Our Queen
Fr. Victor Devy, SMM
E veryone is familiar with the praises Holy Mother the Church bestows upon the Blessed Virgin Mary, such as Queen of Angels, Queen of All Saints, Queen of Heaven, Hail, Holy Queen, etc. And, therefore, we have every reason to believe that Mary is the Queen of all creation. It is heartening, too, to note that her dominion is ever increasing and gaining recognition.
Alas, it was not so from the beginning. No royal reception was tendered the two obscure pilgrims from Galilee, Mary and Joseph, on that first Christmas night. They were simply lost in the crowd and treated as the poorest of the poor. No cortége was formed for them, and it was in a stable that the King of the World, Jesus, was born of the Queen of the World, Mary of Nazareth.
That day there was no room for them in the inn. It was, nevertheless, on that day that the new and final era began, the era which will end in the splendors of the Last Judgment by the glorification of the King and the Queen of heaven.
To this very day there are still hearts in which there is no room for them. Often, too, the room allotted to them, is not befitting their dignity and sovereignty.
To remedy these conditions and to hasten the coming of the kingdom of Christ upon earth, the Church proclaims the universal sovereignty of Jesus and Mary. St. Louis de Montfort wrote his Treatise on True Devotion to Mary with one purpose in mind, namely, that they who acknowledge fully the rights of Christ and Mary over them ”may be less rare“ (TD. No. 110). It is to cooperate with the Church that this magazine exists and. that it glories in its title of The Queen and QUEEN OF ALL HEARTS.
Endowed From Above
Down through the ages, Christian art and piety, as well as the common teaching of the Church: have adorned Mary with the attributes of royalty, such as, a diadem, a scepter, a throne and royal robes. However, let it be clearly stated, it is not man who has endowed her with the rights and quality” of a queen. This privilege was given her from above. It proceeds from the infinite source of all sanctity and grandeur. It comes from the One to Whom has been given “all power in heaven and on earth.” Having willed to associate unto Himself His divine Mother in the trials of redemption, He also wills to associate her in the government and regency of the world redeemed by Him.
God does not give to all, or indiscriminately, a participation in His Sovereignty. It is given only ”according to the measure of the giving of Christ“ (Eph. 4:7). Now this apportionment of functions is conditioned on the very nature of the Kingdom of God: it is both a Kingdom and a family. That is why some are apostles, others ministers, etc. But in this family there is only one Mother; in this Kingdom, there is only one Queen: Mary, the Mother of God.
God has chosen and installed Mary as Queen and Sovereign, in the fullest sense of the word, in the plan of our redemption, just as He has given her the role of Spiritual Mother in the same work of universal redemption, “for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12).
Our Lady of Boulogne
Everyone knows that Mary is our Queen, but few know that the de Montfort‘s consecration to Mary is a perfect acknowledgment of that Queenship over our souls .
God has chosen and installed Mary as Queen and Sovereign, in the fullest sense of the word, in the plan of our redemption, just as He has given her the role of Spiritual Mother in the same work of universal redemption, “for building up the body of Christ”
Mother of the King
In his radio message for the crowning of the Virgin, at Fatima, on May 15, 1945, His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, uttered these solemn and highly significant words: ”Mary has the right to the title of Queen because she is the Mother of the divine King; of Him to Whom the Lord gave from His Mother’s womb the throne of David and the eternal kingship over the house of Jacob; of Him Who claimed to have received all power in heaven and on earth; for He, the Son of God reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His Kingship”.
“Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest; through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by singular election … This Queenship is essentially maternal and exclusively beneficent.”
These words are a brilliant expose of the Church’s traditional belief in Mary’s Queenship. The countless prayers, writings, movements and congresses in favor of Mary’s Queenship are but the means Divine Providence is making use of to bring about the Reign of Christ through the Reign Of Mary.
Origin of Belief
In orthodox circles there has never been any opposition to Mary’s Queenship or to her exaltation above all the powers of heaven and earth. True, we do not find in every century testimonies as clear as those of our own day, but we know, on the other hand, that knowledge of God’s revelation is perfected in the course of the Church’s life-span. However, from the very first Centuries of the Church we can find traces of a current of thought and belief that has intensified with the centuries.
What was the angel Gabriel’s message to Mary on the day of the Annunciation? ”Thou shall bring forth a Son … He shall be great, and shall be called Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father, and He shall be king over the house of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:31-35).
What was Elizabeth’s greeting on the day of the Visitation? “How have I deserved that the Mother of my Lord shall come to me?” (Luke 1:43)
What were the angels’ words on the first Christmas night? “There is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11)
Finally, what was Mary’s role at the foot of the Cross? She stood by the side of the King of Kings, “even in His death, where she was to be present in order that He might make with her but one same sacrifice, and be immolated to the Eternal Father by her consent” (True Devotion, No. 18).
From the very first centuries of the Church, Mary has been looked upon as the New Eve associated with the New Adam. Christ has communicated to her, inasmuch as a creature was capable of receiving them, the rights of Queen, Co-redemptrix and Spiritual Mother in the kingdom redeemed by her cooperation. It is not within the scope of this article to adduce and discuss all the testimonies in favor of this belief. We can only epitomize them in the words of St. Thomas, “Mary is universally recognized as Queen and Sovereign.’ And this belief finds its echo in the age-old title, Our Lady or Notre Dame.
Perfect Queenship
It is evident that the Blessed Virgin may and must he called Queen, in a broad and metaphorical sense because of her perfection and excellence in every domain, such as beauty, holiness, glory, etc. …
But we must go further than this primacy of perfection. The fact that one is first in any given tank does not necessarily give one authority and domination in that rank. Out Lady’s preeminence is not only a superior perfection, it is also a right of regency, of government and authority befitting a worthy Mother of God. It is therefore incumbent upon her, in union with her divine Son, to defend, to govern, to spread and to lead to its perfection the true-Kingdom of God, not indeed thru violence or coercion, but by the all-powerful effectiveness of her intercession and her mercy. The Church expresses this role beautifully in the well-known prayer: ”Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, etc. . . .“
Montfort’s Teaching
St. Louis Mary de Montfort was the theologian and promoter of Mary’s universal Queenship, both in the realm of doctrine and in that of spiritual life.
“What I say absolutely of Jesus Christ, I say relatively of Our Lady. Since Jesus Christ choose her for the inseparable companion of His life, of His death, of His Glory, and of His power in Heaven and upon the earth, He gave her by grace, relatively to His Majesty, all the same rights and privileges which He possesses by nature. ’All that is fitting to God by nature is fitting to Mary by grace’, say the saints: so that, according to them, Mary and Jesus, having but the same will and the same power, have also the same subjects, servants and slaves” (TD. No. 74).
Those of my readers who have been privileged to pronounce their formula of consecration to Jesus through Mary, according to St. Louis de Montfort, will readily note that this formula is a perfect acknowledgement of both Mary’s Queenship and of her Spiritual Motherhood. “I choose thee, this day, in the presence of all the heavenly court, for my Mother and my Mistress …”.
It is most heartening, too, to realize that by thus giving ourselves to Mary, as slaves of love, we make an act at faith in the perfection of her Queenship and an act of perfect submission to her dominion over us. We do more and better than simply offer her a temporal kingdom (which is indeed but little), we enthrone her in the sanctuary that no earthly power can penetrate – that of our soul and of our will – and we acclaim her as The Queen, the Queen of All Hearts“!
