About the Latin Mass: Hail Holy Queen

At the end of the Latin Mass, the priest kneels at the foot of the sanctuary, and leads a series of prayers, beginning with prayers to Mary. These prayers were originally added by Pope Leo XIII, then designated by Pope Pius XI as an offering for the deliverance of post World War I Russia from communism. The prayers will always have significance, to defend us from evil, Godlessness, and worldliness.

Mary means many things to us as Catholics, and here we call to her as our intercessor. We begin with three Hail Mary prayers, as said during a rosary. We then say the Hail Holy Queen prayer, asking for her help to always be moving toward an everlasting communion with Christ. The priest then prays to God to, “look down in mercy on Thy people who cry to Thee,” and, invoking the help of the Church, asks for the conversion of sinners. We then pray to St. Michael the Archangel, acknowledging that we are in fact in a battle with evil. We conclude by asking for mercy from the sacred heart of Jesus.

Near the sanctuary, one often finds in a Catholic church a statue of Mary to assist our focus while we pray to her for her intercession. At the Church of the Nativity, we are fortunate to have a large portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe to serve this need.

This article concludes by recalling the beauty and hope of the Hail Holy Queen prayer:

Hail holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To thee we do 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 towards us.
And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
V: Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R: That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

The Latin Mass is celebrated Sundays at Blessed Sacrament at 8:30 and Nativity at 9:00.