XV. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin - Mary is Queen

To crown a work is to give the last touch to its perfection. In this sense Mary, the masterpiece of divine omnipotence and goodness, is crowned in heaven by Her Son. Jesus completes the virtues of His Most Holy Mother, tears away the veil under which the lustre of Her privileges was hidden, and reinvests Her immaculate body with light and immortality.

To crown any one is to reward his merits. In this sense Mary is crowned in heaven by the sovereign Renumerator; for to every thought of Hers, to each of Her desires, to every one of Her actions corresponds a degree of eternal glory which raises Her above any glorified creature.

Finally, to crown any one is to invest him with supreme honor and power. In this sense Mary is crowned in heaven by the eternal King of ages. Jesus places Her on His right hand, invites the whole heavenly court around Her throne, and proclaims Her Queen of angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all saints.

"Queen of angels": She is their Queen, not by the rights of nature, but by the rights of grace. She has had the distinguished privilege of possessing the greatest created purity in a body borrowed from the blood of sinners, and of giving birth to the King of angels and archangels.

"Queen of patriarchs": She is Queen of the patriarchs, because through Her they have obtained the object of their desires. It was the fruit of Her chaste womb that healed their pious languishings and delivered them from the dark prisons in which they waited for glory and happiness.

"Queen of prophets": She is prophecy itself, for She gave to the world the promised reality. The Messias, whose portrait was perfectly drawn many years before His coming by men inspired of God, was formed of Her flesh and blood.

"Queen of apostles": for by Her prayers they obtained, along with the Spirit of God, the gift of the divine word. Her sweet and mysterious influence anticipates them in the souls they convert to God.

"Queen of martyrs": was She not associated in the sufferings of Her Son? Did She not suffer in Her Mother's heart everything that the martyrs of the faith suffered in their bodies?

"Queen of confessors": Her perfect life is a perfect model of the sublime virtues they have practised and by which they have attained the glory of heaven.

"Queen of virgins": in Her purity she excels them all. And along with the honor of virginity She possessed that which was permitted to no other virgin to possess - the joys of maternity.

"Queen of all saints": to Her most powerful intercession they are all indebted for the grace of perseverance which opened to them the gates of heaven.

O admirable Queen! in what part of the heavenly kingdom shall we find ourselves one day? We know nothing of it; it is a secret in God's sacred keeping. In waiting for its divulgence behold us mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! But Thy throne is in our hearts, O Blessed Queen! Govern and direct Thy unhappy subjects. Our hope is in Thy sweet and merciful power, which leads and guides us. The enemies of our salvation will be powerless if Thou dost only cover us with Thy royal mantle. Our tottering steps will not stray from the way that leads to heaven, if Thou dost direct them. Hear, then, the prayers which all Christian humanity from the place of its exile addresses to Thee:

"We fly to Thy patronage, O holy Mother of God! Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver from all dangers, O Thou ever glorious and blessed Virgin!"

"O Queen of Christians! deign to direct and sanctify this day our hearts and bodies according to the law of God, and enable us to fulfill all the works of His sacred precepts, so that here on earth and hereafter in heaven we may merit, by Thy intercession, eternal salvation."