The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Christians have called Mary Queen since early centuries, and the titles of Queen of Heaven, Queen of Angels and Queen of All Saints fill the Litany of Loreto and hymns such as the Hail Holy Queen and the Regina Caeli. Her queenship flows from her union with Christ the King: as Mother of the King and the first and most perfect disciple, she shares in His victory over sin and death.

Pope Pius XII established the feast in 1954 with the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, at the close of a Marian Year marking the centenary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and set it on May 31. After the Second Vatican Council it was moved to August 22, the octave day of the Assumption, to show that Mary, taken into heaven, reigns there with her Son. Her royal power is the power of a mother's love and intercession for her children.

Many families and parishes crown statues of Mary with flowers on this day, as in May crownings. The Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, the Coronation of Mary, is especially fitting to pray.

In Latin America, images of the Virgin are often adorned with crowns offered in thanksgiving by the faithful.