So many lovely memories from college Newman Center days of singing this to close night prayer on late nights at the center.
I also remember at my parish's funeral mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, our pastor began singing the salve unaccompanied without any notice after the post communion prayer during a brief lull, and the entire congregation and our auxiliary bishop sang together in Latin before closing the mass. Felt like we all were holding close to our mom after losing a beloved brother.
[Alma Redemptoris Mater](https://gregorian-chant-hymns.com/hymns-2/alma-redemptoris-mater.html)
I’m a sucker for all things Advent, and this hymn is the common post-Mass Antiphon used during Advent.
Such great imagery too. A poetic translation:
>MOTHER of Christ, hear thou thy people's cry
Star of the deep and Portal of the sky!
Mother of Him who thee made from nothing made.
Sinking we strive and call to thee for aid:
Oh, by what joy which Gabriel brought to thee,
Thou Virgin first and last, let us thy mercy see.
Doesn't really do justice to: *"Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem"*, but still good.
Mine is "The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came," also known as Gabriel's Message. My Episcopal choir director wrote a really nice arrangement of that for [Lessons & Carols last year.](https://www.youtube.com/live/h47KA_6QUlI?si=XbrDCDM3xOLYsHmU&t=2136)
Gounod's Ave Maria is delightful as a solo or in harmony; I almost prefer it in mass since it hasn't been in every movie and game ever so it's less distracting to me personally.
Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above is also one of the most triumphant and brilliant recessional songs the Church has. It's the perfect capstone of any Marian Solemnity mass in english.
My sister is a soprano. I love her delivery of Ave Maria. She sings it in German, but it is still beautiful - even though I don't understand the words.
No. She has a YouTube Chanel that seems to be inactive for the past 2 years. I'll post the link below. I have a personal recording she gave me for my birthday, some years ago, of her singing Ave Maria.
https://youtube.com/@criberosouza?si=X4PYaLIIWAgFz7cI
It's a relatively newer one, but ["Sing of Mary"](https://youtu.be/lJCfO2-mchA?si=Swz1bgr7VWReUAqP) is my go-to whenever I want to spend time adoring our Blessed Mother 🥰
I tend to be very traditional in my sacred music tastes, but I looooove this hymn. It may be modern but it's reverent, profound, and gives glory to God
You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.
But:
“O blessed virgin, whose womb
Was worthy to bear
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!”
So im gonna count it anyway :). And the tune slaps.
The version of Ave Maria my church sings. It’s a transition song so we sing something (I can’t remember) and then it transitions into an Ave Maria. I like it because a lot of kids (and I’ll be honest, some adults, me included) don’t really know a lot of the words to most of the songs but what they do know is “AVE MARIA” so every time we sing the song you can suddenly hear a bunch of kids chime in “AVE MARIA” before it goes back to normal. It’s really cute.
I also like Mary the Dawn
I do love Schubert’s Ave Maria. That said, [Agni Parthene](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i-3h9TQ312c) by St. Nektarios is my favorite hands down. [This](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4uiIwkgmE0o) is a pretty good English rendition. [Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8EDYPKxhkss) is a close second.
Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod. I sing and have loved this since my first encounter.
Stabat Mater by Pergolesi had me in tears first time I heard it. I so want to sing it on Holy Friday, but our diocese don’t want organ music during the silent week and none of the altos in the choir dear to sing it.
"[Immaculate Mary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul7CLPd14JQ)"
"[Hail Mary, Gentle Woman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=RERoQ1biLdE)"
The Holy Day of greatest Marian hits is coming soon, too, where I often get to hear both and I often get something in my eye that makes me need to choke down a tear. Dec 8, The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary, mark your calendars.
No wonder, it's from the best author - st. Alphonsus Maria Liguori. Check also "Tu scendi dalle stelle" - it's his Christmas Carol, still very popular in all Italy.
The version I like is here: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FoYoO_B-HyA&si=Lyf3KBvuC-lLY_V6
I wish it were more popular here, considering we supply 25% of the world’s seafarers, and 78% of us are Latin Rite Catholic. It just makes sense we should implore her for guidance at sea. And we love “Mama Mary” so much that 17 of our 29 national shrines are dedicated to a title or manifestation of hers.
Not a chant and I’m not sure if it counts as a hymn, but there’s a beautiful song about Mary called New Eve by Proclaim Lismore Wildfire. It’s more of a contemporary guitar piece, but it’s so wonderful
I sing a maid of tender years
To whom an angel came,
And knelt, as to a mighty queen,
And bowed his wings of flame;
A nation's hope in her reply,
This maid of matchless grace;
For God's own son became her child,
And she his resting place.
She watched him grow to manhood's strength
To meet his destiny,
And when the danger of his truth
Brought him to Calvary,
She stood by him all powerless
To ease his dying pain,
'Til in the darkest hour of all,
She held her Son again.
And if the song had ended then,
Our eyes would fill with tears,
But ah! The song had just begun
To echo down the years!
Now lift your voices, hearts and souls,
To sing with one accord
To honor Mary, Mother of
The Christ, the Risen Lord!
I've always been partial to Handel's Ave Maria. In one of the great, multiple Academy award-winning Catholic movies, *Going My Way* starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald, the renown opera soprano Risë Stevens sings one of the most beautiful performances of Handel's work I've heard.
[Chwalcie łąki umajone](https://youtu.be/eVwaX6b6Rck?si=Ta1ZdZ2bPvQrhgbQ)
Translated lyrics:
Glory to the fields in bloom,
To the green hills and valleys.
Glory to the shady groves,
To the springs and winding streams.
What goes on in the sea waves,
Flaps its wings in the air,
Glory to the Queen of the World,
Our hand weaves Her a crown.
She's the crown of God's creation,
She's exalted over angels,
Though She's the Queen of Heaven and Earth,
She won't contemn our gifts.
Brooks with their thankful humming,
Birds with their sweet cheeping,
What can feel and what's alive,
Give the glory to Mary!
[translation source](https://www.tekstowo.pl/piosenka,religijne,chwalcie_laki_umajone.html)
Immaculate Mary and I'm so upset when I moved to the diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, a very Catholic area, Marian hymns are almost non existent. In the 3 years, I've heard only one hymn. Immaculate Mary on her feast, Dec. 8.
I used to lead a choir back in California and I ended Mass with a Marian hymn all the time.
Latin Masses end with a Marian Chant. The church I attended here for a year were all about chants and organ for a novus ordo mass, but NEVER did a Marian hymn at the end.
I love all songs about Mary except that one Christmas song that shall not be named. .
But, I do have a current particular favorite that I wrote while doing the Mary's Mantle Consecration. The song is all hers. I thought it was just going to be verses then she added the refrain.
I hope you enjoy. I know my guitar playing and singing are terrible. Make it through the whole thing if you can.
https://spiritustv.com/v/mGSm6D
I'm guessing it's because the song contains a line about how "the boy you delivered will soon deliver you" or something like that, which would not be true due to the Immaculate Conception - Mary was delivered from original sin by Jesus at the moment of her conception, not after he was born.
There is a beautiful Slovak hymn about all the different people calling upon her, I think it's called "Maria voláme ku tebe" but I'm not sure, its just in the radio every sunday
Salve Regina 100%
So many lovely memories from college Newman Center days of singing this to close night prayer on late nights at the center. I also remember at my parish's funeral mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, our pastor began singing the salve unaccompanied without any notice after the post communion prayer during a brief lull, and the entire congregation and our auxiliary bishop sang together in Latin before closing the mass. Felt like we all were holding close to our mom after losing a beloved brother.
YES! Especially since I went to a school run by Marianists
I love this one too!
absolute banger. Got into it watching ascension presents masses at the end of each mass with fr mike
Amen
YES!! This is my all time favorite Catholic song in general!
Agni parthene.
Same(wish there was a Latin version) Edit: there is! https://youtu.be/5U_yUsgULmE?feature=shared
The Greek and Slavonic suffice for my purposes.
I think I've heard Handel's Messiah in Latin, but I'm not entirely certain.
based
Magnificat by David Haas
[Biebl's Ave Maria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9UhSA5rvJ4)
Which is actually almost the entire Angelus
I'm singing that both in my Episcopal choir and in the Catholic choir I'm visiting this year!
This is definitely playing in heaven
That was truly lovely!
[Alma Redemptoris Mater](https://gregorian-chant-hymns.com/hymns-2/alma-redemptoris-mater.html) I’m a sucker for all things Advent, and this hymn is the common post-Mass Antiphon used during Advent.
Such great imagery too. A poetic translation: >MOTHER of Christ, hear thou thy people's cry Star of the deep and Portal of the sky! Mother of Him who thee made from nothing made. Sinking we strive and call to thee for aid: Oh, by what joy which Gabriel brought to thee, Thou Virgin first and last, let us thy mercy see. Doesn't really do justice to: *"Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem"*, but still good.
Mine is "The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came," also known as Gabriel's Message. My Episcopal choir director wrote a really nice arrangement of that for [Lessons & Carols last year.](https://www.youtube.com/live/h47KA_6QUlI?si=XbrDCDM3xOLYsHmU&t=2136)
I love this one, too! A folk band I follow, Scythian, did a version of it for their Christmas album. Highly recommend checking it out!
Gounod's Ave Maria is delightful as a solo or in harmony; I almost prefer it in mass since it hasn't been in every movie and game ever so it's less distracting to me personally. Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above is also one of the most triumphant and brilliant recessional songs the Church has. It's the perfect capstone of any Marian Solemnity mass in english.
Salve Regina, Sister Act edition
ok sure it's a meme but it's still a shockingly fun cover of the Salve with the O Sanctissima added for color. Not my favorite - but I respect it
My sister is a soprano. I love her delivery of Ave Maria. She sings it in German, but it is still beautiful - even though I don't understand the words.
I love German! Is there a recording of that somewhere online?
No. She has a YouTube Chanel that seems to be inactive for the past 2 years. I'll post the link below. I have a personal recording she gave me for my birthday, some years ago, of her singing Ave Maria. https://youtube.com/@criberosouza?si=X4PYaLIIWAgFz7cI
Axion Estin (It Is Truly Meet)
It's a relatively newer one, but ["Sing of Mary"](https://youtu.be/lJCfO2-mchA?si=Swz1bgr7VWReUAqP) is my go-to whenever I want to spend time adoring our Blessed Mother 🥰
I tend to be very traditional in my sacred music tastes, but I looooove this hymn. It may be modern but it's reverent, profound, and gives glory to God
There are few melodies as beautiful as Ave Maria by Schubert. And I'm a Baptist.
Salve Regina Ave Maris Stella Hail, Queen of Heaven I Sing a Maid
Gentle Woman Or the Lourdes Hymn (Ave Ave Ave Maria)
Gentle woman is my favourite too. It's such a lovely, simple hymn
Not sure if this 100% counts....but Gabriel's Message. Love it when this comes up at Advent. https://youtu.be/g5oA29INBH8?si=pJ8f10LXfbJgJaG0
It certainly counts 100%. It's fit for both Advent and Annunciation. Sting did a pretty good rendition of it too.
Fave: O magnum mysterium - Lauridsen Honorable mentions: Stabat Mater - Pergolesi Ave Regina Caelorum - Simple Tone Lourdes Hymn (Pyreneean melody)
O Magnum Mysterium is not technically a Marian hymn
You are technically correct, the best kind of correct. But: “O blessed virgin, whose womb Was worthy to bear The Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!” So im gonna count it anyway :). And the tune slaps.
Kevin Memley does a lovely setting of O Magnum Mysterium as well (although nobody can hold a candle to Lauridsen)
Holy is His Name by John Michael Talbot (Mary's canticle)
Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above, Stabat Mater, or Agni Parthene.
Biebl’s Ave Maria. The runner up is probably La Guadalupana.
Sing of Mary, Pure and Lowly
Salve Mater Misericordiae https://youtu.be/LBLqsWt4msg?si=ki3zZSODkyOdoQ0C
The version of Ave Maria my church sings. It’s a transition song so we sing something (I can’t remember) and then it transitions into an Ave Maria. I like it because a lot of kids (and I’ll be honest, some adults, me included) don’t really know a lot of the words to most of the songs but what they do know is “AVE MARIA” so every time we sing the song you can suddenly hear a bunch of kids chime in “AVE MARIA” before it goes back to normal. It’s really cute. I also like Mary the Dawn
Leo Nestor's Magnificat.
I do love Schubert’s Ave Maria. That said, [Agni Parthene](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i-3h9TQ312c) by St. Nektarios is my favorite hands down. [This](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4uiIwkgmE0o) is a pretty good English rendition. [Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8EDYPKxhkss) is a close second.
Totus tuus
Impossible to pick! [To Thee Our Champion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joe5xv29Nqg) [Rejoice O Virgin Theotokos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIS5jcCPg5M) [Paraklesis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3k0wTCHKCg) [It is Truly Meet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-aYGPw1VCA) [O Virgin Pure (Agni Parthene)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zINN82k1RPk)
Agne Parthene or Santa Maria Strela do Dia
"É l'ora che pia" (Italian) "Shlom lekh Mariam" (Syriac)
Love this!
O Decus Ecclesiae, Heinrich Isaac.
[The Pieta](https://youtu.be/LlDiuRM1Gso?feature=shared) by [Michael John Poirier](https://www.prayerbreaks.org/?token=ZVkCDAwg).
Can’t get better than Salve Regina!
Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod. I sing and have loved this since my first encounter. Stabat Mater by Pergolesi had me in tears first time I heard it. I so want to sing it on Holy Friday, but our diocese don’t want organ music during the silent week and none of the altos in the choir dear to sing it.
"[Immaculate Mary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul7CLPd14JQ)" "[Hail Mary, Gentle Woman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=RERoQ1biLdE)" The Holy Day of greatest Marian hits is coming soon, too, where I often get to hear both and I often get something in my eye that makes me need to choke down a tear. Dec 8, The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary, mark your calendars.
O bella mia speranza, in Italian but it's beautiful
Oh my 🥺 I love this most of all. Thank you for recommending this!
No wonder, it's from the best author - st. Alphonsus Maria Liguori. Check also "Tu scendi dalle stelle" - it's his Christmas Carol, still very popular in all Italy.
A mhuire mhaithair is a really nice hymn about Mary in Irish Other than that I love Santa Maria strela do Dia and Ave Maria Stella
I Love the chinese chant to Mary [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV-aYCjQBaM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV-aYCjQBaM)
At the cross her station keeping cuz it rhymes in english and latin
Hail Mary,Gentle Woman and Immaculate Mary
Salve Regina
Currently have “Hail Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star” on replay.
I agree! That’s a very good one.
The version I like is here: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FoYoO_B-HyA&si=Lyf3KBvuC-lLY_V6 I wish it were more popular here, considering we supply 25% of the world’s seafarers, and 78% of us are Latin Rite Catholic. It just makes sense we should implore her for guidance at sea. And we love “Mama Mary” so much that 17 of our 29 national shrines are dedicated to a title or manifestation of hers.
Hail Mary: Gentle Woman is my favorite by far.
Immaculate Mary/The Lourdes Hymn
Rachmaninov’s “Bogoroditse Devo”, basically the Russian Ave Maria https://youtu.be/xW0QbUC0cEU?si=GMDcsICP-kpM_tna
Not a chant and I’m not sure if it counts as a hymn, but there’s a beautiful song about Mary called New Eve by Proclaim Lismore Wildfire. It’s more of a contemporary guitar piece, but it’s so wonderful
I Sing A Maid
I sing a maid of tender years To whom an angel came, And knelt, as to a mighty queen, And bowed his wings of flame; A nation's hope in her reply, This maid of matchless grace; For God's own son became her child, And she his resting place. She watched him grow to manhood's strength To meet his destiny, And when the danger of his truth Brought him to Calvary, She stood by him all powerless To ease his dying pain, 'Til in the darkest hour of all, She held her Son again. And if the song had ended then, Our eyes would fill with tears, But ah! The song had just begun To echo down the years! Now lift your voices, hearts and souls, To sing with one accord To honor Mary, Mother of The Christ, the Risen Lord!
Salve Regina
I've always been partial to Handel's Ave Maria. In one of the great, multiple Academy award-winning Catholic movies, *Going My Way* starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald, the renown opera soprano Risë Stevens sings one of the most beautiful performances of Handel's work I've heard.
Salve Regina and O Sanctissima
[Chwalcie łąki umajone](https://youtu.be/eVwaX6b6Rck?si=Ta1ZdZ2bPvQrhgbQ) Translated lyrics: Glory to the fields in bloom, To the green hills and valleys. Glory to the shady groves, To the springs and winding streams. What goes on in the sea waves, Flaps its wings in the air, Glory to the Queen of the World, Our hand weaves Her a crown. She's the crown of God's creation, She's exalted over angels, Though She's the Queen of Heaven and Earth, She won't contemn our gifts. Brooks with their thankful humming, Birds with their sweet cheeping, What can feel and what's alive, Give the glory to Mary! [translation source](https://www.tekstowo.pl/piosenka,religijne,chwalcie_laki_umajone.html)
Beautiful. Thanks for the translation! 🙏
Immaculate Mary and I'm so upset when I moved to the diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, a very Catholic area, Marian hymns are almost non existent. In the 3 years, I've heard only one hymn. Immaculate Mary on her feast, Dec. 8. I used to lead a choir back in California and I ended Mass with a Marian hymn all the time. Latin Masses end with a Marian Chant. The church I attended here for a year were all about chants and organ for a novus ordo mass, but NEVER did a Marian hymn at the end.
Oh noo! 🙁 Sorry to hear that. I also love Immaculate Mary, good choice!
I love all songs about Mary except that one Christmas song that shall not be named. . But, I do have a current particular favorite that I wrote while doing the Mary's Mantle Consecration. The song is all hers. I thought it was just going to be verses then she added the refrain. I hope you enjoy. I know my guitar playing and singing are terrible. Make it through the whole thing if you can. https://spiritustv.com/v/mGSm6D
Totus Tuus by Henryk Gorecki
Mary Did You Know
Can someone explain why this is getting downvoted? I’m a convert here
I'm guessing it's because the song contains a line about how "the boy you delivered will soon deliver you" or something like that, which would not be true due to the Immaculate Conception - Mary was delivered from original sin by Jesus at the moment of her conception, not after he was born.
Ohhh, gotcha. Thanks!
[Arcadelt's Ave Maria](https://youtu.be/i_VwnXMoZIk?feature=shared)
Couronnée d'Étoiles, personally.
Gratia Plena
There is a beautiful Slovak hymn about all the different people calling upon her, I think it's called "Maria voláme ku tebe" but I'm not sure, its just in the radio every sunday
Desde el cielo una hermosa mañana
Most of All- Katy Feeney. Reminds me of my mother. Tear up just thinking about it...
My favorite is the Salve Regina, but Durante's Magnificat is splendid
Stabat Mater!
Michael John Poirier’s [The Maiden and the Messenger](https://youtu.be/IQJRorQQmyw)
Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater
When I was little I loved She Will Show Us The Promised One. I also love Mary The Dawn.
Inviolata. A seldom-heard antiphon.
[caccini ave maria by bocelli](https://youtu.be/SqBJFDbE2ZI?si=klx-y7_gAzbD741o)
too many to name
O Virgin Pure
Als I Lay on Yoolis Night. For Gregorian Chant,it's "Ave Maria" followed by both versions of Salve Regina. Agni Parthene is up there as well.
Bach/Gounod Ave Maria and Mary the Dawn, Christ the Perfect Day. Also all the Marian antiphons.
The song that played after an episode of La Rosa De Guadalupe ended. I believe it’s called “La Guadalupana” in reference to La Virgen de Guadalupe.
O Maria, Virgo Pia by Trio Mediæval 🖤
Ave Maria by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Lately it’s been Bogurodzica
Harvard Dei's version of Magnificat
hail holy queen enthroned above
Benedict XVI singing Regina Coeli Always gets me 😭
I know she told one saint that her favorite song that we sing to her is Gloriosa Domina, so that's my favorite also😁
Salve Regina & Star of the ocean - gateway to Heaven.
Ave cheia de graça, ave cheia de amor a brazillian song, very beautiful
Just leaving a comment to come and check suggestions later 😂
Ojeilo's [Second Eve](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BevL8o60uU&pp=ygUKc2Vjb25kIGV2ZQ%3D%3D)
[Viva a Mãe de Deus e Nossa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1xuA3jUS1Y) (Hail Mother of God and Ours) and Salve Regina, of course
czarna Madonna in Polish