Pope Pius XII in the Papal Encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam proposed the traditional doctrine on the Queenship of Mary and established this feast for the Universal Church. He set the date for the octave (8th day) after the Solemnity of the Assumption, that is, August 22nd each year.

Cherished by the Popes of modern times, Catholics, celebrate Mary as the Queen of Heaven and Earth today.

Pope Pius XII, having declared the dogma of the Assumption, that “the Immaculate Mother of God . . . was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory,

In his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, the Pope proclaimed,
"We are instituting a feast so that all may recognize more clearly and venerate more devoutly the merciful and maternal sway of the Mother of God. We are convinced that this feast will help to preserve, strengthen and prolong that peace among nations which daily is almost destroyed by recurring crises. Is she not a rainbow in the clouds reaching towards God, the pledge of a covenant of peace?"

Mary is Queen and Our Lady because of Christ and like Christ. Vatican II, sanctioning a tradition going back to the fourth century, reaffirmed authoritatively the doctrine of Mary's regality: "When her earthly life was over," she was "exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son." (Lumen Gentium 59)

The title Queen is used to indicate, in an almost official way, the final state of the Virgin, seated beside her Son, the King of glory.

The famous antiphon 'Salve Regina misericordiae', already known in the eleventh century, is perhaps the most characteristic expression of the way in which the monks and friars turned in supplication to the Blessed Virgin.

Along with the vigorous affirmation of Mary's regality, her maternal dimension and mediating function are attested with equal conviction. In Mary, the exercise of regality is maternal service of compassion. This thought led, already in the thirteenth century, to modifying the beginning of the antiphon with the inclusion of the term Mother: "Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy."

From that time onwards the paired terms "queen" and "Mother" appeared often in liturgical, legislative and ascetical texts of institutes of consecrated life.

The title is related to the eminent way in which Mary of Nazareth practiced the evangelical virtues. She is the Queen of virtues, Queen of humility, Queen of purity, etc. Consecrated persons contemplate her virtues and strive to reproduce in themselves the same expressions of Christian perfection.

We can characterize Mary's regality by saying that it is:

• eminent sharing in the regal condition of the People of the new Covenant
  
• the consequence of the Mother's involvement in the paschal mystery of her Son with its dimensions of humiliation, passion and glory. It is by reason of this involvement that she who shares in his humiliation shares also in his glory.
  
• the final outcome of Mary's journey of discipleship. At the end of her earthly life she was borne to the Kingdom of her beloved Son (cf. Col 1:13) and received for her faithfulness "the crown of life." (Rv 2:10; cf. 1 Cor 9:25) This outcome has universal significance because the Blessed Virgin, now having attained fullness of freedom and full communion with Christ, is the regal icon of the advance of the Church and of all of history and creation, as it moves forward toward becoming " a new heaven and a new earth" (Rv 21:1; cf. Is 65:17), God's dwelling, in which "there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain." (Rv 21:4; cf. Is 25:8)
  

-with excerpts from Servants of the Magnificat: The Canticle of the Blessed Virgin and Consecrated Life

Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Philip Benizi
2. Saint John Kemble
3. Saint John Wall
4. Saint Symphorian of Autun
5. Saint Andrew of Fiesole