The Impact of Our Lady
- Sophia Bauer
- May 3, 2024
- 2 min read
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Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae; Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra salve. Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae. Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentesin hac lacrimarum valle. Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria.
This song has proven to be a huge part of my prayer life, and by no means is that a complaint! Before my husband and I started dating we were both part of an intentional living community at our college Newman Center. I wanted to start praying night prayer as a community, and he felt bad that no one else wanted to do it with me. As the good friend he was, he joined (pitied) me each night.
If you've ever prayed night prayer before, you always end with a Marian prayer. One that we found ourselves gravitating to more often than not was the Salve Regina. Bless my husband's heart he cannot carry a tune to save his life, but there was something about his desire to still chant it every night in the empty church. It added an entirely new layer to the prayer each time we sang it together.
Fast forward to 2018 on our wedding day, where we decided to incorporate our favorite Marian song during the Presentation to the Holy Family. Don't get me wrong, I love a good Ave Maria which is typically sung during this time, but there was something special about Salve Regina that we couldn't resist! The words seemed to resonate with us in a mysterious way that I couldn't pin down exactly. I could only feel the loving words about our Blessed Mother stir in my heart a deeper joy.
Fast forward again to 2021, I was blessed again to go back to Europe, this time on my first actual pilgrimage to France (see In the World, NOT Of It blog). I traveled with a group from The Catholic Feminists who LOVE celebrating Our Lady every chance we got, and you'll never guess our song of choice whenever we stopped somewhere overwhelmingly related to Mary: Salve Regina! We sang that for daily Mass, at holy sites, and even just when we wanted to lift our spirits. Imagine if you will, 40 women singing a chant in unison to our Blessed Mother. It moves not just the spirit, but the soul.
To this day it is still my favorite chant, and I even used it to audition for a Sacred Music young adult choir I'm part of. Salve Regina has been and will always be a prayer near and dear to my heart, and I look forward to the ways God will continue to unite me with His Will through this song.
Happy month of Mary!
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Do you have a favorite song that lifts your soul to God? Leave the title in the comments. Who knows, you might help someone else find their new favorite hymn/chant/song!
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