The Catholic Message Board

In the Hail Mary prayer:

In English: Hail Mary,
In Latin: Ave Maria, (Hail Mary)
In Spanish: Dios te Salve Maria. (God hails you)

In the first two we are Hailing Mary. We are giving her royal respect. In Spanish, God is doing it.

Not necessarily a contradiction, but the message appears to be different.

Am I misinterpreting?

I had an Ave Maria bumper sticker on my old car and a Spanish speaker thought it was Spanish (and then reeled off a Hail Mary in Spanish) so I've always thought the Spanish Hail Mary started with Ave Maria. Did it change at some point?

In French it's Je vous salue Marie "I hail thee Mary"

Surely it is only because of God's call that we can Hail Mary at all, right?

And technically, it isn't us who are hailing Mary; we are merely echoing the greeting of the angel.

I think you are trying to find a theological difference where there isn't one, assuming your claim is correct.

Dios te salve, María
llena eres de gracia,
el Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres,
y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús.

Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros, pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.


“Dios te salve, María” is apparently the common, traditional, and through local bishops,"official" translation.

Doom wrote: ↑Mon Jan 19, 2026 9:03 am And technically, it isn't us who are hailing Mary; we are merely echoing the greeting of the angel.

Gabriel the Archangel was hailing Mary. He didn't say God is hailing.

In the same way, we imitate him by Hailing her ourselves.

That's why I think the Spanish translation doesn't sound right.

The word "angel" means "messenger". The job of a messenger is only to send a message from one person to another and does not speak for himself. Gabriel was reporting, not doing,