‘Ave Maria’ sets the text of the Angelic Salutation without its closing petition. Although the closing section ‘Sancta Maria…’ appeared first in 1495 it was not formally added to the prayer until its inclusion in the Catechism of the Council of Trent in 1566. Parsons’s setting may therefore date from before this time. The sole complete source of this motet (which also contains some of his other motets) gives the following couplet written by the scribe Robert Dow: Qui tantus primo Parsone in flore fuisti, Quantus in autumno in morere fores. ‘Parsons, you who were so great in spring, How great you would have been in autumn, had you not died.’ While other editions of this piece have preferred to adapt the busy underlay of the second (incomplete) source, this edition has retained the solution given by the complete partbook set, particularly in the opening section. ‘Ave Maria’ is not limited to any particular season and may be sung throughout the year as desired.