Memorare ("Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary") is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...

seeking the

intercession Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of prayer, praying on behalf of others, or Intercession of saints, asking a saint in heaven to pray on behalf of oneself or for others. The Apostle Paul's exhortation to Saint Timothy, Timothy speci ...

of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. It first appears as part of a longer 15th-century prayer, "Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria." Memorare, from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

"Remember," is frequently misattributed to the 12th-century

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, apparently due to confusion with its 17th-century popularizer, Father Claude Bernard, who stated that he learned it from his own father.

Modern version

The modern version is taken from that indulgenced by

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

in 1846, Raccolta, #339 (S. C. Ind., Dec. 11, 1846; S. P. Ap., Sept. 8, 1935) Encr. Ind. #32: Memorare, O piissima Virgo Maria, a saeculo non esse auditum, quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitia et exaudi. Amen. Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

History of the prayer

This prayer is originally from a longer prayer of the 15th century, "''Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria''".

Francis de Sales

The de Sales family were members of the minor nobility and devout Catholics, but St.

Francis de Sales Francis de Sales, Congregation of the Oratory, C.O., Order of Minims, O.M. (; ; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Savoyard state, Savoyard Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Geneva and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He became n ...

fell victim to the religious turmoil of his age. The question of

predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...

, the hottest point of contention between Catholic and

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

theologians, tormented him while he was a student in Paris. In his distress over the uncertain fate of his soul he cried out to God, "Whatever happens, Lord, may I at least love you in this life if I cannot love you in eternity." At the age of 18, while studying at the Jesuit run Collège de Clermont at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, according to the book ''The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales'', by Jean-Pierre Camus: According to De Sales' ''Selected Letters'', the "torment of despair came to a sudden end" as he knelt in prayer before the statue of Our Lady of Good Deliverance (the Black Madonna) at the church of Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Paris, saying the Memorare. Francis credited the Blessed Virgin with "saving him from falling into despair or heresy"; he "recited the Memorare day after day", and she "did not leave him unaided."

Claude Bernard

It was popularized in the 17th century by Fr. Claude Bernard (d. 1641), who learned it from his father. Bernard's devotion to Our Lady under the title ''Consolatrix Afflictorum'' (Comforter of the Afflicted) led him to promote recourse to her intercession among the poor and condemned prisoners. According to the book ''Familiar Prayers: Their Origin and History'' written by Fr. Herbert Thurston S.J. in 1953: The "Memorare" played a part in the conversion of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, when upon the dare of a Catholic acquaintance he agreed to wear the Miraculous Medal and recite the prayer for a month. The prayer became popular in England by way of France, and appeared in the 1856 edition of Bishop Richard Challoner's ''The Garden of the Soul''. In a 1918 article published in the ''Month'' on the theme of ''Familiar Prayers'', Herbert Thurston discussed the "Memorare" as one of the prayers he considered representative of English Catholic prayer. By "familiar", Thurston meant those prayers most of the faithful knew by heart. There were at least five separate versions circulating at that time. Mary Heinman observes that the "Memorare" "...became an English Catholic favorite in the post-1850 period for reasons which had no direct connection to either papal directives or native tradition."Heinman, Mary. "Familiar Prayers", ''Catholic Devotion in Victorian England'', Clarendon Press, 1995, p. 94–95.
William Fitzgerald notes, "Calling on Mary to 'remember' is an act of boldness, but it is boldness justified by tradition....Mary needs no reminder of her role in the realm of salvation. However, those who call upon her do require such reminders (if not specifically, then more generally) to remind them of their place as supplicants before the Virgin Mary." Asking Mary to intercede as our Advocate before God does not guarantee that a supplicant's specific request will be granted, only that divine aid and assistance in the supplicant's best interest will be given through Mary's help.

Indulgence

In the Roman Catholic Church, the '' Enchiridion Indulgentiarum'' of 2004 provides for partial

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

for devoutly reciting the prayer under the normal conditions.'' Enchiridion Indulgentiarum'',
Concessiones
', n°. 17 $2, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 4th edition, 2004, p. 62. .

Notes

External links

History of the prayer
{{Catholic Prayers Christian prayer Roman Catholic prayers Marian devotions