Hermann of Reichenau
11th-century Benedictine monk and traditional author of the Salve Regina.
Hermann of Reichenau was an 11th-century Benedictine monk at the abbey of Reichenau on Lake Constance in southern Germany. He lived with severe physical disability from childhood (probably cerebral palsy or spinal muscular atrophy) and could neither walk nor speak clearly, yet became one of the most learned figures of his century. He wrote on astronomy, mathematics, music theory, and history, and composed several Latin hymns of which the Salve Regina is the best known. The attribution of the Salve Regina to Hermann is traditional and dates from the medieval period; modern scholars consider it plausible but not certain. Hermann was beatified in 1863. The Salve Regina, whatever its precise origin, became one of the four standard Marian antiphons of the Roman Catholic liturgical year by the 13th century and is sung at the close of Compline in Catholic religious houses across the world.
This is the traditional attribution; modern scholarship is divided. See the prayer page for details.