At his right stands the Queen,
in gold of Ophir.
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, 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 themselves on the words of St. Gabriel the archangel, who foretold that the
Son of Mary would reign forever; as well as 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 his 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.
In one of the homilies attributed to Origen, Elizabeth calls Mary the
Mother of my Lord. and even addresses her as Thou, my Lady.
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.
Moreover Epiphanius, the bishop of Constantinople, writing to the
Sovereign Pontiff Hormisdas, says that we should pray that the unity of the
Church may be preserved by the grace of the holy and consubstantial Trinity
and by the prayers of Mary, Our Lady, the holy and glorious Virgin and Mother
of God.
The Blessed Virgin, sitting at the right hand of God to pray for us is
hailed by another writer of that same era in these words, the Queen of
mortal man, the most holy Mother of God.
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.
And in another place he speaks of the Queen of the entire human race
faithful to the exact meaning of her name, who is exalted above all things save
only God himself.
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. 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 sacred liturgy, which acts as a faithful reflection of
traditional doctrine believed by the Christian people through the course of all
the ages, both in the East and in the West, has sung the praises of the heavenly
Queen and continues to sing them.
From the Encyclical of Pope Pius XII "Ad Caeli Reginam:
Given at Rome on the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
11th of October 1954