CORONATION OF MARY AS QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTHMOTHER MARY, QUEEN MOST HOLY is a most fitting tribute of this title of Queen as applied to the Mother of God, since she was so closely associated with the redemptive work of Her Son and is the Mediatrix of all Graces.
Pope Pius XII, by his encyclical letter Ad Caeli Reginam of October 11, 1954, granted the unanimous desire of the faithful and their pastors and instituted the feast day of the Queenship of Mary, giving sanction thus to a devotion that was already observed by the faithful throughout the world to the sovereign Mother of heaven and earth.
Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar this feast was originally celebrated on May 31, the last day of the Marian month. Pope Paul VI moved the feast day to August 22.
Assumed into heaven, Mary is with Jesus Christ Her Divine Son. Mary should be called Queen not only because of Her Divine Motherhood of Jesus Christ, Her only Son, but also because God has willed Her to have an exceptional role in the work of our eternal salvation.
The Enclyclical argues, that 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.
QUEENSHIP OF MARY
With the certainty of faith we know that Jesus Christ is King in the full, literal, and absolute sense of the word; for He is true God and man. This does not, however, prevent Mary from sharing His Royal Prerogatives, though in a limited and analogous manner; for She was the Mother of Christ, and Christ is God; and She shared in the work of the Divine Redeemer, in His struggles against enemies and in the triumph He won over them all.
From this union with Christ the King She assuredly obtains so eminent a status that She stands high above all created things; and upon this same union with Christ is based that Royal Privilege enabling Her to distribute the treasures of the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer. And lastly, this same union with Christ is the fountain of the inexhaustible efficacy of Her Motherly Intercession in the presence of the Son and of the Father.
Without doubt, then, does our Holy Virgin possess a dignity that far transcends all other creatures. In the eyes of Her Son, She takes precedence over everyone else. In order to help us understand the preeminence that the Mother of God enjoys over all creation, it would help to remember that from the first moment of her conception the Holy Virgin was filled with such a plenitude of grace as to surpass the graces enhancing all the saints.
Recall what our predecessor Pope Pius IX, of blessed memory, wrote in his Ineflabilis Deus: "More than all the angels and all the saints has God ineffable freely endowed Mary with the fullness of the heavenly gifts that abound in the Divine Treasury; and She, preserving Herself ever immaculately clean from the slightest taint of sin, attained a fullness of innocence and holiness so great as to be unthinkable apart from God Himself, a fullness that no one other than God will ever possess."
Spurred on by piety and faith, may we share in Her glory in being subject to the rule of the Virgin Mother of God; She bears the royal scepter in Her hand, while Her Immaculate Heart is ever aflame with motherly love for all of mankind.
