Regina caeli

"Regina caeli" (Ecclesiastical Latin: [reˈdʒina ˈtʃeli]; Queen of Heaven) is a musical antiphon addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary that is used in the liturgy of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church during the Easter season, from Easter Sunday until Pentecost.

In the earlier Roman Breviary and in recitation at Angelus time during Eastertide, the following versicle and the following prayer are added to the antiphon: ℣.

Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus, ut, per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae.

O God, who have been pleased to gladden the world by the Resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we pray, that through his Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may receive the joys of everlasting life.

[citation needed] 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 would consequently become known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, a vision of an angel sheathing his sword, thus signifying the cessation of the plague.

[6] 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.

[12] Benedict XIV established the same indulgences as the Angelus, i.e. those granted by Benedict XIII with the indult of 14 September 1724: plenary indulgence once a month, on a day of your choice, to those who, having confessed, contrited and communicated, had devoutly recited the prayer in the morning, at noon and in the evening, at the ringing of the bell, and 100 days of indulgence in the same way to those who had recited it in the other days, with the faculty not to lose the indulgence for those who recited the Angelus without knowing the Regina Caeli and subsequent faculty granted on 5 December 1727 to the religious busy at the ringing of the bell to recite the prayer at another time.

[13] Leo XIII (1878-1903) modified the conditions for obtaining the gift of indulgence, making them easier.

[15] The Enchiridion Indulgentiarum currently includes a partial indulgence for the faithful who recite the Regina Caeli in the three prescribed moments of the day during the Easter season.