Memorare
The name is its first word in Latin, “Remember”. The prayer is attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who preached tirelessly about Mary, but its present wording dates from the 15th or 16th century, and a French priest named Claude Bernard spread it across Europe in the 1600s by printing it in the hundreds of thousands. It rests on a single claim: no one who asked Mary’s help was ever left unaided.
Traditional, attributed to St. Bernard; present form 15th–16th century
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known
that anyone who fled to thy protection,
implored thy help, or sought thy intercession
was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother;
to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.