Completion of the Assumption; The Queenship of Mary.

August 22 is the Feast Day of THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY.  According to America Needs Fatima, Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954. Having declared the dogma of the Assumption, that “the Immaculate Mother of God . . . was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory,” he then established the feast of her Queenship. Eventually, the date for this feast was set for the octave (8th day) after the Solemnity of the Assumption, that is, August 22nd each year.  Mary’s coronation, the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the rosary, has not been defined dogmatically, but has been celebrated liturgically and depicted in art since early medieval times. The most ancient depiction of Mary as queen is a mosaic from the 500s in a small church in the historic center of Rome. But the feast day of her Queenship was only placed in the Church’s calendar in 1954.

In his 1954 encyclical on Mary’s Queenship, Ad Caeli Reginam, Pope Pius XII wrote:

“From the earliest ages of the Catholic church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.”

Previously, Pius XII explained the theological reasons for her title of “Queen” in a radio message on May 13, 1946:

“He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty, and the dominion of His kingship, for, having been associated to the King of Martyrs in the ... work of human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest: through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice [of the Father].”

The Queenship of Mary is a Marian feast day in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, created by Pope Pius XII. On October 11, 1954, the pontiff pronounced the new feast in his encyclical Ad caeli reginam. "The purpose of the Feast is that all may recognize more clearly and venerate more devoutly the merciful and motherly sovereignty of her who bore God in her womb" (Ven. Pius XII, Ad. Coeli Reginam).  The feast was celebrated on May 31, the last day of the Marian month. The initial ceremony for this feast involved the crowning of the Salus Populi Romani icon of Mary in Rome by Pius XII as part of a procession in Rome.

In 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the feast day to August 22, the former Octave day of the Assumption in order to emphasize the close bond between Mary's Queenship and her glorification in body and soul next to her Son. The Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Church states that "Mary was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son" (Lumen gentium, 59).

The “Act of Consecration” to the Queenship of Mary is as follows;

O Mary Immaculate Queen, glorious Queen of the Universe, most powerful Virgin, merciful Mother of a merciful God and refuge of sinners, we consecrate ourselves to thy Royal and Immaculate Heart.

It is through thee that Jesus Christ our King has come into the world to save it. It is also through thee that He is to reign over the world.

In order to obtain this great benefit for ourselves and all mankind, we come to thy feet to consecrate to thee our persons, our lives, all that we are, all that we have, all that we love. Keep us, enlighten us, dispose of us, reign over us.

May all hearts and all homes willingly proclaim thee as their Immaculate Queen.

A more general prayer to pay homage to he Queenship is as follows;

O Mary Immaculate Queen, look down upon this distressed and suffering world. Thou knowest our misery and our weakness. O Thou who art our Mother, saving us in the hour of peril, have compassion on us in these days of great and heavy trial.

Jesus has confided to thee the treasure of His Grace, and through Thee He wills to grant us pardon and mercy. In these hours of anguish, therefore, thy children come to Thee as their hope.

We recognize thy Queenship and ardently desire thy triumph. We need a Mother and a Mother's Heart. Thou art for us the luminous dawn which dissipates our darkness and points out the way to life. In thy clemency obtain for us the courage and the confidence of which we have such need.

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity, Thou Who didst crown with glory in Heaven the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Savior, grant that all her children on earth may acknowledge her as their Sovereign Queen, that all hearts, homes, and nations may recognize her rights as Mother and as Queen. Amen.

Often prayer to Mary, Queen of Heaven is concluded with the exclamation;

MARY, IMMACULATE QUEEN

TRIUMPH AND REIGN!