Category: Sacred Music & Gregorian Chant

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Most Beautiful Chants and Hymns of the Catholic Church

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The Angelus – Prayer for Peace and Tranquility

The Angelus Chant
The Angelus Chant

Like a heavenly messenger, the Angelus calls us to interrupt our daily, earthly routines, and turn to thoughts of God, of the Blessed Mother, and of eternity. The Angelus originated during the time of Crusades as a prayer for peace and tranquillity in the land of living and for their country.

The devotion is traditionally sung in Roman Catholic churches, convents, and monasteries (and should be recited at home), three times daily at 6:00 a.m., Noon, and 6:00 p.m. Indulgenced by Pope Benedict XIII, Sept 14, 1724.

For centuries the Angelus was always said while kneeling, but Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-1758) directed that the Angelus should be recited while standing on Saturday evening, and all day on Sunday. He also directed that the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) be said instead of the Angelus during the Easter season.

The prayer itself is usually accompanied by the ringing of the Angelus bell, which is a call to prayer, and to strengthen Christians in piety and faith, alloyed with divine grace to disperse and destroy the forces of cruelty, and of demonic suggestion. The devil hates everything beautiful and the bells are specifically used to draw attention to the divine worship of God. “The manner of ringing the Angelus seems to have varied little since the beginning of the devotion…. Old monastic records, going back to the fifteenth century, show that the bell-ringer was directed, ‘to toll the Ave-bell nine strokes at three times, keeping the space of one Pater and Ave between each of the three tollings.’” (Source: “Externals of the Catholic Church”, 1917 Edition)

“We exhort you every day, when you hear three short interrupted peals of the bell, at the beginning of the curfew (or, in places where you do not hear it, at vesper time or nightfall you say with all possible devotion, kneeling wherever you may be, the Angelic Salutation three times at each peal, so as to say it nine times in all” (Publication of the Catholic Truth Society, 1895).

The Angelus Prayer
In Millet’s famous painting, a peasant boy and girl in France recite the Angelus at dark.

Listen to “The Angelus prayer from the “Day in the Cloister” – a chant CD available from the Virgo Sacrata shop. Audio courtesy of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary.

The Angelus Prayer in Latin and English

[℣.] Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae;
[℟.] Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.		 [℣.] The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary
[℟.] And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Ave Maria,
gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria,
Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.		 Hail Mary,
full of Grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst 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.
[℣.] Ecce ancilla Domini.
[℟.] Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
[℣.] Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
[℟.] Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Ave Maria,
gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria,
Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.		 Hail Mary,
full of Grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst 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.

[℣.] Et Verbum caro factum est.
(here bow reverently or genuflect)
[℟.] Et habitavit in nobis.

[℣.] And the Word was made Flesh. 
(here bow reverently or genuflect)
[℟.] And dwelt among us.
Ave Maria,
gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.
Sancta Maria,
Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.		 Hail Mary,
full of Grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst 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.
[℣.] Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix.
[℟.] Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

[℣.] Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
[℟.] That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
[℣.] Oremus.
Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine,
mentibus nostris infunde;
ut qui, Angelo nuntiante,
Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus,
per passionem Eius et crucem,
ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.
[℟.] Amen.

[℣.] 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.
Sacramentals