AVE MARIA, also ANGEL'ICA SALl:TA'TIO, or the angelic salutation, are names given by the Roman Catholics to a very common form of address to the Virgin Mary. Ate Maria are the first two words of the prayer, in Latin, which is taken from the angel Gabriel's salutation (Luke i, 28): " IIail, Mary, highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." In this form, according to an ordinance of Gregory I.,.tlie invocation was at first said by the priests during mass, on the fourth Sunday after Advent. With the extended worship of the Virgin since the 11th c., the A. M. appears as a lay-prayer of nearly equal use with the Paternoster, and was sanctioned as such at the end of the 12th century. Accordingly, not only did Urban IV. (1261) add the concluding words, Jesus Ulinstus, Amen.. hut since the first half of the 16t11 c., the prayer begun to receive, more and more commonly, as an
addition to the old formula, what constitutes the conclusion of.the modern form. " Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen." An edict of John XXII. (1326) ordains that every, Catholic shall, morning, noon, and even ing, at the warning of the bells, repeat three aves. This ringing of bells as n summons to morning. midday, and evening prayers, is retained in some Protestant countries, and is still called the A. M„ or Angelus Domini. The aves are reckoned by the small beads of the rosary, which are hence called Ave :nu•'s, while the large beads are devoted to the Paternoster.' 150 Ave Marius form—after the 150 Psalms-- a Psalteriam Afarice, and are thought to possess high propitiatory power.