Mary’s Queenship
The title “Queen” is often found in invocations to the Blessed Mother that are intended to tress Mary’s spiritual greatness and her place in the Divine Plan, while inspiring in us respect, dependence, and unlimited trust in her. It is a title that does not wish to inculcate worldly modalities of power or relationships of absolute subjection but to underline a superiority conferred on Mary by God himself, which redeemed her in a unique and complete way and rendering her Mother of his Divine Son.
Thus, Mary is “Queen of the Angels” and “Our Lady of the Angels” because in her role as Mother of God she is superior to every other creature, even with the Angels who are pure in spirits created by God to worship and serve Him.
This title brings to our mind the Mystery of the “hereafter,” of that eternal Kingdom about which we have only an obscure knowledge based on the Word of God, which indicates how and when our human history will come to an end. It recalls for us “heaven,” where Mary already lives her infinite glory with her own body and where those we call “the dead” also alive.
The Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth is the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary. One of its purposes is to highlight the bodily aspect of the Assumption and to record the final moment of our Lady’s Assumption into heaven most likely resulting from the allegorical interpretation of a few Scripture texts.
In the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church has included the splendid words of St. Amadeus of Lausanne (d. 1159): “ when the Virgin of virgins was led forth by God and Her Son, the King of kings, amid the company of exulting Angels and rejoicing Archangels, with the heavens ringing with praise, the prophecy of the Psalmist was fulfilled in which he said to the Lord: ‘At your right hands stands the Queen, clothed in gold of Ophir ‘ (Psalm 45:10).”
The text of Songs of Songs 4:8 in the Vulgate reads: “Come from Lebanon, my bride,…and you shall be crowed…’ the text of book of Revelation 12:1 reads: “ 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.”
Pope Pius XII started in the Encyclical ad Caeli Reginam (“To the Queen of Heaven”): “Sacred art, founded on Christian principles, faithfully expresses the simple and spontaneous piety of the faithful. Ever since the Council of Ephesus [431 A.D.] it has pictured Mary as Queen and Empress, seated on a royal throne, adorned with royal emblems, crowned with a diadem. Surrounded by Angels and Saints, and dominating not only the forces of nature but also the evil influence of Satan.”
The coronation of Mary was discussed by a few of the Fathers, e.g., St. Gregory of Tours (d. 594), but only in the Middles Ages when the cult of Mary was at its zenith did become a frequent theme.
In the twelfth century, Christian art portrayed Mary as seated at her Son’s right hand with a crown on her head. And by the next century Mary was shown as being crowned Queen by the Christ the King. At times Mary portrayed as kneeling before God the Father receive the crown or being crowned by the three Persons of the Trinity.
From the end of the sixteenth century in the West, the practice became widespread for the faithful, both religious and laity, to crown images (pictures or statues) of the Blessed Virgin. The Pope endorsed this devout custom and in many occasions, either personally or through bishop-delegates, carried out such a coronation.
Bibliography: BUONO, The Greatest Marian Titles, 2002
