Queen of Heaven

This article is about the Marian title. For the hymn, see Regina caeli. For pre-Christian usage, see Queen of Heaven (antiquity). For the I, Claudius episode, see List of I, Claudius episodes § ep6.
Queen of Heaven
Coronation of the Virgin, by Diego Velázquez
Queen of Heaven and Earth, Holy Queen
Venerated inCatholic Church, Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, Eastern Orthodoxy
Feast22 August (General Roman Calendar), 31 May (General Roman Calendar of 1960)
AttributesThe Mary, mother of Jesus crowned by the Holy Trinity, crown of stars, flowers
PatronageHeaven, eternal salvation to humankind, redemption
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Queen of Heaven (Latin: Regina Caeli) is a title given by Christians to Mary, mother of Jesus, mainly in the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism and Lutheranism.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The title has long been a tradition, included in prayers and devotional literature and seen in Western art in the subject of the Coronation of the Virgin from the High Middle Ages, long before the Church gave it a formal definition status.

The Catholic teaching on this subject is expressed in the papal encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, issued by Pope Pius XII in 1954. It states that Mary is called Queen of Heaven because her son, Jesus Christ, is the king of Israel and the heavenly king of the universe.[7] The Davidic tradition of Israel recognized the mother of the king as the queen mother of Israel.

  1. ^ "On The Virgin Mary". The Anglican Catholic Church. Archived from the original on 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  2. ^ Greenacre, Roger (2013). Maiden, Mother and Queen: Mary in the Anglican Tradition. Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. p. 14. ISBN 9781848252783. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  3. ^ Alchin, A.M., "Mary, Virgin and Mother: An Anglican Approach", Marian Library Studies, vol.1, article 7, 1969
  4. ^ "The Virgin Mary, Our Lady, Queen of Heaven…". The Episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 2018-03-30. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  5. ^ "Lyngsjö kyrka". 5 July 2023.
  6. ^ Karkan, Betsy. "Luther’s Love for St. Mary, Queen of Heaven", LutheranReformation.org
  7. ^ Pope Pius XII, Ad Caeli Reginam, 11 October 1954, Dicastero per la Comunicazione