Sub Tuum Praesidium Prayer

Sub Tuum Praesidium Prayer

We Turn to you for protection,

holy Mother of God.

Listen to our prayers and help us in our needs.

Save us from every danger,

Glorious and blessed Virgin.

This is the oldest known prayer to the Virgin Mary. It was found in a Greek papyrus and dated to about 300. It is called the Sub Tuum Praesidium, which is translated, "We Turn To You For Protection" or "We fly to thy patronage" or something close to that. I found the translation of the prayer above, in a Marian book my mother gave me, but found a few slightly different translations online. Here it is in Latin:

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus,
sancta Dei Genitrix:
nostras deprecationes
ne despicias in necessitatibus:
sed a periculis cunctis
libera nos semper,
Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.

Using my Sherlock Holms skills, I noticed that beginning of the Latin translation is where the name for the English prayer comes from. :)