The "Salve Regina" (/ˌsælveɪ rəˈdʒiːnə/ SAL-vay rə-JEE-nə, Ecclesiastical Latin: [ˈsalve reˈdʒina]; meaning 'Hail Queen'), also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical 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.[1] Traditionally it has been sung in Latin, though many translations exist. These are often used as spoken prayers.
Marian antiphons have been sung, since the thirteenth century, at the close of Compline, the last Office of the day. Peter Canisius (d. 1597) noted that one praises God in Mary when one turns to her in song.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]
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.[3] It was popular at medieval universities as an evening song, and according to Fr. Juniper Carol, it came to be part of the ritual for the blessing of a ship.[4] While the anthem figured largely in liturgical and in general popular Catholic devotion, it was especially dear to sailors.[5]
In the 18th century, the Salve Regina served as the outline for the classic Roman Catholic Mariology book The Glories of Mary by Saint 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".[6]
It was added to the series of prayers said at the end of Low Mass by Pope Leo XIII.[5]
The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at the end of a priest's funeral Mass by the decedent's fellow priests in attendance.[citation needed]
As a prayer, it is commonly said at the end of the rosary.[7]
In some cases, the following versicle, response, and collect are added:
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Variations exist among most translations.
(in the version used by Catholics in the United Kingdom and in the Anglo-Catholic version, the wording "mourning and weeping in this vale of tears" is used in the 6th line)
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German priest Johann Georg Seidenbusch published a hymn entitled "Gegrüßet seist du, Königin" in his 1687 devotional book Marianischer Schnee-Berg.[10] This hymn was inspired by the pilgrimage devotions at Aufhausen Priory,[10] 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",[11] 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.[12] This translation gained worldwide popularity after being featured in the 1992 film Sister Act.[citation needed]
| Gegrüßet seist du, Königin (1687)[10] | Salve Regina coelitum (1728) | Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above (1884) |
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Main category: Salve Regina settings |
As an essential component of the Compline service, the hymn has been set to music by various composers, including Victoria, Palestrina, Josquin and Lassus. Charpentier, (5 settings, H.18, H.47, H.23, H.24, H.27), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, (C.114), Alessandro Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Jan Dismas Zelenka, (7 settings, ZWV 135-141, and ZWV 204), Johann Adolph Hasse (3 settings), Handel, and Liszt composed their own settings in later years. Schubert composed no fewer than seven versions. Francis Poulenc composed his setting of the text in 1941. Arvo Pärt composed a setting first performed in the Essen Cathedral in 2002. Olivier Latry premiered in 2007 an organ work Salve Regina which reflects in seven movements the lines of the hymn in Gregorian chant.[citation needed]
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 is sung (using the English translation "Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above") by a choir of nuns in the 1992 comedy film Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg. In the film, the hymn is initially sung in the traditional style, before shifting into an uptempo, soul and gospel music–influenced arrangement. This arrangement has a bridge that intersperses lines from another Marian hymn, O sanctissima, as well as the first lines of the Sanctus (a prayer recited at Mass).
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