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

Since last week featured a Coronation from a Franciscan shrine with Franciscan saints and martyrs, this week's is taken from a Carmelite monastery. It is (as you can tell) also by Marko Rupnik and his Centro Aletti. This beautiful coronation forms the entire back wall of the Monastery of Our Lady of Mt Carmel in SNAGOV, Romania. Be sure to visit the Centro Aletti site to see it full-size!

The theme is that of the "garden" because in Hebrew, "Carmel" means "Garden." You don't have to know much about the Bible to realize that gardens figure importantly in the beginning of the story, but also in the prophets, and in the Gospel, too, the Garden is a very important place! For the Carmelites, Mary is herself a garden, and according to the Romanian Carmelites' website, an old name for the country itself was "the Garden of the Mother of God."

Apse Mosaic, Monastery of Our Lady of Mt Carmel (Snagov, Romania)
© Centro Aletti

This Coronation has a unique feature: Mary is pointing to Jesus, and opposite her, a roughly clad man is doing the same. Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics would recognize this immediately: it is a "Deesis," in which Mary and John the Baptist testify to the divinity of Christ and intercede for the faithful! As typical in Rupnik's Marian art, Our Lady is holding a ball (or two?) of red thread against her womb, where the flesh of Christ was "knitted" together for us.

The scene is of the Heavenly Jerusalem, with a representative sampling of saints chosen to represent Carmelite and Romanian traditions: On Mary's side: St John Cassian (an early monastic and writer about monastic life), St Therese, St John Paul II, St Helena the Empress, and St Edith Stein. Near John the Baptist are St John of the Cross with St Teresa of Avila and Bl. Vladimir Ghika (a priest who died in 1954 while imprisoned by the communists).

The book in Jesus' hand is open to Rev. 19: "Behold the marriage of the Lamb." 

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.