Serenading Our Lady

In Catholic devotion, there are many songs addressed to Mary, such as the Regina Coeli and the Salve Regina. However, it may surprise you to know that the oldest text we have for a Marian hymn comes from about AD 250 written in Greek, preceding the Hail Mary by several centuries. I mention it today because this hymn is often sung at the end of evening prayer in Eastern Christianity during Lent. The hymn is known as “Beneath thy compassion”  and was used in the liturgy around Christmas time.

Beneath your compassion we take refuge, Theotokos!
Our prayers, do not despise necessities,
but from danger deliver us, only pure, only blessed one.

What is particularly significant is that the text refers to Mary by the Greek title of “Theotokos”, which in English means “God bearer”, the name so objectionable to Nestorius, but which was later affirmed by the Council of Ephesus in AD 431.

Here it in Latin (“Sub Tuum Praesidium”), English and Greek (“Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν”):