Magnificat (Canticle of Mary)
Also known as: Canticle of Mary Song of Mary Magnificat anima mea Dominum
English Text
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.
Translation tradition: Liturgy of the Hours (ICEL 1974)
Latin Text
Magnificat anima mea Dominum,
et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salvatore meo,
quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae.
Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes,
quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericordia eius in progenies et progenies
timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo,
dispersit superbos mente cordis sui;
deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles;
esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum,
recordatus misericordiae suae,
sicut locutus est ad patres nostros,
Abraham et semini eius in saecula.
Scripture: Luke 1:46–55; 1 Samuel 2:1–10
When to pray: Vespers (Evening Prayer) of the Liturgy of the Hours, every day; Marian feast days.
History & Background
The Magnificat is Mary's canticle of praise, sung at the Visitation when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth (Lk 1:46–55). It draws deeply on the Song of Hannah (1 Sam 2:1–10) and the entire tradition of the Hebrew Psalms. It is the great Marian hymn of the New Testament and one of only three canticles from the New Testament included in the Liturgy of the Hours. The Church has sung the Magnificat at Evening Prayer (Vespers) every day since at least the 4th century — St. Benedict (c. 540) prescribed it in his Rule for daily Vespers (Rule of St. Benedict, ch. 17). It is the climax of the daily Vespers celebration and is accompanied by the incensation of the altar in solemn celebrations.
The Meaning of the Magnificat
Mary's Song at the Visitation
The Magnificat takes its name from its opening word in Latin — Magnificat anima mea Dominum, 'My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.' It is Mary's spontaneous canticle of praise, recorded in Luke 1:46-55, sung when she arrived at the home of her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea. The moment is charged: Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, has just proclaimed Mary 'blessed among women,' and recognized that 'the mother of my Lord should come to me' (Lk 1:42-43). Mary responds not with personal pride but with an outpouring of wonder directed entirely toward God.
A Song Rooted in Israel's Prayer
The Magnificat is not composed from scratch. It is woven from the Hebrew Scriptures — above all from Hannah's song of thanksgiving in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, and from the Psalms. Mary, the Daughter of Zion, recapitulates the prayer of Israel: she speaks as one who has absorbed a lifetime of Scripture and now gives voice, in her own flesh, to its deepest hope. The Catechism calls her 'the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time' (CCC 721), and the Magnificat is the moment when that masterwork breaks into song.
Three Great Themes
Lowliness and exaltation. Mary rejoices that God has 'looked upon his handmaid's lowliness' (Lk 1:48). The Greek word is tapeinosis — humility, smallness, nothingness before God. She does not claim greatness; she receives it as pure gift. This is the grammar of grace: God does not choose the already-great but raises up those who acknowledge their need. Every generation calling her blessed (Lk 1:48) does so because of what God has done, not what Mary has achieved on her own.
Mercy across generations. 'His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him' (Lk 1:50). The canticle insists that the mercy now being enacted in Mary's womb is the same mercy that has accompanied Israel since Abraham. God is not starting over; he is fulfilling a promise made at the very beginning. The Catechism describes the Magnificat as 'the song of thanksgiving for the fullness of graces poured out in the economy of salvation' (CCC 2619).
The reversal of the mighty and the poor. 'He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty' (Lk 1:52-53). These lines are not a political programme but a theological statement about who God is. Throughout salvation history, God has consistently worked through those the world overlooks — and his definitive act of salvation comes through a young woman from Nazareth. The 'poor' here (ptochoi) are those who place their hope entirely in God because they have nothing else. The Magnificat promises that their hope will not be disappointed.
Mary as Model of Christian Prayer
The Catechism teaches that 'the prayers of the Virgin Mary, in her Fiat and Magnificat, are characterized by the generous offering of her whole being in faith' (CCC 2622). The canticle is not a private devotional poem; it is, as the Church understands it, the normative shape of Christian prayer: gratitude before petition, wonder before request, God's glory before personal need. Mary is described as 'the perfect Orans (prayer), a figure of the Church' (CCC 2679), which means that when the Church prays the Magnificat every evening, she is not merely reciting Mary's words — she is learning Mary's posture.
Sung Every Evening: Vespers
From at least the 4th century, the Church has prayed the Magnificat at Evening Prayer (Vespers) every single day. St Benedict prescribed it for Vespers in his Rule around 540 AD (chapter 17), and it has remained fixed there ever since in both Eastern and Western liturgical traditions. The choice of evening is deliberate: as the day ends and darkness falls, the Church lifts Mary's words of confident praise — a daily act of trust that, however the hours have gone, God's mercy endures and his promises hold. On Marian feast days it receives particular solemnity, but its daily recurrence makes it one of the most-prayed texts in the history of Christianity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Magnificat in the Catholic Church?
The Magnificat is the canticle sung by the Virgin Mary when she visited her cousin Elizabeth, recorded in Luke 1:46-55. Its name comes from the first word of the Latin text, 'Magnificat anima mea Dominum' ('My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord'). The Catholic Church prays it every day at Evening Prayer (Vespers) as part of the Liturgy of the Hours.
What does the Magnificat mean and teach?
The Magnificat proclaims three interwoven truths: God looks with favour on the humble and lowly; his mercy extends across all generations to those who trust him; and he reverses the world's order by lifting up the poor while sending the proud away empty. The Catechism calls it 'the song of the Daughter of Zion and of the new People of God' and 'the song of the poor whose hope is met by the fulfillment of the promises made to our ancestors' (CCC 2619).
When is the Magnificat prayed in the Catholic Church?
The Magnificat is prayed every evening at Vespers (Evening Prayer) in the Liturgy of the Hours — the Church's official daily prayer. This practice dates to at least the 4th century and was codified by St Benedict around 540 AD. It is also given special prominence on Marian feast days and during Advent.
Is the Magnificat only about Mary, or does it belong to the whole Church?
Both. The Catechism states that the Magnificat is 'the song both of the Mother of God and of the Church' (CCC 2619). Mary voices it as her own personal prayer of thanksgiving, but the Church has always recognised it as expressing her own identity: a community of the poor and humble who trust entirely in God's mercy and praise him for his saving works.
Related Prayers
Source
https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html verbatim