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-fifth invocation: Queen of Confessors, 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 Confessors.” Who are the “Confessors”? There are two main understanding of who the Confessors are, one ancient, the other more modern. The ancient or classic understanding of Confessors, of whom Our Lady is Queen, refers to those who confess or profess the saving faith publicly, even suffering persecution, imprisonment, exile, torture, forced labor or the like. Notable saintly Confessors are Martin of Tours (+397), Maximus of Constantinople (+662), and Edward King of England (+1005). As a group, the Confessors are distinct from the Martyrs who are killed in odium fidei (hatred for the Faith) and Virgins. The more modern understanding of Confessors has to do with the priests who hear our Confession as distinct from those who confess (who are called “penitents”). Among these Confessors, Saint John Vianney (+1859) who would spend up to sixteen hours a day hearing confessions, Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (+1968) who would often spend at least eight hours a day hearing confessions and Saint Josemaria Escriva (+1975) are notable. Saint Josemaria wrote about Confession in Furrow (45): “You wrote to tell me that you have at last gone to confession and that you experienced the humiliation of having to open the sewer — that is what you say — of your life to “a man”. When will you get rid of that feeling of vain self-esteem? You will then go to confession extremely happy to show yourself as you are to “that man”, who, being anointed, is a Christ — Christ himself — and gives you absolution, God’s forgiveness.”
Saint Mary, Our Lady, is Queen of Confessors, those who suffer for professing the Faith as well as those who grant us absolution. Our Lady kept the Faith all her days on Earth and now shares in the reward of the Confessors as their Queen. Our Lady intercedes for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Our Lady, Queen of Confessors, is also Queen of the Clergy and Mother of Priests, interceding for them to be firm and gentle shepherds after the Heart of her Son. If we die a Martyr’s death, Mary is our Queen. If there are no persecutions she is still our Queen so long as we continuously safeguard and keep confessing the Faith. May Marian devotion strengthen our Faith.
Father John Arthur Orr