|The Ave of Maria
the meanings given for the Latin word "Ave," is the greeting "Hail."
the Angel Gabriel approached the Blessed Virgin Mary about becoming the Mother of
Jesus, he said to her, "Hail, full of grace," which is rendered in Latin as
"Ave, gratia plena."
Interestingly, ave is also the
reverse of the Latin spelling of Eve, Eva, whose disobedience led Adam to
fall into sin, with awful consequences for the race. While these
consequences for us were caused by his decision to sin, Eve was instrumental
in the wreckage that was wrought. It began when she succumbed to the
devil's temptation and offered the forbidden fruit to him. In this
sense, she shares in the cause of our plight. The worst
effects of their sins, were the loss of
sanctifying grace and the closure of heaven.
Gabriel's "Ave" addressed to Mary, would mark
the beginning of Redemption, which would reverse these effects. Mary
would be instrumental in restoring sanctifying grace to the race and
Since Aramaic was the language that Jesus spoke
― His mother tongue is you will ―
it would be reasonable to conclude that in all likelihood, the angel
spoke in Aramaic to Mary.
But can we be absolutely certain of that? Remember that Adam and
Eve had the gift of great knowledge before the Fall
― before original
― and that Mary was preserved from that sin. Might
she have possessed great knowledge as well? Remember too that
the Roman world existed around her and perhaps she heard Latin being spoken
by soldiers and by those with whom they engaged in commerce. She
may have understood quite a bit more than Aramaic. It would depend on what God wanted said
to her, and what Mary
In any event, whatever the
angel said to Mary, the Ave vs. Eva would assume significance in the story
of our salvation. Curiously, as was once pointed out by a grade
school student in a religion class, ave appears in the word save.
The instance where Gabriel addressed Mary
as he did, is found in Luke 1:28 of the Bible. As far as what was set
down in writing, the lines of the Holy Book were originally written in one
of three languages, Hebrew,
Greek and Aramaic. Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and
most of the New in Greek This was not the Greek of classics but rather an
international form of the language used in the civilized world after the
conquests of Alexander the Great.
The Latin of the Bible is a down-the-line
St. Jerome wrote the Old
Testament in Latin, translating from Hebrew, and revised the Latin New
Testament, using Greek manuscripts.
Steve Kellmeyer, author of the
book Bible Basics, says the word for "Hail" (Ave) in Greek, was
spoken as "chairoo," and was only addressed to royalty, which would be
an indication of the regard in which Mary was held. (He said it
was used only five other times in the Bible: four times it was directed to Christ and once used by Him after the Resurrection,
in which case, "Jesus acknowledges his royal priesthood of believers.")
Perhaps its meaning can best be understood by the use of the term, "Your
Highness." That signals for us that a royal person is being
Today we are most apt to hear the
word "ave" sung in song. The Hail Mary prayer, commemorating Luke
1:28 and 1:42, is also called the Ave Maria
or the Angelic Salutation.