Each religious institute has a devotion to Mary under a particular title, a devotion that encapsulates their spirituality. One of the first things one notices in entering a Pauline chapel is the beautiful image of Mary Queen of Apostles that our Founder offered us. In this image of Mary holding Jesus out to the world, each Daughter of St. Paul can see the ideal of her own life and mission. We too find our greatest joy in offering Jesus to each person we meet and to each person who comes to know us through social media, podcasts, newsletters, music and books.
Our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, had a deep spirituality that was both profoundly apostolic and Marian. And Mary is the model of living our apostolic vocation in a truly maternal way. His favorite title for Mary, “Queen of Apostles,” was, he felt, the term which best expresses Mary’s important role in the Church’s mission of evangelization.
So Mary is an apostle first because she gave Jesus to the world. As his mother, she had a unique vocation and gave Jesus to us in a way that no one else ever could. But on the spiritual level, every baptized Christian is also called to bring Jesus to the world today. We could say, then, that Mary is our model for evangelization. As Alberione put it:
“By nature Mary is essentially an apostle. She came to give Jesus, to bring life to souls, to be mediatrix and distributrix of grace. Mary came to bring us the Life—Christ.”
But why the title Mary, Queen of Apostles?
It’s not that he made this title up so that we would have our own devotion to Mary. It is a very biblical title, and in fact it is the first devotion to Mary that we find in the Church. It comes from the Acts of the Apostles, where we see Mary in the Upper Room with the apostles, after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, awaiting the Holy Spirit. Let’s read what the Acts of the Apostles tells us:
When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers (Acts 1:13-14).
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim (Acts 2:1-4).
In this passage, we see Mary accompanying the apostles in prayer as they await the Holy Spirit. Because of this, she is called the “Queen of the Apostles.”
Our community has many Marian devotions: the Rosary, the chaplet to the Queen of Apostles, the sung novena to Mary before the feast of the Queen of Apostles on the day before Pentecost, and a special devotion to Mary at the Visitation to Saint Elizabeth. But most especially, our Founder told us that our life is to be lived “under the gaze of the Queen of Apostles.”
How we live under Mary’s gaze
The phrase “under the gaze” of Mary indicates that he saw everything happening under Mary’s gaze and direction. The works of the apostolate and the development of his religious institutes were all done under Mary’s “direction.” Alberione saw Mary as a mother who cares about everything that concerns her children. For him, Marian devotion was not so much a matter of particular practices or special types of devotion. Although he was greatly devoted to the rosary and wrote a number of Marian prayers, his Marian spirituality was more a matter of living in a Marian “climate.” It was more a matter of a profoundly Marian orientation of life.
Living under Mary’s gaze—this is the essence of our Marian spirituality. Living under someone’s gaze means living in that person’s presence. For Alberione, Mary is present in the life of each Christian through every stage, from birth to death. Because presence implies relationship, living in someone’s presence means being in a relationship with that person. Mary’s presence is an active force.
Mary’s key role in our lives
The main goal of our life is that Christ be formed in us to the point where we can say: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me” (Gal 2:20): here Mary plays a key role. Just as she formed Jesus in her womb, bringing the Word Incarnate into the world, so she forms Jesus in us. Alberione wrote:
As Mary carried Jesus in her womb from the moment of the angel’s words, so she bore the Church in her heart from the moment she heard her Son’s words: “Woman, behold your son.” She carried the child Jesus in her arms; she carried the newborn Church in her arms.
Alberione compares this to a new incarnation of Christ: through Mary, we are transformed into Jesus.
Mary as mother, teacher, and queen
She is Mother of the apostles—of the original apostles and of all of us who are called to be apostles—because she is the Mother of Jesus, the first Apostle of the Father. She became the Mother of apostles at the Annunciation, and she was proclaimed the Mother of apostles on Calvary when Jesus gave her to the Apostle John. Blessed James said that Jesus was referring to all of us when he said to Mary, “Woman, behold your son.”
Mary is the Queen of Apostles because she is the Mother of the King, Jesus, and the Mother of the King is always the Queen. Blessed James says that she is the Queen of every apostolate—of the interior life, of suffering, of prayer, of evangelization, of youth, and of the media. A queen has things and people in her care, that is, she is responsible for caring for her kingdom and her subjects. Mary as Queen has us in her care, us as apostles and the apostolate, the mission.
Lastly, Mary is not only Mother, not only Queen, but also Teacher of the apostles. Mary teaches us how to do the apostolate—she teaches us how to give Jesus to the world. If you look at Mary in the Gospels, she is always giving Jesus to the world. Blessed James says that she gives Jesus to Elizabeth at the Visitation; she gives him to the shepherds and the Magi in Bethlehem; she gives Him to people in his public ministry; to the world on Calvary; to the disciples in the Upper Room awaiting the Holy Spirit.
Prayer to Mary, Queen of Apostles
O Mary, Star of the Sea, my gentle sovereign, our life and Queen of Peace, how great and how wonderful the day on which the Holy Trinity crowned you Queen of heaven and earth, dispenser of all graces, our most lovable Mother–what a triumph for you! What happiness for the angels, for the saints, for the earth, for purgatory! I know, O Mary, that those who love you will be saved, and that those who love you greatly will be holy and will participate one day in your glory in heaven. I do not doubt your clemency nor your power; I fear my inconstancy in praying to you. Obtain for me perseverance. O Mary, be my salvation! Do not permit me to fall; do not leave me even for an instant, O Mother. It is consoling to cast the first glance upon you in the morning, to walk under your mantle during the day, to fall asleep under your gaze at night. O Mary, to you I consecrate my entire life; pray for me now and in the final battle at the hour of my death. Receive my soul when it breathes its last, and do not leave me until I kneel before your throne in heaven, to love you for all eternity. O Mary, my Queen, my advocate, my sweetness, obtain for me holy perseverance.
Queen of Apostles, pray for us.