There was a significant upsurge in devotion to the Mother of God during the 20th century. The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was established by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, several decades before that century. Bernadette Soubirous, a fourteen-year-old peasant girl, saw the Blessed Mother in Lourdes, France, four years later. When Bernadette questioned the identity of the Heavenly Lady in this apparition, she said, "I am the Immaculate Conception."

The Guardian Angel of Portugal, the Angel of Peace, appeared to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal in 1916. The Lady of the Rosary, as she called herself, then appeared to them six times in 1917.

Declaring "that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory" as a doctrine of our faith, Pope Pius XII published an apostolic constitution in 1950.

The term "typology" was employed by the early church fathers to demonstrate the continuity of the Old and New Testaments. For instance, even if King Solomon committed sins, his peacemaking, wisdom, and construction of the Temple made him a prefigurement, or "type," of Christ. Christ is the real peacemaker, and just as Solomon constructed the Temple, so too did our Lord build the Church, which is the authentic Temple of His Body.

This type of typology is seen in the following passage from the Book of 1 Kings, “Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right. She said, ‘There is one small favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me.’ The king said to her, ‘Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you" (1 Kings 2:19–20). Should King Solomon—an Old Testament type of Jesus Christ—accommodate his Queen Mother's wishes and place her beside him on a throne, then our Lord—the true King of Kings—does the same with His mother. Consequently, today's celebration honors the reality that, like Solomon, Jesus says to his mother in Heaven, "Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you," as she sits on a throne beside Him.

For these reasons, Pope Pius XII established the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary on October 11, 1954, four years following the declaration of the Assumption, through his encyclical letter Ad Caeli Reginam (The Queen of Heaven). The original date of this commemoration was May 31, which was following the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The date was changed to August 22, eight days after the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Pope Paul VI in 1969. This was mostly done to set up an octave of expectation and demonstrate how the Mother of God must inevitably become the Queen Mother of Heaven and Earth as a result of the Assumption.

Mother Mary, as Queen, not only intercedes for us but also serves as her Son's mediator. Nothing makes a loving mother happier than bestowing all the blessings of life upon her children. She yearns to be with her holy Son and all of her children in Heaven.

Even while the theological and liturgical development of today's memorial may appear intricate, its core is straightforward. Not only do we have a mother in Heaven, but we also have a Queen Mother. Mary is the Queen Mother of God, so we should approach her with simplicity and a childlike faith. We must run to our loving mother in times of need, just like a little child would, never doubting her love, care, or protection. She is our sweet delight, our hope, our sanctuary, and our protector. Her maternal love is unparalleled, and her affection is flawless.