Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum, et exsultávit spíritus meus in Deo salutári meo. Quia respéxit humilitátem ancíllæ suæ: ecce enim ex hoc beátam me dicent omnes generatiónes.
✦Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen eius. Et misericórdia eius a progénie in progénies timéntibus eum. Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo, dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui. Depósuit poténtes de sede, et exaltávit húmiles.
✦Esuriéntes implévit bonis, et dívites dimísit inánes. Suscépit Israël púerum suum, recordátus misericórdiæ suæ, sicut locútus est ad patres nostros, Ábraham et sémini eius in sǽcula.
✦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.
The Magnificat is the Canticle of Our Lady — the song that rose from the Blessed Virgin's lips when she came to visit her cousin Elizabeth, recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke (1:46–55). It takes its name from its first Latin word, Magnificat, "[my soul] magnifies." It is at once the most personal of Mary's words in Scripture and the most universal, for the whole Church prays it as her own every day.
From the earliest centuries the Magnificat has been the Gospel canticle of Vespers, the Church's evening prayer in the Divine Office. Each evening the Church takes Our Lady's words upon her own lips; in the traditional Roman rite it is sung standing, and at solemn Vespers the altar is incensed as it is chanted — an honor given to no other canticle of the day hours.
Its imagery reaches back to the Canticle of Hannah (1 Kings [1 Samuel] 2:1–10), the mother of the prophet Samuel, and it is woven through with the Psalms and the prophets: the prayer of a daughter of Israel steeped in the Scriptures. Its heart is a great reversal — God casts down the proud and mighty and lifts up the humble and the hungry, "mindful of his mercy," faithful to the promise made to Abraham.
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.
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus in Deo salutári meo.
Quia respéxit humilitátem ancíllæ suæ:
ecce enim ex hoc beátam me dicent omnes generatiónes.
Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius.
Et misericórdia eius a progénie in progénies
timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui.
Depósuit poténtes de sede,
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis,
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Israël púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ suæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sǽcula.
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.