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AD CAELI REGINAM
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII ON PROCLAIMING THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY TO THE VENERABLE
BRETHREN, THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS,
BISHIOPS, AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND
COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY SEE
Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Blessing.
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.
Following upon the frightful calamities which before Our
very eyes have reduced flourishing cities, towns, and villages to ruins, We see
to Our sorrow that many great moral evils are being spread abroad in what may
be described as a violent flood. Occasionally We behold justice giving way;
and, on the one hand and the other, the victory of the powers of corruption.
The threat of this fearful crisis fills Us with a great anguish, and so with
confidence We have recourse to Mary Our Queen, making known to her those
sentiments of filial reverence which are not Ours alone, but which belong to
all those who glory in the name of Christian...
It is well known that we have taken advantage of every
opportunity - through personal audiences and radio broadcasts - to exhort Our
children in Christ to a strong and tender love, as becomes children, for Our
most gracious and exalted Mother. On this point it is particularly fitting to
call to mind the radio message which We addressed to the people of Portugal,
when the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary which is venerated at Fatima was
being crowned with a golden diadem. We Ourselves called this the heralding
of the "sovereignty" of Mary.
And now, that We may bring the Year of Mary to a happy
and beneficial conclusion, and in response to petitions which have come to Us
from all over the world, We have decided to institute the liturgical feast of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen. This will afford a climax, as it were, to the
manifold demonstrations of Our devotion to Mary, which the Christian people
have supported with such enthusiasm...
From early times Christians have believed, and not
without reason, that she of whom was born the Son of the Most High received
privileges of grace above all other beings created by God. He "will reign
in the house of Jacob forever," "the Prince of Peace," the
"King of Kings and Lord of Lords." And when Christians reflected
upon the intimate connection that obtains between a mother and a son, they
readily acknowledged the supreme royal dignity of the Mother of God...
Hence it is not surprising that the early writers of the
Church called Mary "the Mother of the King" and "the Mother of
the Lord," basing their stand on the words of St. Gabriel the archangel,
who foretold that the Son of Mary would reign forever, and on the words of
Elizabeth who greeted her with reverence and called her "the Mother of my
Lord." Thereby they clearly signified that she derived a certain
eminence and exalted station from the royal dignity of her Son.
So it is that St. Ephrem, burning with poetic
inspiration, represents her as speaking in this way: "Let Heaven sustain
me in its embrace, because I am honored above it. For heaven was not Thy
mother, but Thou hast made it Thy throne. How much more honorable and venerable
than the throne of a king is her mother." And in another place he thus
prays to her: ". . . Majestic and Heavenly Maid, Lady, Queen, protect and
keep me under your wing lest Satan the sower of destruction glory over me, lest
my wicked foe be victorious against me."
St. Gregory Nazianzen calls Mary "the Mother of the
King of the universe," and the "Virgin Mother who brought forth the
King of the whole world,"while Prudentius asserts that the Mother
marvels "that she has brought forth God as man, and even as Supreme
King."
And this royal dignity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is
quite clearly indicated through direct assertion by those who call her
"Lady," "Ruler" and "Queen."...
The same thing is found in the writings of St. Jerome
where he makes the following statement amidst various interpretations of Mary's
name: "We should realize that Mary means Lady in the Syrian
Language." After him St. Chrysologus says the same thing more
explicitly in these words: "The Hebrew word 'Mary' means 'Domina.' The
Angel therefore addresses her as 'Lady' to preclude all servile fear in the
Lord's Mother, who was born and was called 'Lady' by the authority and command
of her own Son."...
St. Andrew of Crete frequently attributes the dignity of
a Queen to the Virgin Mary. For example, he writes, "Today He transports
from her earthly dwelling, as Queen of the human race, His ever-Virgin Mother,
from whose womb He, the living God, took on human form."...
Likewise St. Germanus speaks to the humble Virgin in
these words: "Be enthroned, Lady, for it is fitting that you should sit in
an exalted place since you are a Queen and glorious above all kings."
He likewise calls her the "Queen of all of those who dwell on
earth."
She is called by St. John Damascene "Queen, ruler,
and lady," and also "the Queen of every creature."[24]
Another ancient writer of the Eastern Church calls her "favored
Queen," "the perpetual Queen beside the King, her son," whose
"snow-white brow is crowned with a golden diadem.
And finally St. Ildephonsus of Toledo gathers together
almost all of her titles of honor in this salutation: "O my Lady, my
Sovereign, You who rule over me, Mother of my Lord . . . Lady among handmaids,
Queen among sisters...
For all these reasons St. Alphonsus Ligouri, in
collecting the testimony of past ages, writes these words with evident
devotion: "Because the virgin Mary was raised to such a lofty dignity as
to be the mother of the King of kings, it is deservedly and by every right that
the Church has honored her with the title of 'Queen'."...
Furthermore, the Latin Church sings that sweet and
ancient prayer called the "Hail, Holy Queen" and the lovely antiphons
"Hail, Queen of the Heavens," "O Queen of Heaven, Rejoice,"
and those others which we are accustomed to recite on feasts of the Blessed
Virgin Mary: "The Queen stood at Thy right hand in golden vesture
surrounded with beauty"; "Heaven and earth praise thee as a
powerful Queen"; "Today the Virgin Mary ascends into heaven:
rejoice because she reigns with Christ forever."
To these and others should be added the Litany of Loreto
which daily invites Christian folk to call upon Mary as Queen. Likewise, for
many centuries past Christians have been accustomed to meditate upon the ruling
power of Mary which embraces heaven and earth, when they consider the fifth
glorious mystery of the rosary which can be called the mystical crown of the
heavenly Queen...
But the Blessed Virgin Mary should be called Queen, not
only because of her Divine Motherhood, but also because God has willed her to
have an exceptional role in the work of our eternal salvation. "What more
joyful, what sweeter thought can we have" - as Our Predecessor of happy
memory, Pius XI wrote - "than that Christ is our King not only by natural
right, but also by an acquired right: that which He won by the redemption?
Would that all men, now forgetful of how much we cost Our Savior, might recall
to mind the words [of St Peter and St Paul], 'You were redeemed, not with gold or silver which perishes,
. . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb spotless and
undefiled. We belong not to ourselves now, since Christ has bought us 'at a
great price'."
Now, in the accomplishing of this work of redemption,
the Blessed Virgin Mary was most closely associated with Christ; and so it is
fitting to sing in the sacred liturgy: "Near the cross of Our Lord Jesus
Christ there stood, sorrowful, the Blessed Mary, Queen of Heaven and Queen of
the World." Hence, as the devout disciple of St. Anselm (Eadmer, ed.)
wrote in the Middle Ages: "just as . . . God, by making all through His
power, is Father and Lord of all, so the blessed Mary, by repairing all through
her merits, is Mother and Queen of all; for God is the Lord of all things,
because by His command He establishes each of them in its own nature, and Mary
is the Queen of all things, because she restores each to its original dignity
through the grace which she merited." [Eadmer]For "just as Christ, because He redeemed us, is our Lord and king by a special title, so the Blessed Virgin also (is our queen), on account of the unique manner in which she assisted in our redemption, by giving of her own substance, by freely offering Him for us, by her singular desire and petition for, and active interest in, our salvation.".... [Suarez]
Certainly, in the full and strict meaning of the term, only Jesus Christ, the God-Man, is King; but Mary, too, as Mother of the divine Christ, as His associate in the redemption, in his struggle with His enemies and His final victory over them, has a share, though in a limited and analogous way, in His royal dignity. For from her union with Christ she attains a radiant eminence transcending that of any other creature; from her union with Christ she receives the royal right to dispose of the treasures of the Divine Redeemer's Kingdom; from her union with Christ finally is derived the inexhaustible efficacy of her maternal intercession before the Son and His Father...
Let all Christians, therefore, glory in being subjects of the Virgin Mother of God, who, while wielding royal power, is on fire with a mother's love...
Since we are convinced, after long and serious
reflection, that great good will accrue to the Church if this solidly
established truth shines forth more clearly to all, like a luminous lamp raised
aloft, by Our Apostolic authority We decree and establish the feast of Mary's
Queenship, which is to be celebrated every year in the whole world on the 31st
of May. We likewise ordain that on the same day the consecration of the human
race to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary be renewed, cherishing
the hope that through such consecration a new era may begin, joyous in
Christian peace and in the triumph of religion.
Let all, therefore, try to approach with greater trust
the throne of grace and mercy of our Queen and Mother, and beg for strength in
adversity, light in darkness, consolation in sorrow; above all let them strive
to free themselves from the slavery of sin and offer an unceasing homage,
filled with filial loyalty, to their Queenly Mother. Let her churches be
thronged by the faithful, her feast-days honored; may the beads of the Rosary
be in the hands of all; may Christians gather, in small numbers and large, to
sing her praises in churches, in homes, in hospitals, in prisons. May Mary's
name be held in highest reverence, a name sweeter than honey and more precious
than jewels; may none utter blasphemous words, the sign of a defiled soul,
against that name graced with such dignity and revered for its motherly
goodness; let no one be so bold as to speak a syllable which lacks the respect
due to her name.
All, according to their state, should strive to bring
alive the wondrous virtues of our heavenly Queen and most loving Mother through
constant effort of mind and manner. Thus will it come about that all
Christians, in honoring and imitating their sublime Queen and Mother, will
realize they are truly brothers, and with all envy and avarice thrust aside,
will promote love among classes, respect the rights of the weak, cherish peace.
No one should think himself a son of Mary, worthy of being received under her
powerful protection, unless, like her, he is just, gentle and pure, and shows a
sincere desire for true brotherhood, not harming or injuring but rather helping
and comforting others...
Given at Rome, from
St. Peter's, on the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
eleventh day of October, 1954, in the sixteenth year of our Pontificate.
PIUS XII
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