Ave maris stella

The story

"Ave maris stella" ("Hail, star of the sea") is a medieval Latin hymn to the Virgin Mary, usually sung at Vespers. Its author is unknown: it has been attributed to Venantius Fortunatus in the 6th century, Hermannus Contractus in the 11th and Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th. It probably originated in the 9th century. It appears as a 10th-century addition in two 9th-century manuscripts, one from Salzburg, now in Vienna, and one still kept at the Abbey of Saint Gall.

Sung often in the Divine Office, it was especially popular in the Middle Ages, and other hymns were founded upon it. It did much to present Mary as a merciful and loving mother. Its title, "Star of the Sea", is one of the oldest and most widespread titles given to Mary, and the hymn is often used as a prayer for the safe conduct of travellers. Its melody is also found in the Irish plainsong "Gabhaim Molta Bríde", a song in praise of Saint Brigid of Kildare, and the modern hymn "Hail Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star" is loosely based on that plainsong.

The Roman Rite uses four plainchant tunes for the hymn, three for the feasts of the Virgin Mary and a fourth in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Composers from the Renaissance to the present have built on it. Josquin and Victoria used its tunes as the cantus firmus of Masses; Dufay, Palestrina, Byrd and others set it in the Renaissance; Monteverdi included it in his Vespers of 1610, and the Emperor Leopold I, Louis Couperin (1658) and Marc-Antoine Charpentier (four settings, 1670s–1680s) set it in the Baroque; Dvořák, Grieg, Liszt and Elgar in the 19th century; and Marcel Dupré, Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan and others in modern times.

In 1884 the second Acadian National Convention, meeting at Miscouche on Prince Edward Island, adopted "Ave maris stella" as the anthem of Acadia.

What it says

A hymn of greeting and prayer to the Virgin Mary under her old title of star of the sea, presenting her as a merciful and loving mother to whom travellers turn for a safe journey. The mood is gentle, simple and trusting.

The words