"The angel of the Lord announced to Mary,
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
Be it done unto me according to thy word.

"And the word was made flesh
And dwelt among us."

Thus run the words of the translation in the three couplets into which
they are separated, and then this prayer is added: "We beseech thee, O
Lord, pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that as we have known the
incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so
by his cross and passion we may be brought into the glory of his
resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord."

Besides this, after each couplet of the Angelus, is recited that
short hymn of praise, beginning with the words which the angel of the
annunciation addressed to Mary,[1] "Ave Maria." This is why the hour
after sunset is so often called the hour of Ave Maria. The English
poet Byron has written of this solemn moment:--

"Ave Maria! blessed be the hour!
The time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft
Have felt that moment in its fullest power
Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft,
While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,
Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft,
And not a breath crept through the rosy air,
And yet the forest leaves seemed stirred with prayer."