Sunday, April 17, 2022

Praying the Regina Coeli with Art: This Week's Image

It's Easter Sunday! Celebrating the glorious Resurrection of Jesus, the Church shifts for 50 days from praying the Angelus (commemorating the Incarnation) to praying the Regina Coeli: an exultant prayer to Mary over the Triumph her Son won over death, the grave, sin, all of it. Here at The Angelus Project, that means a 7 week shift from Annunciations to images of the Coronation of the Virgin. Even though that is not quite the scene we are praying with, it does reflect the first words: "Regina Coeli" (Queen of Heaven).

Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik has created a number of mosaic depictions of the Coronation of the Virgin. As you might expect, these draw on Eastern iconography and especially on the Song of Songs, which has long been associated with the Virgin Mary as herself a "type" or prophecy-in-person of the Church, the Bride of Christ.

This Coronation is from the chapel of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows of Tarbes. In the detail, you can see Jesus is also putting a ring on Mary's finger, highlighting the bridal imagery. In the Coronation, what is being stressed is Mary as the foremost member of the Church

© Centro Aletti 

Here's a detail of the same image:

© Centro Aletti

From Easter to Pentecost, pray the Regina Coeli (in place of the Angelus) three times a day: morning, noon and evening.

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, Alleluia!
R. For he whom you deserved to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as he said, Alleluia!
R. Pray for us to God, Alleluia! 

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia!

Let us pray:
O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech thee, that through the intercession of his Mother, the Virgin Mary,
we may obtain the joys of everlasting life.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.


Pray it in Latin!

Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia:
R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,
R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
mundum lætificare dignatus es:
præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

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About the Angelus Project

We rightly admire Muslim neighbors and co-workers who put everything on hold five times a day in answer to the "call to prayer." But Christians have a call to prayer, too! It is the Angelus. Morning, noon and evening we are invited to pause and reaffirm our faith in the Incarnation: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14), because "God so loved the world that he sent his only Son" (Jn. 3:16).
The Angelus Project is a personal project of Sister Anne Flanagan, FSP, a Daughter of St Paul. Find out more about the media ministry of the Daughters of St Paul at DaughtersofStPaul.com.

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