A prayer of the Church · its history

Ave Regina Caelorum — Hail, Queen of Heaven

The Lenten-season antiphon of Our Lady — 'Hail, Queen of Heaven' — found in manuscripts from the twelfth century, sung at Compline from Candlemas until Holy Thursday.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

The prayer

Hail, O Queen of heaven, enthroned! Hail, by angels Mistress owned! Root of Jesse, Gate of morn, whence the world's true Light was born: Glorious Virgin, joy to thee, loveliest whom in heaven they see: Fairest thou where all are fair, plead with Christ our sins to spare.

Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1150
A.D.
1907–1914
“It is found in the St. Alban's Book of the twelfth century; in a Munich manuscript thought by Daniel to be of the thirteenth; in a Sarum Breviary of the fourteenth; and in York and Roman Breviaries of the fifteenth.”
1250
Event
From Candlemas to Holy Thursday

One of the four seasonal antiphons of Our Lady sung at Compline, the Ave Regina Caelorum is assigned from Compline of Candlemas (2 February) until Holy Thursday, when the Church keeps silence before the Passion.

1260
Event
The four antiphons of the year

With the Alma Redemptoris Mater (Advent to Candlemas), the Ave Regina Caelorum (Candlemas to Holy Thursday), the Regina Caeli (Eastertide), and the Salve Regina (the rest of the year), the Church closes each day at Compline with a seasonal anthem to Our Lady.

Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.