Magnificat — Canticle of Our Lady (Lk 1:46-55)

Canticle pronounced by the Most Blessed Virgin Mary at the visitation of her cousin St Elizabeth, known by the first Latin words Magnificat anima mea Dominum — My soul doth magnify the Lord. It is the Marian canticle par excellence of the Church’s liturgy, and fulfils on the lips of Mary the canticle of Hannah (1 Sam 2:1-10) which prophesied the casting down of the proud and the exaltation of the humble. The Catholic Church recites this canticle every evening at Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours, the moment when the solemn memorial of the Incarnation is made at day’s end, with incense and the sign of the Cross.

My soul doth magnify the Lord:
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid:
for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me:
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto generations,
to them that fear him.

He hath shewed might in his arm:
he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat,
and hath exalted the humble.

He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel his servant,
being mindful of his mercy.

As he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.