Rooted in Sacred Scripture and professed in prayers and hymns, the Catholic Church considers the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the Queen of Heaven and Earth.
The angel Gabriel announced that Jesus would reign on the throne of David forever and Elizabeth addressed Mary as the mother of the Lord. The Old Testament kings made their mothers the queen, instead of their wives. King Solomon’s mother even had a throne at his right hand and wore a crown. The mother of our Savior should be honored at least that much.
She is highly honored in a special way, more than any other saint, but although she is our queen, Mary is never the subject of our worship or adoration.
Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954 although the Catholic Church has acknowledged Mary’s queenship as a share of her Son’s kingship since its earliest days.
Mary’s coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth is meditated on as the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary.
The Church celebrates the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary each year on August 22, on the Octave of her Assumption into Heaven.
Mary is Queen of Heaven and Earth:
A queen mother who is obedient to the King and helps her royal subjects:
Let all, therefore, try to approach with greater trust the throne of grace and mercy of our Queen and Mother, and beg for strength in adversity, light in darkness, consolation in sorrow; above all let them strive to free themselves from the slavery of sin and offer an unceasing homage, filled with filial loyalty, to their Queenly Mother. Let her churches be thronged by the faithful, her feast-days honored; may the beads of the Rosary be in the hands of all; may Christians gather, in small numbers and large, to sing her praises in churches, in homes, in hospitals, in prisons. May Mary’s name be held in highest reverence, a name sweeter than honey and more precious than jewels; may none utter blasphemous words, the sign of a defiled soul, against that name graced with such dignity and revered for its motherly goodness; let no one be so bold as to speak a syllable which lacks the respect due to her name.
Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam, October 11, 1954
Scripture mentions the queen mother along with the king:
The queen mother as advocate and intercessor:
The queen is the mother of the king:
“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 966
Mary, full of grace, also exerts a fullness of royal power:
A unique role in salvation history:
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Revelation 12: 1
A woman in Heaven wearing a crown of twelve stars:
The queen mother in the midst of a great battle:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
Wonder and thanksgiving:
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