October 1 Solemnity of Our Lady, Queen and Protectress of Nigeria.

October 1 Solemnity of Our Lady, Queen and Protectress of Nigeria.

Our Lady Queen and Patroness of Nigeria is a solemnity celebrated on the date of the country’s independence. The dedication of the country to Our Lady’s protection was initiated by the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria shortly after independence in 1960. The Jesuit priests later commissioned a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus as an icon of Our Lady Queen of Nigeria.

According to Ad Caeli Reginam, the encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the Queenship of Mary “From the earliest ages of the catholic church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen”

The image of the strong protectress has very direct implications for the place of women in Nigerian society. The nation’s Christian community, dedicated to the universal dignity of every human being regardless of sex, must contend not only with pagan traditions (which leave widows destitute, their homes stripped of every possession by their husband’s family), but also with aggressive Islam in northern Nigeria, which seeks to impose the hideous Sharia code on Christians, Muslims, and pagans alike.

Following on the crises of our times, where injustice, corruption, fear, wars and brutal killings reign, we can entrust our confidence and our hope to Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, making known to her our reverence and trust in her intercession.