Beatæ Mariæ Virginis Reginæ - Our Powerful Queen

PRESENTATION: The mother of the King

The Feast that we celebrate today might seem as though it has a very ancient pedigree, however you might be surprised to learn that it was only added to the Universal Liturgical Calendar by Venerable Pope Pius XII in 1954 in his Encyclical Ad cæli reginam. That does not mean however, that acknowledgement and veneration of Our Lady’s Queenship is not ancient in origin.

St. Ephraem one of the Fathers of the Church who lived in the Fourth Century penned the following prayer:

“Imperial maiden and mistress, Queen, soverign lady, take me under thy protection, guard me lest Satan, the author of destruction rise up against me, lest the accursed enemy triumph over me.”

Starting from the Fifth Century, around the same time that the Council of Ephesus proclaims her “Mother of God,” the title of Queen begins to be attributed widely to Our Lady, but this was not something manufactured by the Early Church, it is a reality that it eminently scriptural.

In today’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel greets Mary saying, “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Our Lady’s queenship is thus seen as an association with Christ’s Kingship.

At the Visitation, Elizabeth used the words “Mother of my Lord” (Dominus in Latin and Kyrios in Greek) a title which connotes divinity and royalty.

In the Old Testament, in the Davidic Kingdom, the mother of the monarch held an important position. This was a common practice in many ancient Near Eastern kingdoms; we see this in Hittite, Ugaritic, Egyptian, and Assyrian kingdoms. The king had many wives, but only one mother, and the queenship was given to her. In the Kingdom of Judah she was given the title Gebirah—or “Great Lady”—and reigned as queen in her son’s kingdom.

In the succession narratives in the Books of Kings, almost every time a new Davidic king is introduced the mother’s name is mentioned. The Queen Mother’s royal authority can best be seen when we compare Bathsheba’s role in the kingdom as wife of the king and then as mother of the king. When she is David’s wife, as she enters the royal chamber to meet him, she bows before him and pays him homage. After his death when Solomon has assumed the throne, as she enters the royal chamber the king rises and bows down before her, and she has a throne at the king’s right hand.

The queen mother is also seen to have an important role as the king’s advisor, a role which we see Mary play at the Wedding at Cana.

EXPLANATION: Crowned with Glory and Power

Blessed Columba Marmion, in his meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary, says the following about Our Lady’s Queenship:

[S]ince here below Mary was associated so intimately with all the mysteries of our salvation, at her Assumption into heaven Jesus crowned her not only with glory but also with power; He has placed His Mother on His right hand and has given her the power, in virtue of her unique title of Mother of God, to distribute the treasures of eternal life.

Our Lady is queen by right, because she is the mother of the King, but she is also queen by conquest, by accepting the angel’s message at the Annunciation, she voluntarily associated herself, in the closest possible way, with the work of salvation carried out by her Son. The Redeemer, by His death on the Cross, became King of a people won by His death, the Blessed Virgin, who cooperated with Him in his victory over sin and death, participates in that dignity which Christ attained.

In Venerable Pius XII’s Encyclical, the Blessed Virgin is said to have ‘been given a share in that power by which her Son and Our Redeemer is rightly said to rile the minds and wills of men’. The Venerable Pope goes on to describe three ways in which Our Lady shares in her Son’s kingly power.

First, the encyclical says that ‘Mary, as Mother of Christ who is God, and as an associate in the work of our divine Redeemer, shares in his royal dignity, though in a limited and analagous way.’ This subordinate queenship of Our Lady takes the form of a powerful and uniquely effective intercession with her Son.

Second, hers in a spiritual queenship, because the kingdom of Christ is primarily a spiritual one, and since the proper object of Redemption is to ransom mankind and set it free from sin, Mary exercises her royal power especially over those spiritual and supernatural gifts which help men and women to reach their last end.

Finally, hers is a universal queenship, which embraces all created persons — human beings and angels. Her reign extends to Heaven, where the angels and saints honour and revere her as true Mother of the King; it extends to Purgatory, where she exercises her power by inducing the faithful to offer suffrages for souls, by interceding with God on their behalf, and by consoling them in their suffering; and it also embraces Earth, caring for the Church militant and all mankind, obtaining for them, from her Son, all the graces necessary for salvation. Her power even extends to Hell, thwarting the efforts of demons to lead mankind to perdition.

IMPLICATION: Soldiers for Mary

Our Lady is Queen indeed, in dignity, and in power, which means that we are her subjects, but we are more than that, if we are called to be soldiers for Christ our King, then we are also soldiers for Mary our Queen, and we should serve with distinction in her Legions, and as a good and provident queen, she has supplied us with both our weapons, and our armour.

The weapon Our Queen has supplied to us is none other than her very crown, the Rosary. There are few devoted users of the Rosary who cannot testify to experiencing its power. If we turn to history, we see many triumphs of the Rosary. Tradition attributes the defeat of the Albigensians at the Battle of Muret in 1213 to the Rosary. St. Pius V attributed the great defeat of the Turkish fleet in 1571 to the fact that at the same time the Rosary confraternities at Rome and elsewhere were holding their processions.

Today, when the dangers are far greater than those of the ancient Turks, threatening not only Christianity but all civilization, we are urged by Our Blessed Mother to turn to the Rosary for help.

With our weapon in hand, we also need our armour to protect us from deadly assaults. This the Blessed Virgin has provide to us in the form of the Brown Scapular. St. Simon Stock, the sixth General of the Carmelite Order begged the most glorious Mother of God to fortify the order with some privilege. The Blessed Virgin appeared with a multitude of angels, holding the Scapular of the Order in her hands, and syaing: “This will be a privilege for you and for all Carmelites, that he who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.”

The Scapular, if it is worn as a sign of a true interior consecration, gives us an assurance of Our Lady’s protection in our last hour; it is a visible, tangible pledge of the care of Our Blessed Mother for us.

As we celebrate this beautful feast today, let us not forget to once again pledge our loving service to our queen, and pray with St. Ephraem, “Imperial maiden and mistress, Queen, soverign lady, take me under thy protection, guard me lest Satan, the author of destruction rise up against me, lest the accursed enemy triumph over me.”