Defend "Hail, Holy Queen"

[Brother_Banks]

An online friend of mine believes that the “Hail, Holy Queen” prayer praises Mary a little too much. So far, I haven’t found any sources to help me out and I haven’t thought of a defense. Anyone out there with anything that’ll help?

 

[exnihilo]

‘A little too much’ is vague. I find most people who object to Marian devotion object to any. I’d ask him to clarify what he means. What specifically is objectionable. If you don’t do that you’ll end up going around in circles. You can’t disprove a vague feeling.

 

[po18guy]

A call in to Dr. David Anders on EWTN’s “Called to Communion” would provide a veritable plethora of responses.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

An online friend of mine believes that the “Hail, Holy Queen” prayer praises Mary a little too much. So far, I haven’t found any sources to help me out and I haven’t thought of a defense. Anyone out there with anything that’ll help?

I think just reading the prayer would be enough.

Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished
children of Eve, to thee do we send
up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and
after this our exile show unto us the
blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
Amen.

Everything about this prayer says ‘intercessory’ to me. If someone decides to take a few words like, “Our life,” in an absolute fashion, and run with them - that’s their problem.

 

[DebChris]

Mary is Queen.
We are not in the habit of thinking in terms of nobility, which is possible reason for a person to see the prayer as overly praising Mary.
Mary is the mother of Our Savior. She is the Ark of the New Covenant.

Scripture tells us that the Angel Gabriel greeted Mary, “full of grace.”[Luke 1:27].
As Mary greeted Elizabeth, she proclaimed the Magnificat. “All generations will call me blessed.” [Luke 1:46-55].

As Queen Mother, she carries the sacred Child. She is at Cana where the first miracle is performed. Scripture lists Mary first on the wedding invitation. Jesus and his disciples were also invited. As already stated, Mary is not God. She is not the Savior, but she point to her Son. It is Christ who performs the miracle at Cana. It is Christ who dies upon the Cross for our sins. It is from the Cross that He gives Mary to us as our Mother, when He hands her over to John’s care.

As Catholics, we recognize Mary as Queen and Mother. As already mentioned, the Hail, Holy Queen remains an intercessory prayer. We want to see Jesus. He is our saviour. Above all we want to live holy lives, “to be worthy of the promise of salvation.”

 

[johnnyc176]

I think just reading the prayer would be enough.

Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished
children of Eve, to thee do we send
up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and
after this our exile show unto us the
blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
Amen.

Everything about this prayer says ‘intercessory’ to me. If someone decides to take a few words like, “Our life,” in an absolute fashion, and run with them - that’s their problem.

 

[edlinked]

I would say that it was Gods idea to put Our Mother in the map. Tell me of another person who has had a more personal union with Jesus than the Virgin Mary, or who has received the graces she has. She is the mother of our Lord. Father Fulton Sheen has a book about Mary called The World’s First Love. And maybe you can find things on this apologetics site by John Martignoni:
biblechristiansociety.com/home

Look for what is the intercession of saints or why do we believe that, maybe that helps your friend. God has given us many ways to seek Him, and find Him.

Maybe look if there are some videos on youtube by Mother Angelica, or Father Fulton Sheen, Or Father Apostoli.

 

[friardchips]

An online friend of mine believes that the “Hail, Holy Queen” prayer praises Mary a little too much. So far, I haven’t found any sources to help me out and I haven’t thought of a defense. Anyone out there with anything that’ll help?

The best way to understand a prayer is to pray it. If someone is not prepared to pray a prayer then this exposes the truth that such a person is not open to the truth in the first place, and therefore, no defense needed. If someone wants to attack the faith then they are going to do so but one doesn’t have to vent their flames. The best thing one can do, instead, in such a situation, is to pray…for them, that oneday they will be open to the truth.

 

[dje101]

I think just reading the prayer would be enough.

Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished
children of Eve, to thee do we send
up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and
after this our exile show unto us the
blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
Amen.

Everything about this prayer says ‘intercessory’ to me. If someone decides to take a few words like, “Our life,” in an absolute fashion, and run with them - that’s their problem.

Coming from Protestantism, my issue with this prayer wasn’t what you bolded, but was this:

Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished
children of Eve, to thee do we send
up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and
after this our exile show unto us the
blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the
promises of Christ.
Amen.

OP: I’d go with what someone else said earlier; that we as a society aren’t quite used to giving any sort of praise/honor to royalty, but instead see motherhood just as “a thing”. I think Americans specifically have a very low opinion of motherhood compared to other cultures or what we used to have. But God honored Our Lady, and we are completely incapable of showing greater honor than God. That’s how I started to view it: that we are just trying to honor her the way God honored her.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I don’t understand how one can praise Mary “too much”, especially when the prayer is very definitely characterizing her as the Mother of God and not a god of some sort in her own right.

It’s like telling somebody they’re complimenting their mother too much and tone it down a notch.

People who aren’t used to Mary or to the flowery language of traditional Catholic devotions just aren’t going to “get it”. I see no defense necessary.

 

[Crusaderbear]

My only difficulty is remembering the corrct words! The language is rather dated… But it’s a nice prayer.

 

[friardchips]

Original beginning, which is correct:

“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope…”.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

Hail Mary full of Grace. All non Catholics seem to have a problem with Mary. I guess they hate their mothers.

 

[pianistclare]

The mother of ancients kings were queens. Jesus is King. His mother is queen.
It’s an historical and biblical truth.

 

[jaimeleglise]

It’s one of my favorite prayers.

 

[dje101]

Hail Mary full of Grace. All non Catholics seem to have a problem with Mary. I guess they hate their mothers.

While I have met some Protestants that have an unusual disdain for anything related to Mary, as a former Protestant, I feel that I can say that most people don’t “hate their mothers”. Instead, they are just extremely concerned about “false worship”. They see these beautiful words as being meant only for God. Also, they usually equate prayer with worship, whereas in Catholicism the church teaches us that there is a difference between prayer and worship, with all worship due to God alone. Since Protestant churches don’t have the sacrifice of the mass and hence, not a “real worship” in that sense but basically rely solely on prayer, they view prayer as equal to worship.

At least, that was my view of it when I was Protestant. But now…I’m an enthusiastic? Mary-loving, Pope-following Catholic!

 

[DebChris]

While I have met some Protestants that have an unusual disdain for anything related to Mary, as a former Protestant, I feel that I can say that most people don’t “hate their mothers”. Instead, they are just extremely concerned about “false worship”. They see these beautiful words as being meant only for God. Also, they usually equate prayer with worship, whereas in Catholicism the church teaches us that there is a difference between prayer and worship, with all worship due to God alone. Since Protestant churches don’t have the sacrifice of the mass and hence, not a “real worship” in that sense but basically rely solely on prayer, they view prayer as equal to worship.

At least, that was my view of it when I was Protestant. But now…I’m an enthusiastic? Mary-loving, Pope-following Catholic!

Several years ago, Time ran an article on the number of Protestants who were picking up the rosary that Catholics were leaving behind.
Legal documents often use the term “pray” in its strictest term, of petitioning the court. Prayer is conversation.
I like the definition I once heard a televangelist use of worship as “giving yourself to service.” When we worship God, we are at His service.
I did have a wonderful conversation a few months back with a young Baptist who was seeking information. It does help when we as Catholics can relate our Marian prayers back to scripture. He listened respectfully as I answered his questions about the Hail Mary and the rosary. I was not surprised by his final question, when I was able to reassure him that, yes, we Catholics do pray directly to God.

When children are hurt, they run to their mothers. It is Mom who kisses the skinned knee St. Louis de Montfort writes about Mary taking the flower we want to give to Jesus, putting in a vase and carrying it to Him on a silver tray.
Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit. I am trying to think specifically of the saint who said that it is the Holy Spirit who leads men to pray the rosary.
We come full circle, with the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us by the Sacramental gifts, guiding us to Mary our Mother, given to us at the foot of the cross, pointing to her Son, who leads to the Father.
“Wherever two or more are gathered, I am there.” When I pray, I am not alone.
A Marian priest stated it simply, “What man is not honored when somebody brings flowers to his mother?”

 

[apwheelock]

I have a linguistic question about the Salve Regina…

I’ve been trying to research the original Latin intent of the first few lines as well as the punctuation. I think there may be another way to interpret the “our life, our sweetness, and our hope” portion of the prayer. What if the “mother of…” portion of “mother of mercy” were applied to all the elements in the series? So, today we read it as “Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.” Or, put another way, Mary is the Mother of mercy, Mary is our life, Mary is our sweetness, Mary is our hope. However, this could also be read as “Mother of mercy, mother of our life, mother of our sweetness, mother of our hope.” If we were talking about any other mother, we might say for example: She is the mother of John, James, Peter, and Andrew. This implies that she is the mother of EACH of them and not that she is the “mother of John” and simultaneously, “she is Andrew.” Of course that would be absurd to imply that “she is Andrew,” but that’s kinda’ what we do linguistically when we read the “Hail Holy Queen” as she IS “our life, our sweetness, and our hope.”

I feel like Protestant objections to this “overly-praising” language could be more easily defended this way. If we were to say that “our mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope” all point to Christ and that Mary is the Mother of Christ–well, whom can argue with that?

Pardon me if this is not an original thought, but I haven’t been able to find any exegesis that approaches the interpretation this way. I’m curious to hear thoughts on this! God Bless.

 

[Mark121359]

I’m curious to hear thoughts on this! God Bless.

Catholic Apologist John Martignoni tackles this question most perfectly. In his answer below he takes the prayer line by line and answers all Protestant objections.

Q. *When Catholics pray that Mary is “our life, our sweetness, and our hope,” that proves beyond any reasonable doubt that they do indeed worship Mary. To say that Mary is your life and your sweetness and your hope is to elevate her above Jesus, because Jesus is actually the life, the sweetness, and the hope of all true Christians. *

***A.***You are taking that quote about Mary being “our life, our sweetness, and our hope,” from one prayer that Catholics are known to pray. This prayer is known as the “Hail, Holy Queen.” I find it curious that you would take one line, from one prayer, that not all Catholics even know, and use that one line from that one prayer to portray Catholics as elevating Mary to a place above Jesus. May I ask if you have ever bothered to read the Catechism - the official teaching of the Catholic Church - to see what it says about whether or not we consider Mary to be divine? Or have you read the documents of any Church Councils, Vatican Council II in particular, or any papal encyclicals or any other such official Church documents to see what they say about whether or not Catholics consider Mary to be divine? No, of course not. You, as a non-Catholic, read one line, in one prayer, and you think you know what Catholics believe and teach about Mary? Well, let’s go through that whole prayer, shall we…and I will tell you what it means to a Catholic. As a Catholic, I think I have the right to explain what a Catholic prayer means to me, don’t I?

1) Hail Holy Queen - Mary, as mother of the King, is Queen Mother, is she not? And, she is with Jesus in Heaven, therefore, she is holy, isn’t she?
***2) ***Mother of Mercy - Jesus is mercy, and Mary is His mother. So, we can indeed say she is the Mother of Mercy.
***3) ***Our life - she is our life in that she undid what Eve had done. As sin entered the world through one woman’s disobedience, so Life entered the world through one woman’s obedience. Mary gave us the One Who is Life itself. She gave us Life. God sent Life to us through Mary.
4) Our sweetness - Mary, united to Christ from the moment of His conception, is indeed our sweetness. Wouldn’t Jesus think the same of His mother? Do you think Jesus may have, at some point in His life, said something about His “sweet” mother? Are we not to imitate Christ in His feelings for His mother? She is our sweetness, again, because from her, absolute Sweetness came into the world.
***5) And our hope - we believe Mary was raised, body and soul, into Heaven to be with her Son. That, too, is our hope…to be raised, body and soul, into Heaven to be with her Son. We hope that her Son will one day raise us up to Himself, as He did His mother. In that sense, she is our hope, because Christ did for her what we hope He will do for us.
*** 6) To thee do we cry - we ask Mary to intercede for us, just as we ask any member of the Body of Christ to intercede for us. What is wrong with that? Will you pray for me that I will be saved? If so, you have interceded for me through prayer…does that mean I worship you because I asked you for prayer? Absolutely not.
***7) ***Poor banished children of Eve - that’s who we are. We are currently banished from Paradise, from our homeland, and it is to there that we strive to return.
8) To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping - we ask Mary to intercede for us, but we also share our trials and struggles with her, as any child does with their mother.
***9) ***Turn then, O most gracious advocate…Wait a minute! I thought Catholics believed Mary is a goddess of some sort! That she could grant us our every wish and desire? But, she’s just an advocate…an advocate with whom? Or should I say with Whom? Why don’t you latch onto that line of the prayer to portray what Catholics really believe about the relationship between Jesus and Mary and us? Doesn’t fit what you want people to believe about us, does it?
***10) ***Thine eyes of mercy towards us - Mary, as a member of the Body of Christ, perfectly united to Christ in Heaven, is merciful and takes pity upon us.
***11) ***And, after this our exile - we are indeed exiles here on Earth.
***12) ***Show unto us the Blessed Fruit of thy Womb, Jesus - why, if we Catholics put Mary above Jesus, would we be asking her help in reaching Jesus?
13) O clement, o loving, o sweet virgin Mary - she is indeed all of those things.

That is the prayer that many Catholics pray. There is nothing theologically wrong with it. There is nothing un-Christian about it. There is nothing in it that elevates Mary above Jesus. Unless of course, one is ignorant of the whole, or many parts, of Catholic teaching and wants to pluck a line or two from this prayer and use it out of context. Is it fair to Catholics for non-Catholics to decide for us what we mean when we say something? If I say to you that I believe it’s raining cats and dogs outside, are you justified in telling people that Catholics believe cats and dogs fall from the sky like rain? If you don’t know our teachings, if you don’t know our faith, if you don’t know our language, then you don’t know us. Please do not presume to tell a Catholic what he “really” believes, when you are so uninformed regarding our teachings

Peace, Mark

 

[apwheelock]

Thanks Mark! That’s good stuff and I’m not actually questioning whether our standard interpretation of the Salve Regina is defensible. I’ve always felt that it was. My real question is whether the alternative interpretation is acceptable? The language and punctuation leave open the possibility of either interpretation being valid. I guess I’m just wondering if it’s ever been considered “Magisterially.” Now I’m also wondering if “Magisterially” is actually a word?