Queen of Heaven

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Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Christians, including Catholics and Orthodox, as well as some Protestants. The bible speaks of the mother of Jesus as: "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" - (Revelation 12:1). Queen of heaven was also a title used in antiquity for several ancient goddesses including Isis.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Catholicism 1.1 Christian Art 1.2 Christian hymn 2 Antiquity 3 See also 3.1 Notes 4 References

[edit] Catholicism

See also: Queenship of Mary

Queen of Heaven (Latin Regina Caeli) is one of a number of titles used of the Virgin Mary. She is also sometimes referred to as Queen of Heaven and Earth. The title flows from the Catholic teaching that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was bodily and spiritually assumed into heaven, and that she is there honored as Queen. ^[1]

The title has several sources:

• Mary is mother of the messianic king. Luke 1:32 says of Jesus, He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. He will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his reign will be without end. It is therefore held in Christianity, that the throne of King David has passed to Jesus. The biblical precedent of ancient Israel is that the mother of the king becomes the Queen Mother - known in Hebrew as the gebirah. Since Jesus is heavenly king, of the lineage of David and Solomon, many see Mary as Queen Mother.

• The Roman Catholic Church also sees Mary crowned as queen in heaven in the Revelation 12, verses 1-5:

"1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads."

• Catholics believe that Psalm 45, "A Song Celebrating the King's Marriage," refers to the Messiah, and thus in verse 9 suggests that Jesus, the Messiah, would have a queen at his right hand. Although Mary was Jesus' mother, she is often portrayed as that queen. Other views are that Psalm 45 refers to the marriage of Jesus to His people -- i.e., the church which is called the "Bride of Christ" or that Psalms 45 is simply a celebration upon the marriage of an earthly king, giving thanks to God but not referring to the Messiah.

• It is also believed by those assigning a special significance to Mary, and believing in her Annunciation, that in Luke 1:26-35 of the New Testament the Archangel Gabriel seems to praise Mary, although she would otherwise be inferior to him. The exact relationship of angels to man, whether angels are inferior or superior to humans is a question debated within Christian theology.

[edit] Christian Art

Main article: Coronation of the Virgin

Artworks, including paintings, mosaics and carvings of the coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven, became increasingly popular from the 13th century onward. Works follow a set pattern, showing Mary kneeling in the heavenly court, and being crowned either by Jesus alone, or else by Jesus and God the Father together, with the Holy Spitit, usually in the form of a dove, completing the Trinity. The coronation of Mary is a theme largely of western art. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, although Mary is often shown crowned as Queen, the coronation itself never became a subject of iconography.

[edit] Christian hymn

Main article: Regina Coeli

The Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) is an anthem of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] which replaces the Angelus at Eastertide (from Holy Saturday until the Saturday after Pentecost); it is named for its opening words in Latin. ^[2]

Of unknown authorship, the anthem was in Franciscan use in the first half of the 13th century. Together with three other Marian anthems, it was incorporated in the Minorite Roman Curia Office, which the Franciscans soon popularized everywhere, and which by order of Pope Nicholas III (1277-1280) replaced all the older breviaries in the churches of Rome.

[edit] Antiquity

The Roman writer, Apuleius, in his Transformations of Lucius in the first century B.C, gives an understanding of Isis as the Queen of Heaven . The following paragraph is particularly significant.

"You see me here, Lucius, in answer to your prayer. I am nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are, my nod governs the shining heights of Heavens, the wholesome sea breezes. Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names. . . some know me as Juno, some as Bellona . . . the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning and worship call me by my true name...Queen Isis."

Queen of Heaven is a title used of goddesses central to many religions of antiquity. In Sumer Inanna was hailed as "Queen of Heaven" in the 3rd millennium BC. In Akkad to the north, she was worshipped later as Ishtar. In the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, when Inanna is challenged at the outermost gates of the underworld, she replies

I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven,
On my way to the East.

Her cult was deeply embedded in Mesopotamia and among the Canaanites to the west.

Veneration of a "Queen of Heaven" is recorded in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, circa 628 BC, in the context of the Prophet condemning such religious worship as blasphemy and a violation of the teachings of the God of Israel. Jeremiah 7:18 records: "The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger." Similarly Jeremiah 44 records the worship of the Queen of Heaven as a pagan practice whch provokes the God of Israel to anger, as He warns the Israelites of coming destruction.

This has been used as an argument against the title with respect to Mary. However proponents of the Queenship of Mary respond that there are numerous pagan titles. "King of Kings", "Son of God" and "Lord" were titles utilized by many pagan gods. Jupiter was called King of Heaven. The throne of the Queen Mother was an institution of Judah.

[edit] See also

• Ishtar (Asherah, Astarte, Inanna)
• Isis
• Mary (Mary's "Queenship", Mariology)
• Nuit (Thelema), Nut (Egyptian sky goddess)

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912.
• Dictionary of Mary, Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, 1985