because classical and ecclesiastical Latin did not originally distinguish I and J as separate letters. Many modern devotional printings use Jesus; both point to the same name.
Where this text comes from
We use Traditional Latin Ave Maria; biblical opening from the Clementine Vulgate, Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:42, a public-domain edition, so the wording here is stable and free to read, copy, and share. You can check the source for yourself.
More prayers and verses in their original languages
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does Ave Maria mean?
- Ave Maria means 'Hail Mary' in Latin. Ave is a greeting, and Maria is the Latin form of Mary.
- Is the whole Ave Maria from the Bible?
- No. The opening is based on Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:42. The second half, beginning 'Holy Mary, Mother of God,' is a later liturgical petition.
- Is Ave Maria the same as Schubert's song?
- The title overlaps, and Schubert's music is often sung with the prayer text, but the prayer itself is older than that musical setting.