>First--does anyone happen to have the Latin for the last sentence?
>
>Second--what you've given is essentially what I knew as the Ave. What I'm
>trying to confirm is that *it* was what was meant when Aves were assigned as
>penance, rather than a longer devotion that perhaps I hadn't heard about
>(like the Rosary, a devotion I know quite a lot about--something consisting
>of many repetitions of the basic prayer)
>
>Is that correct?
>
>Susan
>
The full Latin text of the prayer, as presently recited is:
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et
benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro
nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostri. Amen.
So far as I know, an Ave means an Ave; there is no longer devotion going by
this name.
Beware however. The prayer has growed and growed over the centuries. The
first sentence is the Angelic salutation (Luke 1:28). The second, as far as
"ventris tui" is Elisabeth's greeting to Mary (Luke 1:42). At some stage the
name Jesus was added; thus the prayer ended with the Holy Name of Jesus.
In this form the prayer goes back to the 11th century, and became popular in
the 12th. (so ODCC). The second part, "Sancta Maria (etc.)" is not
scriptural, or even medieval, but came into use in the 16th century. Thus a
medieval person reciting an Ave would take only half the time of a modern
practitioner.
Oriens.
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