Salve Regina: Mother of Mercy (Marian Studies Book 1)

Hail, holy Queen


The Salve Regina prayer is the subject of our practical meditation.

First, the first invocation of the prayer is to address Mary under a special title as the “Holy Queen,” since she is the Mother of Jesus Christ. Any person with true faith would at once realize and understand why Mary is called holy, but the Church has for centuries had to protect and preserve the dignity of the Mother of God from heresies: Ebionites, Helvidianism, Valentianism, Collyridianism, Nestorianism, Iconoclasm. There are people who do not believe and desire to destroy the dignity of Mary on earth. These are the enemies of Christ and the Church.
She is THE Holy Queen in heaven, though there have been many Queens who have taken their place in Heaven, Mary is known throughout the entire presence of Heaven and the Eternal Church as THE Holy Queen. The Church has given birth to many Queens worthy of the name of Queen; there have been Queens who have been baptized and lived exemplary lives of holiness and spread the Good News by the influence of their lives, but Mary is the only Queen that was chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of God. This is the reason we truly call her the Queen of Queens and Queen of Heaven and Earth.
Mary is called Queen because she has been exalted above all the Angels and Saints to a dignity higher than any other creature. Mary has this exalted dignity because she received it as a free gift of God in the same way that each of us received the free gift of grace as something we didn’t earn but were given. Just as we use our natural gifts to serve others so Mary uses all she is to serve the Church.[ Clinton LeFort, 12/7/15 9:49 AM We are referring to the Universal and eternal Church.]
In searching for a title which is equal to that dignity we can find none other than the one in which we call a woman Queen. The terms is used simply because there is not a direct correlation between a mortal Queen and the dignity which belongs to Mary, but there is more an analogy. Just as the highest dignity for a woman is upon earth is called Queen, so the highest dignity bestowed upon any woman in Heaven is also called Queen, with the exception the Council Fathers of Vatican II gave to Mary in calling her “Queen of the Universe.” In other words, since Jesus redemption extends over all creation, so is Mary’s dignity extended also to the same extent.
We can speak about Mary’s Queenship in two ways. First, we can speak about her her Queenship from the understanding of her closeness of herself with the work of Christ, since it is from this role that she is accorded the title of Queenship. Secondly, we can also speak about Mary’s role as Queen of compassion towards God’s children. It is from this role that I would like to draw your attention momentarily. Since Mary’s dignity is at such a height above all the children of God, there is no one who hopes to attain such height without the loss of all humility. We simply accept Mary’s gifts as a great blessing to the rest of humanity, but this does not lessen our hope in her, since she is truly one of us. Mary can truly identify with the rest of God’s children, especially as one who can exercise compassion upon us. Mary can truly experience compassion towards us, since she has been greatly blessed by God. The Word Incarnate, who lived among us, had the greatest compassion for sinners, since he was chosen to be the Redeemer of mankind. Mary was faithful to Christ and his message of salvation. She told the waiters at the wedding fest of Cana, “do whatever he tells you.” Her compassion extends to all we lack which makes us conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. It is to Jesus Christ she desires for our happiness. She understands like no other what we need, in our individual vocations, to be conformed to Christ. She sees the gap between who Jesus is to her and who we are thru his grace.