Prayer “Most Holy Queen of Heaven”: origin, author, and sources

# The Prayer ‘Augusta Queen of Heaven’

Few Marian prayers from the 19th century have achieved the widespread popularity and spiritual depth of the “Augusta Queen of Heaven.” Recited in shrines, recommended by exorcists, and printed in hundreds of thousands of copies, this prayer invokes the Mother of God under the precise title Sovereign Lady of Angels, and calls for the deployment of celestial legions against the powers of darkness.

## The Text of the Prayer ‘Augusta Queen of Heaven’

The Portuguese version widely circulated reads as follows:

> “Augusta Queen of Heaven, Sovereign Lady of Angels, who from the beginning received from God the power and mission to crush the head of Satan, we humbly ask that you send the heavenly legions to pursue, combat, and silence demons everywhere, and cast them into the abyss. Who is like God? O good and tender Mother, you will always be our love and hope. O divine Mother, send the Holy Angels to defend and repel from me this cruel enemy. Holy Angels and Archangels, defend us, guard us. Amen.”

The title opening the supplication is not merely a devotional ornament. “Queen of Angels” translates the ancient liturgical invocation *Regina Angelorum*, present in the Loretto Litanies and extended in the antiphons *Ave Regina Cælorum, Ave Domina Angelorum* (Hail, Queen of Heaven, Hail, Lady of Angels). The prayer condenses into a request what the Church already sang in praise.

## The Author: Blessed Louis-Édouard Cestac

The ‘Augusta Queen of Heaven’ has a well-documented historical author, the French priest *Louis-Édouard Cestac*. Born in Bayonne on January 6, 1801, he dedicated his life to rescuing abandoned women spiritually and physically. He founded the Notre-Dame-du-Refuge work in Anglet and, in 1842, with his sister *Élise*, the Congregation of Servants of Mary. He died in Anglet on March 27, 1868.

# The Cause and Beatification of Father Cestac

His cause followed the ordinary path within the Church. He was declared Venerable in 1908 by Pope Pius X, and beatified on May 31, 2015, at the Cathedral of Bayonne by Cardinal Angelo Amato, acting on behalf of Pope Francis. It is important to correct a common misconception online that misrepresents his beatification as occurring in the 1990s; the correct date is 2015.

## III. The Origin: January 13, 1864

According to tradition recorded in his biography, on January 13, 1864, Father Cestac experienced a moment as if struck by a ray of light, witnessing demons scattered across the earth. Simultaneously, he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who revealed that the infernal powers were unleashed in the world and that it was time to invoke her as Queen of Angels, requesting him to send celestial legions against them.

When the priest questioned why she would not send angels without being asked, he received the command to print and disseminate the prayer. The Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven, emerged from this moment of combat, and Cestac had nearly five hundred thousand copies made, distributed free of charge.

## IV. Ecclesiastical Approvals and Theological Sources

The prayer did not circulate outside the Church’s realm. On January 13, 1864, Cestac wrote to Cardinal Clément Villecourt, requesting him to present the text to the Pope. On February 17, 1864, Villecourt relayed the response from Pope Pius IX, who found no reason to reject prayers intended to frustrate the devil’s designs. The bishops of Bayonne, Tarbes, Aire, Tours, and Cambrai also approved the prayer.

In the 20th century, Saint Pius X granted indulgences for the prayer in 1908, and it was included in the *Raccolta*, the official collection of indulgenced prayers, under number 389.

More importantly than the chronology is recognizing the source from which the content flows. The prayer is a biblical and liturgical mosaic. The central image, crushing the head of Satan, originates from Genesis 3:15, where the descendant of the woman crushes the serpent’s head. The scene of legions continues the imagery from Revelation 12, depicting the woman, the dragon, and the archangel Michael’s battle in the sky.

The exclamation “Who is like God?” translates the Latin *Quis ut Deus?*, which in turn renders the Hebrew *Mî kā-ʾĒl* (who is like God), the name of Saint Michael transformed into a battle cry. The prayer belongs to the same family as the lion-like supplication to Saint Michael dating back to 1886. These are the sources that support the Queen of Heaven, and place her in the horizon of *Angelology and Demonology in Catholic Doctrine*.

Conclusion

Understanding the origin of “Queen of Heaven” does not weaken it, but strengthens it. Knowing that she emerged in 1864 from the faith of a priest later canonized, approved by Pope Pius IX and indulgenced by Saint Pius X, is to grasp that prayer is not invoking the unknown.

Praying to the Queen of Heaven is joining one’s voice to the constant voice of the Church, which recognizes in Mary the Queen of Angels and in her the already-won victory over the serpent. To place this supplication among the great Marian signs, see also *Marian Apparitions in Papal Doctrine*.

References

• Le vénérable Louis-Édouard Cestac, by P. Bordarrampé. Paris: J. de Gigord, 1925.
• The Raccolta, or Manual of Indulgences. New York: Benziger, 1957, prayer n. 389.
• Congregation of Servants of Mary. Available at servantesdemarie.com.
• Our Lady of La Salette. Apparition of September 19, 1846, approved by the Bishop of Grenoble in 1851.

See our comprehensive guide on *Catholic Angelology*.