The Magnificat is recorded in the Gospel of Saint Luke 1:46-55. The Gospel says that when Our Lady met her cousin Elisabeth, she was pregnant with Our Lord, and Elisabeth was pregnant with St. John the Baptist. As soon as Elisabeth heard Mary’s greeting, baby John leaped for joy in his mother’s womb, and Elisabeth cried out, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!” Not long after that, Our Lady then spoke the words we now know as the Magnificat:
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 his seed forever.
On the album, I’ve also added the Minor Doxology:
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.
The Church continues to pray this prayer every evening with Vespers, also known as Evening Prayer, and our separated brothers and sisters in the Orthodox communions and even many of those in Protestant communities keep this same tradition.
Saint Ambrose called the Magnificat, “the most perfect canticle ever composed or uttered.”