Saying the Hail Mary with Dr. Luther
The Annunciation, from Ulm Minster (Münster Unserer Lieben Frau), Ulm, c. 1405. Photo: Andrea Gössel, Corpus Vitrearum Deutschland/Freiburg i. Br., CC BY-NC 4.0 Permalink: https://corpusvitrearum.de/id/F2042
The following text is from the Betbüchlein of Dr. Martin Luther, first published in May 1522. This “Little Prayer Book” was immensely popular, being reprinted at least forty-four times during the sixteenth century, and it is, in many ways, a precursor to the later Small and Large Catechisms. Note that the phrase “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death” was not in widespread use as a part of the Hail Mary until the Council of Trent, some decades later. The Hail Mary appears just after the Our Father in Luther’s Betbüchlein, and is followed by eight psalms. The following was translated by Mr. Matthew Carver from the 1538 edition.
Explanation of the Ave Maria.
Here it is to be noted that no man is to place his trust and confidence in the Mother of God or her merit. For such confidence befits God alone as the only lofty divine service. Rather, that one is to glorify and thank God through her and through the grace that is given to her, and not otherwise to praise and love her than as she who obtained such goods from God out of utter grace, without merit, as she herself confesses in the Magnificat.
Just as when, from surveying the heavens, the sun, and all created things, I am moved to praise the Maker of these things, and I mingle them into my prayer and praise, saying, “Ah, God, Thou who hast thus made beautiful, admirable creatures: grant me, &c.,” so also here, let the prayer of the Mother of God be mingled in, and say, “Ah, God, what a noble human being Thou hast made here! Blessed be she, &c. And Thou, who hast so highly honored her, grant me also, &c.” Thus do not let the heart rest upon her, of course, but pass through her to Christ and God Himself.
Therefore, the Ave Maria also reads the same way, giving all things to God, and saying,
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Here you see that there is no prayer herein, but only praise and honor is contained in it. Just as in the first words of the Our Father there is no prayer either, but praise and honor of God, that He is our Father and in heaven. Therefore from the Ave Maria we could make neither a prayer nor an invocation. For it does not befit us to make the words mean more than they say and the Holy Spirit has set down. Yet we can treat them in two ways: First, as a meditation, recounting in them the grace that God gave her; second, adding to them a wish that she may be recognized and regarded as such by everyone.
First, she is full of grace; by which she is recognized to be without all sin. This is a profoundly great thing. For God’s grace makes her full of all good and free from all evil.
Second, God is with her; that is, all she does and does not do is godly and happens in her from God. In addition, He protects and preserves her from all that may be harmful to her.
Third, she is blessed above all women, not only because she gave birth without pain and sorrow and without injury, unlike Eve and all other women {ed: cf. FC SD VII, 100), but also that she was made fruitful and conceived the fruit of her womb without all sin, by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to no woman.
Fourth, that her Fruit is blessed, namely, withheld from the curse that comes upon all the children of Eve, that they are conceived in sin and are begotten deserving death and condemnation. But this Fruit of her womb alone is blessed, and we all are blessed through the Same.
Now, a prayer or wish is to be added here, to pray for all those who curse this Fruit and mother. But who curses this Fruit? All those who persecute and curse His Word, the Gospel, and the faith, as the Jews and papists are presently doing.
From this then it follows that no one now curses this mother and her Fruit so much as those who bless her with many rosaries and always have the Ave Maria on their lips. For it is they most of all who curse most highly the words and faith of Christ.
Therefore see that this mother and her Fruit are blessed in two different ways, bodily and spiritually. Those who bless her bodily with the mouth, and with the words of the Ave Maria, are her worst slanderers and maledictors. And those who bless her spiritually with the heart, praise and bless her Child, Christ, in all His words, works, and sufferings. This no one does but he who believes a properly Christian manner. For without such faith no heart is good, but it is naturally filled full with cursing and slander against God and all His saints. Therefore whoever does not believe should be advised to leave off the Ave Maria and all prayer, for of such it is written, “Oratio eius fiat in peccatum, Let his prayer become sin” (Psalm 109[:7]).