How Mary Became a Queen at the Annunciation

I am amazed at how upset fundamentalist protestants get when we call Mary a Queen. This article explains why the title is firmly rooted in Scripture.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

The Blessed Virgin Mary's queenship is directly linked to the moment she became the mother of the King of kings.

The Catholic Church honors Mary as the "Queen of Heaven and Earth," a royal title that can be surprising to other Christians. It could appear at first glance to give Mary undue honor, especially as a mere creature.

Yet, when viewed in light of Scripture and ancient Jewish tradition, it makes perfect sense that Mary can be called a queen.

Queenship bestowed at the Annunciation

The only reason why Catholics call Mary a queen is because of her relation to Jesus Christ, the King of kings. She was chosen to be his mother and so the moment she receive him into her womb, she was immediately raised to the status of "Queen Mother."

Pius XII explained this in his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam (On the Queenship of Mary):

[I]t is easily concluded that she is a Queen, since she bore a son who, at the very moment of His conception, because of the hypostatic union of the human nature with the Word, was also as man King and Lord of all things. So with complete justice St. John Damascene could write: "When she became Mother of the Creator, she truly became Queen of every creature."

This is due in part to an ancient Jewish tradition of how the mother of the king would be crowned as queen.

According to theologian Colin B. Donovan, "In the Old Testament monarchy the Queen of the Davidic Kingdom was the Queen Mother. The Kings, for reasons of state and human weakness, had many wives, none of whom fittingly could be called Queen. That honor was reserved for the mother of the King, whose authority far surpassed the many 'queens' married to the king. We see this is the role Bathsheba played with respect to King Solomon and the occasions when the Queen Mother acted as regent on behalf of juvenile successors to the throne."

As Jesus is the "New David," Mary became the "Queen Mother," continuing a tradition that was familiar to the Jewish people.

Pius XII also mentions how this queenship is recognized by St. Gabriel, "it can be said that the heavenly voice of the Archangel Gabriel was the first to proclaim Mary's royal office."

This was due to the fact that St. Gabriel mentions Jesus' kingship in his address to Mary at the Annunciation, "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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end. ” (Luke 1:32-33).

As a result, the Catholic Church confidently asserts Mary is a queen, based on her profound relationship with Jesus, the King of the Universe. If Jesus is a king, then Mary, his mother, is a queen.