The Golden Hail Mary: A Treasure from the Mystics of Helfta

Fr. Scott Haynes

A Garden of Holiness

In the late thirteenth century, a quiet Benedictine monastery in Saxony became a beacon of light for the Church. The Abbey of Helfta, near Eisleben, nurtured some of the most radiant women of medieval spirituality: St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn, St. Gertrude the Great, and Mechtilde of Magdeburg.

At Helfta, prayer and study intertwined. Chant rose like incense from the choir stalls; Scripture and the Fathers were read with fervent attention; hearts were schooled in love for Christ and His Mother. From this “school of the Heart” came writings that still warm souls with their freshness and intimacy.

Saint Mechtilde: Mystic and Musician

St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn (1241–1298) was among Helfta’s brightest flowers. A gifted musician, she served as domina cantrix, teaching chant and directing the novices. Yet her deepest song was a life of burning love for Jesus and Mary.

Throughout her life, Mechtilde was favored with visions: tender colloquies with Christ, glimpses of the angels, consoling words from the Blessed Virgin. One day, while praying earnestly for the most beautiful salutation with which to honor Mary, she received a singular grace.

The Vision of the Golden Salutation

Mary appeared to her, bearing on her heart letters of gold:

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”

The Virgin explained the meaning of each phrase:

• Ave — a sign that by God’s power she had been preserved from every stain of sin to be a worthy vessel and tabernacle for the Son of God.

• Mary, “Lady of Light,” revealed how she was filled with heavenly wisdom, shining like a star to illumine heaven and earth.

• Full of grace recalled the Spirit’s lavish gifts, which overflow from her to those who ask through her intercession as Mediatrix.

• The Lord is with thee renewed the indescribable joy of the Incarnation, when the Eternal Word took flesh within her.

• Blessed art thou among women was her hymn of thanksgiving for divine mercy lifting her to an exalted plane of happiness.

• Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus made all heaven rejoice to see the Savior adored and glorified.

Then Our Lady gave Mechtilde a prayer—an extended contemplation of the Ave Maria—known ever since as the Golden Hail Mary.

The Text of the Golden Hail Mary

HAIL, Mary, in union with that reverence wherewith God the Father greeted thee with Ave, and by His omnipotence delivered thee from every woe and sin.

Hail, Mary, in union with that love wherewith the Son of God enlightened thee with His wisdom, and made thee a softly-shining star, lighting up Heaven and earth.

Hail, Mary, in union with that sweet unction of the Holy Ghost, wherewith He so pervaded thee and made thee so full of grace, that everyone who through thee seeketh grace doth find it.

Call to mind now that unspeakable operation wherewith the whole most Blessed Trinity wrought in thee, when human flesh taken from thy substance was so united to the Divine Nature that God was made man and man became God, and thy whole soul was suffused with a sweetness and a gladness which the heart of man cannot conceive.

And therefore every creature with rapturous admiration doth acknowledge and confess that thou art blessed and incomparably exalted above all creatures in Heaven or on earth, and blessed the Fruit of thy womb, even Jesus, who quickens, sanctifies, and blesses all things for ever. Amen.

This prayer is not meant to replace the traditional Ave Maria, but to deepen it—to linger lovingly over its meaning.

Gertrude’s “Golden Coins”

Mechtilde’s younger companion, St. Gertrude the Great, shared the same contemplative spirit.She too received visions that illumined Marian devotion. In one, she saw Jesus in heaven before a radiant pile of golden coins. As she watched, He placed another gleaming coin on the stack.

“My daughter,” He said, “every time you pray a calm, fervent, loving Hail Mary to My Mother, I deposit a golden coin in the treasury of heaven for you.”

Gertrude’s “Golden Coins” vision complements Mechtilde’s prayer: one explains the meaning of the words, the other their eternal value.

Transmission and Legacy

Manuscripts of Mechtilde’s Book of Special Grace circulated alongside Gertrude’s Herald of Divine Love. Seventeenth-century Benedictine anthologies printed the Golden Hail Mary as part of Helfta’s Marian heritage.

Though not an official liturgical text, it has endured as a contemplative treasure, inviting the faithful to savor each syllable of the Hail Mary and to see it as a storehouse of grace.

Spiritual Emphasis for Today

The Golden Hail Mary shows that Marian prayer is never isolated from the mysteries of Christ or the glory of the Trinity. To speak the Ave with devotion is to praise the Father who preserved Mary from sin, the Son who became her Child, and the Spirit who filled her with grace.

Praying it slowly, as the Helfta mystics suggest, engraves these truths on our hearts and gathers “golden coins” for eternity.

An Exhortation

Let us take the lesson of these saints: pray the Hail Mary with reverence and love.Pause at its phrases; let the words shine like gold in your mind. Offer them as Gertrude’s coins, and let Mechtilde’s extended prayer lift your soul to contemplate the wonders hidden in Mary.

So will we join the lineage of Helfta, becoming, in our own way, heralds of divine love—rich in the only treasure that endures: Jesus Christ, the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.