Marian Devotion

This post was originally published as an "Ask the Deacon" question/answer on my personal blog.  It is being published today in celebration of Our Lady's birthday.

I was wondering where the devotion of beating our breasts 3 times during the Hail Holy Queen (at "O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary") came from? Is it proper, or out of place in this prayer?

Thank you!

~Anonymous

The Hail Holy Queen expresses a beautiful devotion to our Blessed Mother and is commonly prayed at the end of the rosary.  It is one of the Marian anthems that may be prayed at the conclusion of Night Prayer (Compline) in the Liturgy of the Hours.  The prayer is the English translation of the Salve Regina.  There are many beautiful musical settings of this Latin text in chant and in polyphony, several of which have long held a preeminent place in popular devotion to Mary, especially among sailors; there is evidence that the sailors of Columbus’ expeditions sang the hymn and taught it to the natives they encountered.

The practice of beating one’s breast at the conclusion of the prayer is purely a private expression of penitence or humility.  There is no basis for doing so in any rubrics that I am aware of, and while it is common in some groups the practice is essentially unknown in others.  Having an attitude of true penitence or humility is very important (cf. Luke 18:9-14) and beating one’s breast as a reminder is certainly fine but not required or discouraged in any sense.

That being said, Marian devotion is extremely important in the spiritual life.  Mary is, of course, the Mother of our Lord and, by his gift to us from his Cross, our Mother.

The life goal of every Christian is holiness, which is nothing less than union with Christ, and the surest way to achieve this union is through Mary by God’s design.  Jesus was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit and Scripture demonstrates that this is how he comes to us: Elizabeth and John in her womb encountered Christ through Mary, who was compelled by the Holy Spirit to go “in haste” to attend to her kinswoman; the bride and the groom at Cana encountered Christ through Mary; the apostles were gathered with Mary in prayer in the upper room at Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit and the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body of which we are all a part, was born.

Devotion to the Holy Spirit and to Mary is as old as the Church and is characteristic of the saints.  Such devotion does not interfere or compete with our worship of Jesus; Saint Louis de Montfort and many other great spiritual writers have recommended and offered guidance for consecration to Jesus through Mary.  It is a most efficacious way to worship Jesus and to open ourselves up to union with him.

Thanks for the question and always stay close to Mary!

In the Heart of Christ,

The Deacon