The Memorare

A traditional Catholic prayer

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.

In Latin

Memorare, o piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere, sed audi propitia et exaudi. Amen.

Where it comes from

Our Lady prays alone against the dark, her head bowed under a white veil, her eyes lowered and her hands joined, the blue mantle drawn close about her. She is listening, and the Memorare asks nothing of her but that: never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection was left unaided. It is sometimes attributed to Claude Bernard, the French priest (1588–1641) who delighted in the name of “the poor priest” and made the poor, the sick and prisoners his special care; but the Catholic Encyclopedia says the prayer is certainly of an earlier date, and that he contributed much to popularize it, so that the prayer of the unaided passed through the hands of a man who spent himself on them. Its author is not known; the prayer is signed only by those who say it. Before thee I stand, it says, and this is the one we stand before.

Charles Schrantz, “Claude Bernard”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (1907): newadvent.org

More in painting

The traditional prayers  ·  The Rosary