Magnificat

The Magnificat is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, Canticle of Mary, and, in the Byzantine Rite, the Ode of the Theotokos. It is traditionally incorporated in the liturgical services of the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Anglican Communion. Its name comes from the incipit of the Latin version of the text.

The text of the canticle is taken from the Gospel of St Luke (1:46-55) where it is spoken by Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin St Elizabeth. In the narrative after Mary greets St Elizabeth, who is pregnant with St John the Baptist, the latter moves within St Elizabeth's womb. St Elizabeth praises the Blessed Virgin Mary for her faith (using words partially reflected in the Hail Mary), and Mary responds with what is now known as the Magnificat.

The Magnificat is one of the eight most ancient hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn. Within the whole of Christianity, the canticle is most frequently recited within the Liturgy of the Hours. In Western Christianity, the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during the main evening prayer service: Vespers in the Catholic and Lutheran Churches, and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) in Anglicanism. In Eastern Christianity, the Magnificat is always sung at Matins. The Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which three verses are traditionally read.

The Blessed Virgin Mary's Magnificat, recorded only in St Luke's Gospel, is one of the four hymns, distilled from a collection of early Jewish-Christian canticles, which complement the promise-fulfillment theme of St Luke's infancy narrative. These songs are Mary's Magnificat, St Zechariah's Benedictus (1:67-79); the angels' Gloria in Excelsis Deo (2:13-14); and Simeon's Nunc dimittis (2:28-32). In form and content, these four canticles are patterned on "hymns of praise" in Israel's Psalter. In structure, these songs reflect the compositions of pre- Christian contemporary Jewish hymnology. The first stanza displays graphically a characteristic feature of Hebrew poetry--synonymous parallelism--in ascribing praise to God: "my soul" mirrors "my spirit"; "proclaims the greatness" with "has found gladness"; "of the Lord" with "in God my Savior." The balance of the opening two lines bursts out into a dual Magnificat of declaring the greatness of and finding delight in God. The third stanza again demonstrates parallelism, but in this instance, three contrasting parallels: the proud are reversed by the low state, the mighty by those of low degree, and the rich by the hungry.

Although there is some scholarly discussion of whether the historical Mary herself actually proclaimed this canticle, St Luke portrays her as the singer of this song of reversals and the interpreter of the contemporary events raking place. The Blessed Virgin represents both ancient Israel and the Lucan faith-community as the author/singer of the Magnificat.

The canticle echoes several biblic passages, but the most pronounced allusions are to the Song of Hannah, from the Books of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1-10). Scriptural echoes from the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings complement the main allusions to Hannah's "magnificat of rejoicings." Along with the Benedictus, as well as several Hebrew Bible canticles, the Magnificat is included in the Book of Odes, an ancient liturgical collection found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint.

As with other canticles and psalms, Western liturgical tradition usually adds the doxology knowns as Gloria Patri to the end of the Magnificat. This is not found in the original text.

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