My dear parishioners,
Peace! On the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October, 2019, Pope Francis established the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, to be observed each year on the 10th of December. At the same time Pope Francis proclaimed a Lauretan Jubilee Holy Year to run from 8 December, 2019 through 10 December, 2020. There are fifty-one invocations in the Litany of Loreto. The following is a reflection on the forty-third invocation: Queen of Apostles, pray for us.
There are thirteen various forms of Our Lady’s Queenship considered in the Litany of Loreto. Here we consider specifically what it means to say that Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God is the “Queen of Apostles.” Who are the Apostles? Sacred Scripture enumerates the Twelve Apostles: Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus” (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16). Matthias replacing Judas is recorded in Acts 1:12-26. “The apostles gathered around Jesus and brought Him news of all they had done and taught” (Mark 6:30). “Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and power to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1). The Greek word apostolos means “one sent forth” as an envoy, missionary. The word “apostles” appears sixty-one times in sixty verses. The word “apostle” appears twenty times in twenty verses in the New Testament. While not among the original Twelve, Saint Paul is recognized as an Apostle (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:1; 9:1-2; Romans 1:1; Galatians 2:8)). The “power of the keys” to bind and to loose, has been seen as a specifically apostolic power granted by the Lord Jesus to Saint Peter (and his successors) and the other apostles (and their successors; cf. Matthew 16:18-19; 18:18).
Of the sixteen documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) there is one which addresses specifically the apostolate of the laity, Apostolican Actuositatem (18 November, 1965). Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman (+1890) anticipated the Council by more than one hundred years pointing out that “the Church would look foolish without them” (the laity) and that “an intelligent, well-instructed laity” will “know their religion” “enter into it” will be able to “give an accout” of their creed, “who know so much of history that they can defend it” (cf. On the Present Position of Catholics in England (1851) “Lecture 9”; Ward, Wilfred. The Life of Cardinal Newman, London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1912, ch. 16).
Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of God is Queen of the Apostles, not only the Twelve, Matthias and Paul, their successors the Bishops, but also of all those who treasure and safeguard the apostolic faith, namely the people of God. Each of us are sent at the end of every Mass to spread the peace and faith we have received, with Our Lady.
Father John Arthur Orr