Why is the Virgin Mary called Queen of Angels?

Mother of the Church, Queen of Heaven, Queen of Purgatory… The Virgin Mary has many titles including that of Queen of Angels. But how is this possible when by her human nature, she is inferior to them?

In the hierarchy of creation, men are inferior to angels. Being a woman and possessing a less perfect intelligence than that of celestial creatures, because the latter have innate ideas of all realities, the Virgin Mary should be inferior to them. And yet, she bears the title of Queen of Angels. How is it possible ?

“Angels are more perfect than us. They are fearsome creatures. We see it in the Book of Daniel or in the Book of Revelation when on their appearance the prophets fall flat on their stomachs in front of them”, explains to Aleteia Don Paul Denizot, rector of the Notre-Dame de Montligeon sanctuary and specialist in angels. And to specify: “If they are endowed with a natural superiority in the order of creation, this hierarchy is not the same in the order of God’s plan. In the latter, it is the hierarchy of grace that takes precedence, because in Heaven the true hierarchy that holds is holiness. And in that hierarchy, God likes to upset and transform the natural order. He thus allows more fragile creatures to become holier even than angels and archangels.” And this is precisely the case of the Virgin Mary.

The rise of the Virgin into Heaven, surrounded by angels

From the Council of Nicaea in 325, the Church affirmed that the Virgin Mary, after her assumption, was elevated above all blessed spirits and that she now reigns over them. In his work Investigation of the Angelshistorian Anne Bernet recalls:

“The Church, and the Orthodox even more than the Catholics, liked to tell of the Assumption of the Virgin after her dormition, her ascent to Heaven with her body preserved from death and the corruption of the tomb. And Saint Michael going to meet her, accompanied by the whole celestial army, in order to arrange for Mary a triumphal entry into the Kingdom of her Son and escorting her to the throne which was reserved for her for the hour of her coronation. “.

“The Father made his Son heir of all things and gave him all power in heaven, on earth and in hell. The son, being born of Mary, wanted this heritage and this power to be shared with his Mother. Universal is therefore the empire of Our Lady; nothing and no one can escape her tender and maternal power. Being so close to the throne of her son, the Church sings, she presides over all of Creation”, indicates for his part Jean Maillot, Vicar General of Versailles at the beginning of the 20th century, in his work The Blessed Virgin Mary and Purgatory.

queen of heaven

Thus being the Mother of the Lord, the Mother of the King, the Virgin Mary is the highest creature in Heaven and therefore the Queen of Heaven. This is also why we speak of the coronation of the Virgin Mary. But as Pope Pius XII, who had instituted the memory of “Mary Queen”, remarked in 1954, “we must proclaim Mary Queen not only for her divine Maternity, but also for the singular part that she took, by will of God, in the work of our eternal salvation. Indeed, through the gift of holiness that the Lord gives her, the free gift that she accepts with love, the Virgin Mary is placed above the angels. “And this superiority was very well represented in the painting of the Annunciation by Fra Angelico where we see the Archangel Gabriel bend the knee before Mary”, concludes Don Paul Denizot.

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