The "Salve Regina", also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christianliturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at Compline in the time from the Saturday before Trinity Sunday until the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. The Hail Holy Queen is also the final prayer of the Rosary. The work was composed during the Middle Ages and originally appeared in Latin, the prevalent language of Western Christianity until modern times. Though traditionally ascribed to the eleventh-century German monk Hermann of Reichenau, it is regarded as anonymous by most musicologists. Traditionally it has been sung in Latin, though many translations exist. These are often used as spoken prayers.
Background and history
Marian antiphons have been sung, since the thirteenth century, at the close of Compline, the last Office of the day. Peter Canisius noted that one praises God in Mary when one turns to her in song. Liturgically, the Salve Regina is the best known of four prescribed Marian Anthems recited after Compline, and, in some uses, after Lauds or other Hours. Its use after Compline is likely traceable to the monastic practice of intoning it in chapel and chanting it on the way to sleeping quarters. It was set down in its current form at the Abbey of Cluny in the 12th century, where it was used as a processional hymn on Marian feasts. The Cistercians chanted the Salve Regina daily from 1218. It was popular at medieval universities as evening song, and according to Fr. Juniper Carol, it came to be part of the ritual for the blessing of a ship. While the anthem figured largely in liturgical and in general popular Catholic devotion, it was especially dear to sailors. In the 18th century, the Salve Regina served as the outline for the classic Roman Catholic Mariology book The Glories of Mary by Alphonsus Liguori. In the first part of the book Alphonsus, a Doctor of the Church, discusses the Salve Regina and explains how God gave Mary to mankind as the "Gate of Heaven". It was added to the series of prayers said at the end of Low Mass by Pope Leo XIII. The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at the end of a priest's funeral Mass by the decedent's fellow priests in attendance. As a prayer, it is commonly said at the end of the rosary.
A 1969 translation by James Quinn, S.J., beginning "Hail, our Queen and Mother blest," is offered as an alternative to the Latin in the Divine Office.
Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above
German priest Johann Georg Seidenbusch published a hymn entitled "Gegrüßet seist du, Königin" in his 1687 devotional bookMarianischer Schnee-Berg. This hymn was inspired by the pilgrimage devotions at Aufhausen Priory, and contains various salutations taken predominantly from the Salve Regina. This hymn was soon to be found in various forms in many Catholic devotional books, and a Latin translation, "Salve Regina coelitum", was soon created. The modern melody first appeared in the 1736 hymnal Geistliche Spiel- und Weckuhr, and Melchior Ludwig Herold's 1808 hymnal Choralmelodien zum Heiligen Gesänge contained the version that is standard today. The English translation "Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above" first appeared in The Roman Missal in 1884. This translation gained worldwide popularity after being featured in the 1992 film Sister Act.
In 1976 the words of the first verse of the Salve Regina were used as a repeating theme in the song Oh What a Circus in the musical Evita, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Salve Regina University, a U.S. university established by the Sisters of Mercy in 1934, was named in honor of the Salve Regina hymn and motto. The hymn was featured in the award winning 1992 classic film Sister Act starring Whoopi Goldberg.
