Ad caeli reginam

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On October 11, 1954, Pope Pius XII published the encyclical Ad caeli reginam . The encyclical named after her incipit dealt with the kingship of Mary and the introduction of the feast of Mary, Queen of Heaven.

Mary, Queen of Heaven

1954 led Pope Pius XII. the feast of Mary Queen for the entire Roman Catholic Church . At the end of the Marian year 1953/1954, Pius had set May 31st as the date for this festival with the encyclical Ad caeli reginam , the last day of the month of Mary . In 1969 the festival was moved to August 22nd in the general Roman calendar , the day of the octave of the Assumption .

The encyclical was intended to emphasize the royal dignity of Mary and to increase the devotion and trust in the Mother of God. The Pope refers to the writings of numerous saints and two of his predecessors, Sixtus IV and Benedict XIV , who had also called the Mother of God the Queen of heaven and earth. The Pope hopes that the faithful will be encouraged to imitate the sublime virtues of Mary and that prayer to her will be encouraged as the helper of persecuted Christians and mediator of peace for the world. He compares the role of Mary in God's plan of salvation with Eve: Mary is attached to the author of salvation, Jesus Christ, in a similar way as Eve is attached to the author of death, Adam. Through a virgin (Eve) humanity was subjected to death, through the mediation of a virgin (Mary) it was also saved again. As a result, the Pope concludes from the kingship of Christ to the kingship of the Virgin Mary, "not only because she is the mother of God, but also because, like a new Eve, she was attached to the new Adam."

“It is certain that Jesus Christ, as the only God and man, is King in the full, proper and absolute sense; nevertheless Mary also shares in his royal dignity, although in a limited and analogous way, since she was the mother of Christ who is God, and because she is attached to the work of the divine Redeemer in his struggle against enemies and in his triumph, that he carried over them all. Indeed, through this union with Christ the King, she attains such a lofty dignity that she surpasses the rank of all created things; from this same union with Christ flows that royal authority to distribute the treasures of the kingdom of the divine Redeemer; this same union with Christ is ultimately the source of the inexhaustible effectiveness of her maternal intercession with the Son and the Father. "

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