Sub Tuum Praesidium (Under Your Protection)
Also known as: Under Your Protection We Fly to Thy Protection Sub tuum praesidium
English Text
We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Translation tradition: Traditional English
Latin Text
Sub tuum praesidium confugimus,
Sancta Dei Genetrix.
Nostras deprecationes ne despicias
in necessitatibus nostris,
sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper,
Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.
Scripture: Luke 1:43; Revelation 12:1
When to pray: Any petition to Mary, especially in danger; antiphon in the Liturgy of the Hours.
History & Background
The Sub Tuum Praesidium is the oldest known Marian prayer, preserved on a Greek papyrus (Papyrus Rylands 470) discovered in Egypt and dated by scholars to approximately the 3rd century AD — likely c. 250–280. It predates the Council of Ephesus (431) by nearly two centuries and already addresses Mary as «Theotokos» (God-bearer / Mother of God), confirming that this title was in popular Christian usage before the council's formal definition. The papyrus was acquired by John Rylands Library in Manchester and published in 1938. The prayer passed into both the Eastern and Western liturgical traditions; it is sung in the Byzantine and Coptic rites and appears in the Roman Rite in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2005).
Related Prayers
Source
https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html verbatim