Hello Rosary Lovers! In this post we will be asking: Is the Virgin Mary a Queen?
Mary gets a lot of attention from Catholics, and sometimes this leads to confusion for those outside Catholicism.
‘Why do you worship Mary?’
‘Why do you put Mary on a pedastal?’
‘What’s so special about Mary?’
‘Shouldn’t you be focusing more on Jesus?’
And so on. As a Catholic, I’ve heard it all before. As a former Protestant and Evangelical, I used to say many of these things myself. So believe me, I understand the concern.
However, this is an important question. What is the significance of Mary in heaven now? Is she a Queen? Does she reign with Christ in a special way right now?
Revelation 12
The first way to answer this is to look at Holy Scripture.
In Revelation 12, John sees a vision in heaven. He sees a woman, clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.
We know from verse 5 that this woman is Mary because it is written that she brought forth the Ruler of the nations, which is obviously Jesus Christ. Only Mary gave birth to Jesus, as the Mother of our Saviour.
Being Mother of our Saviour and God is great enough, of course. But there is something else Revelation 12 is drawing out attention to. The fact that Mary is evidently a heavenly Queen.
She has a crown of 12 stars. The moon is under her feet, to speak of her tremendous authority over creation.
She is clothed with the sun, to indicate her tremendous glory.
From this passage, we gather that, yes, the Virgin Mary is indeed a Queen.
Old Testament Fulfilment
Another interesting thing to consider is that Mary fulfils the Old Testament role of Queen Mother.
In the Old Testament, the kings are mentioned, but often their mothers are mentioned also. In fact, sometimes the mothers become Monarch of Israel, as in the case of Athaliah.
Why is the name of the king’s mother so often mentioned? Because the mother was really significant.
Mary fulfils this in the New Testament. Christ is the King, and his Mother’s name is Mary, the Mother of God.
Further, we can look at King Solomon and his mother Bathsheba to see this relationship in action.
In 1 Kings 2, Bathsheba goes to Solomon with a request. He – yes, Solomon, the King – bows down before her.
He then has a throne brought in for her to sit next to him on his right.
When she says she has a request from him, King Solomon says, ‘Ask it and I will not refuse.’
This is the kind of respect Old Testament kings gave to their mothers. Bathsheba was a Queen. Solomon was King.
Christ is King, Mary is a Queen. Mary sits next to Christ in heaven, on his right, and everything she requests he never refuses.
Though Christ himself does not bow before his Mother, his Body the Church does. So in a sense, Christ does bow before his Mother, as Solomon does in 1 Kings 2.
Mary’s Lineage
It might be overlooked that Mary actually comes from a royal line. To be fair, not everyone follows this line of interpretation in this section, but it seemed worth mentioning anyway.
In Luke’s gospel, chapter 3, we are given the lineage of Christ. But it is different to that given by Matthew’s gospel chapter 1.
Why is this? Because Matthew 1 is about Joseph’s lineage.
Luke 3 is likely about Mary’s, and interestingly, we see that she is a descendent of King David, the supreme royal figure of the Old Testament.
Mary’s lineage shows she is of royal blood. Mary is a royal.
Mary is Queen of Heaven
The Catholic Church teaches that Mary is Queen of Heaven and Earth. Granted, this is not infallible dogma (yet, anyway). But it is part of long-standing tradition, and many Catholic prayers and saints affirm it.
As Queen of Heaven, Mary is the supreme creature in heaven. Heaven is filled with heavenly creatures, such as archangels, angels in all their ranks, saints, Seraphim, Cherubim, and perhaps a whole host of other heavenly creatures that we know nothing about.
But of all of these – and far above them all – there is Mary. Mary is the Queen of all heavenly creatures.
Next to God and Christ, his eternal Son, Mary is the supreme thing in heaven.
Mary is so supreme in heaven that she has the ear of her Son all the time. She can ask Jesus anything at all, as at the Wedding in Cana in John 2, and Jesus will do it.
This is why we appeal to Mary as Catholics. We call upon her because we know that whatever we ask of her we will always receive, because Jesus cannot refuse her.
This is the glory of the heavenly Queen over her Son, the King of Kings.
Mary is Queen of the Earth
Mary is also Queen of Earth, which means that she is the Mother of all Creation. Pope Francis refers to the earth as ‘Mother Earth’, but Mary is the Queen and Mother of ‘Mother Earth’.
Mary owns the universe. She owns planet earth. It is consecrated to her by God himself. It is hers to do with as she pleases.
This is awesome, is it not? All creatures in heaven and on earth are under her sway.
And Mary’s one desire is to steer everything into union and conformity with her Son’s most sacred Heart.
Now is a very good time for us to be calling upon Mary for Ukraine and Russia.
Pope Francis has already consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 25th March, 2022. This was a fulfilment of Mary’s request at Fatima in the early 20th century.
Mary owns Russia and she owns Ukraine. She owned them before the Pope consecrated them to her, but now they are officially hers from our human viewpoint.
We will await to see what she will do with these two great nations, and we should pray for their peace.
Personal Application
You should consider yourself here too. You belong to Mary, whether you realise it or not. She is your Mother and Queen.
Have you considered consecrating yourself to her? You can use these prayers to get you started.
Or you could take up reciting the Rosary daily. There is no better way to live out one’s consecration to Mary than daily recitation of the Rosary (all the mysteries, if possible).
If you would like to buy a Rosary, check out this post for some beautiful options.
If you have any questions about this post, please leave a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts.
God bless, in Christ, through the blessed and immaculate heart of Mary full of grace.