"Regina caeli" (; Queen of Heaven) is a musical antiphon addressed to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

that is used in the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

of the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

of the Catholic Church during the

Easter season Eastertide (also known as Eastertime or the Easter season) or Paschaltide (also known as Paschaltime or the Paschal season) is a festal season in the liturgical year of Christianity that focuses on celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. ...

, from Easter Sunday until

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...

. During this season, it is the

Marian antiphon Marian hymns are Christian songs focused on Mary, mother of Jesus. They are used in both devotional and liturgical services, particularly by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. They are often used in the mont ...

that ends

Compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer service (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wo ...

(Night Prayer) and it takes the place of the traditional thrice-daily '' Angelus'' prayer. In the past, the spelling Regina coeli was sometimes used, but this spelling is no longer found in official liturgical books.

Text

The antiphon itself consists of four lines:

, as revised in 1969 after the Second Vatican Council, ends with the antiphon alone. In the earlier

Roman Breviary The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notati ...

and in recitation at Angelus time during Eastertide, the following versicle (℣) and

response Response may refer to: *Call and response (music), musical structure *Reaction (disambiguation) *Request–response **Output (computing), Output or response, the result of telecommunications input *Response (liturgy), a line answering a versicle ...

(℟) and the following prayer are added to the antiphon: A verse translation in 7.7.7.7 metre used in some

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

churches is usually sung to the

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

known as Easter Hymn, "

Christ the Lord is Risen Today "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" is a Christian hymn associated with Easter. Most of the stanzas were written by Charles Wesley, and the hymn appeared under the title "Hymn for Easter Day" in ''Hymns and Sacred Poems'' by Charles and John Wes ...

" (Jesus Christ is risen today) or the hymn tune "Ave Virgo Virginum" (Hail Virgin of virgins): :℣. Joy to thee, O Queen of Heaven. Alleluia! :℟. He whom Thou wast meet to bear. Alleluia! :℣. As He promised hath arisen. Alleluia! :℟. Pour for us to God thy prayer. Alleluia! :℣. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. :℟. For the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia. :Let us pray: :O God, who through the resurrection of Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ didst vouchsafe to give joy to the world: grant, we beseech thee, that through His Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. ℟. Amen.

History

The authorship of "Regina caeli" is unknown. It has been traced back to the 12th century and is found in an antiphonary of c. 1200 now in St Peter's Basilica, Rome. In the first half of the 13th century it was in Franciscan use, after compline. Jacobus de Voragine's thirteenth-century '' Golden Legend'' includes a story that, during a procession with an image of the Blessed Virgin that was held to pray for the ending of a pestilence in Rome, angels were heard singing the first three lines of the "Regina caeli" antiphon, to which Pope Gregory the Great (590−604) thereupon added the fourth, after which he saw atop what in consequence is called the

Castel Sant'Angelo The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausol ...

a vision of an angel sheathing his sword, thus signifying the cessation of the plague.

Polyphonic settings

As well as the plainsong melodies (a simple and an ornate form) associated with it, the "Regina caeli" has, since the 16th century, often been provided with polyphonic settings.

Pierre de Manchicourt Pierre de Manchicourt (c. 1510 – 5 October 1564) was a Renaissance composer of the Franco-Flemish School. De Manchicourt was born at Béthune. Little is known of his early life other than that he was a choirboy at Arras in 1525; later in life h ...

's setting was published in 1539. Tomás Luis de Victoria composed a setting for five voices in 1572 and another for eight voices in 1576. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina also composed at least two settings of the antiphon. A setting for four voices by Charles de Courbe dates from 1622, and Lully's

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

''Regina coeli, laetare'' dates from 1684. 7 ''Regina caeli'', H 16, H 30, H 31, H 32, H.32 a, , H.32 b, H 46, (1670–1680) have been composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. There are three settings by the young

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

( K. 108, K. 127, and K. 276), and one by Brahms ( Op. 37 #3).

References

External links

* * Hugh Henry
"Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven)"
in '' Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1911) * R. J. Snow
"Regina Caeli Laetare"
in ''

New Catholic Encyclopedia The ''New Catholic Encyclopedia'' (NCE) is a multi-volume reference work on Roman Catholic history and belief edited by the faculty of The Catholic University of America. The NCE was originally published by McGraw-Hill in 1967. A second edition, ...

'', via

encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia.com (also known as HighBeam Encyclopedia) is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works including pictures and videos. History The website was launched by ...

{{Catholic Prayers Marian devotions Roman Catholic prayers Catholic liturgy Marian antiphons Titles of Mary Latin-language Christian hymns

Text

History

Polyphonic settings

See also

References

External links