The great Marian antiphon of the Latin West — its uncertain eleventh-century origin, the tradition of St. Bernard, and its place at the close of the Church's day.
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
The dated sources the library holds, oldest first — in their own words.
The Salve Regina takes its place among the four great Marian anthems of the Latin Church, sung to close the day at Compline.
Pious tradition credits St. Bernard of Clairvaux with the closing invocations — "O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary" — as he heard the anthem sung at Speyer; the Cistercians carry it across Europe. The addition is not in fact documented from his hand.
The Order of Preachers adopts the solemn chanting of the Salve Regina after Compline — the "Salve" procession — from which the custom spreads through the Latin Church.
“The authorship is now generally ascribed to Hermann Contractus… Durandus, in his "Rationale", ascribed it to Petrus of Monsoro (d. about 1000), Bishop of Compostella. It has also been attributed to Adhémar, Bishop of Podium (Puy-en-Velay), whence it has been styled "Antiphona de Podio" (Anthem of Le Puy).”