We Fly to Your Protection (Sub Tuum Praesidium)

We Fly to Your Protection is the oldest surviving prayer to Our Lady, found on a papyrus older than most creeds. In it we take refuge under her mantle.

The Prayer

We fly to your protection,
O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Amen.

When to Pray This Prayer

In times of danger, fear, or need, and as a daily entrustment of self and family to Our Lady.

About This Prayer

Dating to around the third century, the Sub Tuum Praesidium is the most ancient Marian prayer of the Church still in use today.

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Text: traditional English of the Sub Tuum Praesidium.

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