This prayer, known in Latin as Sub tuum Praesidium and first found in a Greek papyrus, c. 300 A.D., is the oldest known prayer to the Virgin.
This short prayer to Our Lady has been prayed by Christians in troubled times since the third century.
We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our hour of need, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin Mary. Amen