Why do we celebrate the Queenship of Mary?

If Christ were not King, Mary would not be Queen, as all her prerogatives and titles depend upon her being the Mother of the Son of God made Man for our salvation.

Christ succeeded on earth to the throne of King David. However, unlike David, Christ’s kingdom is not an earthly one, but a spiritual and eternal kingdom of truth, righteousness, and peace (Revelation 19:6). In that Kingdom Mary sits as Queen, as queen mothers (gebirah) did in ancient Israel before her (1 Kings 2:13–⁠21).

Mary’s queenly and maternal reign is in the spiritual realm, however. Her raiment is charity and virtue surpassing all other creatures, and her favors are the graces of her Divine Son to be given to her spiritual children in accordance with His will.

In his 1954 encyclical on Mary’s Queenship, Ad Caeli Reginam, Pope Pius XII wrote,

From the earliest ages of the Catholic church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother’s solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.

In Revelation 12, Mary is described as both Queen and Mother, representing both herself, as Mother of the Redeemer, and the Church, in her continuing battle against the Evil One.

Revelation 12:1–⁠6 And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.

And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Revelation 13–⁠17 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.

Mary became Queen at the time she was assumed into Heaven. It was then that she received the full reward prepared for her, being made perfect by the glorification not only of her soul, but also of her body. This was fitting for she who gave the Redeemer his bodily nature, and it anticipates the perfection of the general resurrection for all who do God’s will in this life.

The Church’s language assumes certain revealed truths about the nature of God and the nature of the Incarnation. Mary is the Mother of God because she is the mother of a Person who is God. In a similar sense, she is God’s Queen, because she is the Queen Mother of God, Jesus Christ.

Does this mean that God has a wife? No, that would reduce the relationship to the carnal. Rather, the relationship is a profound spiritual union, that of charity. The Apostle John in Revelation 21, like the author of Canticle of Canticles, and the mystics writing about union with God, uses marriage imagery to describe what is an otherwise indescribable spiritual communion.

Mary, as Queen of Heaven, is the Queen of the Angels, as she is Queen of all categories of the good and the holy. Thus, the Litany of Loreto adds to Queen of the Angels, Queen of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, All Saints, Families, and Peace.

While the Church is clear that Mary is Queen, the details of her coronation have been left to artists down through the centuries. They have used royal imagery known to peoples throughout history and used in Scripture itself to describe what are ultimately spiritual mysteries.

In Revelation chapter 12, the “woman clothed with the sun” has a crown of twelve stars. Catholic scholars have understood that this referred to both the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. These, in turn, represent the people of both the Old and the New Covenant, of whom Mary is their Queen. She is Queen of Israel as Mother of Israel’s King, and Queen of the Church, as Mother of the King who is Savior, and thereby of all the redeemed.

Pope Benedict XVI said,

… upon the head of the woman clothed with the sun there is “a crown of twelve stars.” This sign symbolizes the 12 tribes of Israel and means that the Virgin Mary is at the centre of the People of God, of the entire communion of saints. And thus this image of the crown of 12 stars ushers us into the second great interpretation of the heavenly portent of the “woman clothed with the sun”: as well as representing Our Lady, this sign personifies the Church, the Christian community of all time. She is with child, in the sense that she is carrying Christ in her womb and must give birth to him in the world. This is the travail of the pilgrim Church on earth which, amidst the consolations of God and the persecution of the world, must bring Jesus to men and women.

In no way does the Hail Mary suggest that we should worship Mary or that she can do anything without God’s permission or aid. The fact that we ask for her prayers means that Mary needs to ask God to help us. She is not a goddess to be worshipped; she is a mother to be loved.

• The Resurrection of Our Lord
• The Ascension of Our Lord
• The Descent of the Holy Spirit
• The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth

For instructions on the prayers of the Rosary:

For an eBook that guides you through Scriptural meditations on the Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary:

The Glorious Mysteries are usually prayed on Wednesdays and Sundays. After Pope St. John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary in 2002, he recommended this schedule for the Rosary:

• Monday: Joyful
• Tuesday: Sorrowful
• Wednesday: Glorious
• Thursday: Luminous
• Friday: Sorrowful
• Saturday: Joyful
• Sunday: Glorious

When we pray the Glorious Mysteries, we contemplate the greatest truths of our Faith: Jesus rose from the dead. He ascended into Heaven. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. And, Jesus assumed His Mother, His faithful cooperator in salvation, into His Heavenly Kingdom, where He crowned her Queen.

The Litany of Loreto, also known as the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dates to the 16th century. It is one of only five litanies, among dozens used for private devotion, whose use in the liturgy is approved by the Church. This litany lists some of the most common names of the Blessed Virgin as well as many lesser-known titles. Together, they set before us Mary’s exalted privileges, her holiness of life, her amiability and power, her motherly spirit and queenly majesty.