Is Mary described as 'The queen of heaven' in the Roman Catholic Church?
The only mention of the queen of heaven is in Jeremiah and refers to a pagan queen so I wonder at appropriateness of this expression. It was certainly never the way that Jesus or his disciples spoke of Mary. In fact although we can be sure that Jesus loved his mother he put the perspective on the matter when he said "Who is my mother and sister and brother?" He concluded that those who faithfully followed him were his mother, sister and brother, for this was the priority that they should believe.
Jeremiah 7
18 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 44
17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing Goethe 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.
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.
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?
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.
As the LORD God totally condemns worship of false gods, and the 'queen' in Jeremiah is one, we can wonder at such disobedience to God's word.
Farsight: Jesus is not mentioned as king of heaven but is to return as king to the earth. See Revelation 22. We are told that at this present time the Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of his Father as a mediator and great high priest. See Strong's Bible Concordance.
Mary is the modern day equivalent of the OT queen of heaven. In Revelation, Rome and the Roman organization are called "mystery Babylon" because they preserved and maintain old Babylonian pagan practices such as this.
The name for the OT queen of heaven was Astarte, Ashtoreth, Ishtar, Eostre and others. Note how similar all these name are to "Easter."
She is the Queen because Jesus is the King of the David Family.. but she is not powerful... Only the Holy Trinity can give the divine graces to any saint to performance any miracle.
It all seems a bit Egyptian if you ask me - Horus, Isis & Osiris...
Isis was also known as the Mother of GOD!
I'm from Liverpool, and it would certainly explain why the Roman Catholic Cathedral not only looks something that would not look out of place in Giza, it also has smaller pyramids built on it...
Yes, Mary is described as "the Queen of heaven" in the Catholic Catechism. I would give more details but it's way past my bedtime and the old eyes are closing. I come back tomorrow and edit.
My daily Bible reading is in Jeremiah now and I covered chapters 38-44 this morning.
EDIT: The following is taken directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I apologize for the length but it is necessary to understand what the Catholics believe and live by so we can better understand them.
The Catholic church reveres Mary to the point of being equal with the Godhead.
Paragraph 6. Mary - Mother of Christ
963 Since the Virgin Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. "The Virgin Mary ... is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer. She is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ' ... since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head." 502 "Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church." 503
I. Mary's Motherhood with Regard to the Church
Wholly united with her Son ...
964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the times of Christ's virginal conception up to his death"; 504 it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:
Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: "Woman, behold your son." 505
965 After her Son's Ascension, Mary" aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers." 506 In her association with the apostles and several women," we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation." 507
.... also in her Assumption
966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, 491 was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death." 508 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity, in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.
... she is our Mother in the order of grace
967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to ever prompting of the Holy Spirit, the 2679 Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and ... wholly unique member of the Church"; 507 indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (types)510 of the Church.
968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "in a wholly singular way she cooperated by her restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace." 511
969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues 149, 501 uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold 1370 intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."512
970 "Mary's function as mother of man in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men ... flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it." 513 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.:514
II. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
971 "All generations will call me blessed"; "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship."515 The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs ... This very special devotion ... differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration."516 The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.517
III. Mary - Eschatological Icon of the Church
972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints,"518 the Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as he own mother.
In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.519
IN BRIEF
973 By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body.
974 The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body.
975 "We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ" (Paul VI, CPG 15).
Yes, she is called that, but it has nothing to do with the verses in Jeremiah. It is pure logic.
In a Davidic kingdom (of which Jesus was of course in that lineage), because originally the king had many wives, it was the mother of the king who was given the title of queen. This allowed those polygamist kings the ability to keep from playing favorites since otherwise he would have to pick one wife out of many to be queen. This tradition continued long after polygamy ended, and the Church follows that tradition on through the Davidic lineage all the way to Jesus.
And since Jesus is the king of heaven, and Mary is his mother, she is logically the queen of heaven. It is important to understand that the title ascribes her no power and is of no relation, except in name, to the verses in Jeremiah.
You will not find any reference to Mary the mother of Jesus in the New Testament as the ?queen of heaven".
The logic behind this idea is found in the papal encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam issued by Pope Pius XII who was pope between 1939 ? 1958.
?It states Mary is called the Queen of Heaven because her Son, Jesus Christ, is the King of Israel and heavenly King of the Universe. In the Hebrew tradition, the mother of the king is the queen (see queen mother).?
If you read the whole of Biblical account carefully, you will see that Jesus does not become king of anything until he establishes in the future, God?s kingdom on earth when he returns.
Jesus will be come a King when, as the prophet Isaiah foretells when he sits of the throne of his Father David.
Isaiah 9:6-7 KJV
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
This is certainly what the people expected when Jesus rode into Jerusalem
Mark 11:10 KJV
Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that comet in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
Luke 1:32 KJV
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
On 3 of the occasions Jesus told his followers about the ?kingdom of heaven? the main character always went away and then returned to establish the kingdom in the place he went away from.
Reading Matthew 20:1-16 and Matthew 25 will demonstrate this.
It is worth while noting that Jesus never talks about the ?kingdom in heaven?. Jesus consistently demonstrates he will establish God?s kingdom on earth when he will be king.
This makes the basis for the statement in the encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII and the logic in the papal encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, utter nonsense, because Jesus is not a king until the Kingdom of God is established on earth.
The idea of the Queen of Heaven has been taken from the beliefs for the Greeks, Egyptians and many other ancient religious belief scenarios. Adapted by the Roman Catholic church to make the resulting christian religion more acceptable to those that accepted this ideas.
They have made the similar adjustments to the relationships of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, introducing the trinity. Adding the concepts of heaven and hell as the alternative destinies of mankind when he dies.
The statement that ?
The name for the OT queen of heaven was Astarte, Ashtoreth, Ishtar, Eostre and others.
Note how similar all these name are to "Easter."
Whilst this is fact, the activities that the worshiper of these queens of heaven indulged in was condemned by God in the Old Testament time after time.
On this basis alone to associate Mary the mother of Jesus with theses queens of heaven is an insult.
I've read some of the answers that were given to your question and they all sound like excuses. 2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Verse 7) Ever learning and never able to grasp to the truth of the knowledge of God. Verse 13) BUT evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14) But you continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of Whom (The Holy Spirit's teaching) you have learned them. 15) And that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
The Bible is history of true stories of old, but it is representation of the same repetitive sin nature in humans today.
Ecclesiastes 1 says there is nothing new under the heavens.
God was referring to idol worship of the people through His prophet Jeremiah. Today, this chapter is just as active as then, and is condemning to those that do it today (Hebrews 4:12 - The Word of God).
If Mary Mother of the Catholics is not being referred to here in this passage for today, who then is Jeremiah talking about now? The same practices then, are being done today!
Hope, I recently read this passage and the Spirit of God told me the exact same thing. Today's religious sect of Catholics worship her for being the mother to Jesus, above Jesus. They fall and bow to a statue who has no movement or being.
She (Mary) was a human vessel used by God to carry out His salvation plan for mankind. She was just like us, for such a time as that, but is no longer in this life, yet people worship the dead and buried.
Jesus told a young man to follow Him in the chapter Matthew, but the young man wanted to go kiss his mother and father goodbye. Jesus told him, "Let the dead bury the dead". I understand that quote. It means those that we worship are dead in trespasses and sin and if we refer to them over our Master, Lord and Savior, then we are not worthy to follow Him (Jesus).
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (we are descendants from Abraham), is God alone and He will have no other gods before Him.
You hit it on the nerve, of those that practice it, and they don't won't to be exposed to the truth of God's Word.
Is Mary described as 'The queen of heaven' in the Roman Catholic Church?
