Queen of Heaven
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Queen of Heaven is a Roman title of the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Isis in antiquity and Blessed Virgin Mary in Roman Catholicism. It may also refer to a Christian hymn.
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[edit] Antiquity
The Roman writer Apuleius' "Transformations of Lucius" gives us an understanding of Isis in the first century. The following paragraph is particularly significant.
"You see me here, Lucius, in answer to your prayer. I am nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are, my nod governs the shining heights of Heavens, the wholesome sea breezes. though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names. . . some know me as Juno, some as Bellona . . . the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning and worship call me by my true name..Queen Isis."
Queen of Heaven is a natural title for goddesses central to many religions of antiquity. In Sumer Inanna was hailed as "Queen of Heaven" in the 3rd millennium BCE. In Akkad to the north, she was worshipped later as Ishtar. In the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, when Inanna is challenged at the outermost gates of the underworld, she replies
'I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven, On my way to the East.' Her cult was deeply embedded in Mesopotamia and among the Canaanites to the west. In the early 6th Century BCE, the neighbors of the Israelites still worshipped the Queen of Heaven, and the temptation for the Hebrews to follow her cult was apparently hard to resist. Jeremiah, writing ca. 590-580,
"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." (Jeremiah 7:18) To this, the Israelite women replied :
44:16 [As for] the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
44:17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for [then] had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
44:18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all [things], and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
44:19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
Jeremiah continued (44:25)
'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.'
[edit] Christianity
Queen of Heaven (Latin Regina Caeli) is one of a number of titles used particularly in the Roman Catholic Church for Mary, the mother of Jesus. The title is with reference to the Catholic dogma that at the end of her earthly life, Mary was bodily assumed into heaven, and is there honoured as Queen, for the sake of her Son. This follows the biblical precedent of ancient Israel, whose crown, it is held in Christianity, has passed to Jesus.
Luke 1:32 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.
In the Old Testament kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the King might, like David or Solomon, have many wives. The title of Queen, therefore went not to any wife of the king, but to the mother of the king. 1 Kings 2 17-21, 1 Kings 15:13, Jeremiah 13:18. The Queen Mother was known in Hebrew as the gebirah. Since Jesus is heavenly king, of the lineage of David and Solomon, Mary becomes Queen Mother.
The Roman Catholic church also sees Mary crowned as queen in heaven in Revelation 12, verses 1-5.
[edit] Christian hymn
The Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) is an anthem of the Roman Catholic Church which replaces the Angelus at Eastertide (from Holy Saturday until the Saturday after Pentecost); it is named for its opening words in Latin.
Of unknown authorship, the anthem was in Franciscan use in the first half of the 13th century. Together with three other Marian anthems, it was incorporated in the Minorite Roman Curia Office, which the Franciscans soon popularized everywhere, and which by order of Pope Nicholas III (1277-1280) replaced all the older breviaries in the churches of Rome.
[edit] References
- The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1912.
Jeremiah 44: 15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present- a large assembly- and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, 16 " We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! 17 We will certainly do eveything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. 18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine." 23 Because, you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see. 26 But hear the word of the Lord, all Jews living in Egypt: I swear by my great name, says the LORD, that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, "As surely as the Sovereign LORD lives." Read 27-??
