On 22 August we observe, in the traditional Roman calendar, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In the newer calendar it is the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
When the angel Gabriel came to Mary he told her that her Son would have the throne of David and that His kingdom would have no end (Luke 1:32-33).
In ancient Israel, the mothers of the House of David’s kings were crowned, addressed as Gebirah, “Great Lady”. They sat beside the throne of their royal sons.
Since our Lord is our King, then His Mother is our Queen.
Mary’s Queenship is intimately tied to the Kingship of her Son.
Her Immaculate Heart beats in harmony with His Sacred Heart, for she conceived her King within her Heart, before she carried Him below her Heart.
There is a lovely hymn at Lauds for this Feast, originally O gloriosa Domina, composed by Venantius Fortunatus (+609) and changed around a bit by Pope Urban VIII in 1632.
This was a favorite hymn of St. Anthony, which his mother would sing to him.
Another version. This is sung by the wonder BEER BREWING MONKS of Norcia!
Another version.
There are interesting variations on a disc Hispania & Japan: Dialogues
There comes to mind the faithfulness of the Japanese Catholics even after the hideous persecution from the Tokugawa Shoguns and the absence of missionaries for so long.
Marvelous… US HERE
YouTube playlist HERE
My FSSP parish had a Solemn High Mass this morning for this occasion. Sadly I couldn’t be there as I am in Anchorage AK. But at least I could pray the pre 1955 Mattins and Lauds from an app I have on my phone.
I really love the icon at the 1:00 mark of the first video (Elevation Monastery). Any ideas on how I could find the source? No information at monastery website and I’ve looked around the web to no avail.
I think Fr. Z has mentioned here at some time in the past, but I also read this in a book by Catholic Biblical Scholar Brant Pitre, that St. Joseph was literally the King of the Jews, by way of genealogy. And Our Lady was literally a Queen by her heritage as well, and also by her marriage to St. Joseph. And therefore Jesus, as their Son, was a prince, and when His earthly father died, He was literally the King of the Jews.
Contrast what we know of their lives, and what we expect the life of a king or queen would be, and our hearts burst with admiration at their profound humility and wisdom.
“In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” Matt. 2:1-2