St. Alphonsus composed The Glories of Mary in two parts. The first is a sustained exposition of the Salve Regina (the “Hail, Holy Queen”), unfolding, phrase by phrase, the Church’s great confidence in the Mother of Mercy. The second gathers his discourses on Mary’s principal feasts, his reflections on her sorrows, and his consideration of her virtues, together with the devout practices that crown them.
Most modern editions print the whole work as a single large volume. We have chosen instead to follow the saint’s own division, giving each part its own book: this Volume Four presents Part One, and Volume Five presents Part Two. Each may be read on its own; yet together they form the complete Glories of Mary as St. Alphonsus arranged it, that the reader may both rest in the confidence the Salve Regina teaches and rejoice in the feasts, sorrows, and virtues of the Queen of Heaven.
A word on the prayers. Readers who know the older English translations will remember the Blessed Virgin addressed as “thee” and “thou.” In this edition she is addressed as “you.” This is not a modernizing liberty but a return to the saint himself: when St. Alphonsus prayed to her, he did not use the familiar tu but voi, the form of reverent address, and in English it was once “thou,” not “you,” that was the familiar form. Prayers the faithful know by heart, such as the Salve Regina, keep their accustomed words, as does the Scripture, which is given throughout in the Douay-Rheims.