The Regina Caeli: The Easter Antiphon to Our Lady

The Regina Caeli — "Queen of Heaven" — is the Marian antiphon of the Easter season. From Easter Sunday until Pentecost, the Church lays aside the Angelus and sings instead this short hymn of paschal joy, in which all creation calls upon the Mother of God to rejoice because her Son is risen. It takes its name from its first two Latin words, and it is prayed standing — for one does not kneel in the season of the Resurrection.

The Regina Caeli prayer (full text)

Below is the Regina Caeli in English and in Latin, followed by the versicle, response, and the closing collect, exactly as they are prayed in the traditional Roman use.

Regina Caeli in English

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia ;
for He whom thou didst merit to bear, alleluia,
hath risen as He said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. For the Lord hath truly risen, 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 the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Regina Caeli in Latin

Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia :
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia :
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus.

Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus; ut, per ejus Genitricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

What the Regina Caeli means

The antiphon is built on a single, radiant logic. Mary is bidden to rejoice — laetare — and the reason follows at once: the very One whom she was found worthy to carry in her womb has risen, just as He foretold. The four short lines move from her sorrow at the foot of the Cross to the dawn of Easter, and each is sealed with alleluia, the cry of praise the Church suppresses throughout Lent and pours out again at the Resurrection.

There is an ancient delicacy here. A mother's grief at the death of her child is the deepest of human wounds; the Church does not pretend it was nothing, but proclaims that it is now overturned. "Pray for us to God, alleluia" — having shared most fully in her Son's Passion and triumph, the Mother of the Risen Lord is asked to intercede for those still on the way.

The closing collect draws out the petition: that the joy given to the world at Easter may not pass with the season but ripen, through Mary's intercession, into "the joys of everlasting life."

When the Regina Caeli is prayed

The Regina Caeli is proper to Eastertide — that is, from Easter Sunday through Pentecost Sunday inclusive. During those fifty days it does two distinct things.

As the final Marian antiphon of the day

In the Divine Office, one of the four seasonal antiphons to Our Lady is sung at the close of Compline, the Church's night prayer. From Easter to Pentecost that antiphon is the Regina Caeli. (You can read about the office it crowns in what is the Divine Office.)

In place of the Angelus

This is the point most of the faithful know best. Outside Eastertide, the Angelus is prayed three times a day — morning, noon, and evening — at the sound of the bell. But throughout the Easter season the Angelus is set aside and the Regina Caeli takes its place at those same hours. The change is not a mere substitution of words; it is a change of posture and of mood. The Angelus is prayed kneeling, in quiet meditation on the Incarnation; the Regina Caeli is prayed standing, because in the Resurrection the Church stands upright in hope.

How to pray the Regina Caeli

There is no complexity to it. Pray it standing, as a sign of paschal joy. One person — or one's own voice in private — sings or says the antiphon, "Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia," through to "Pray for us to God, alleluia." Then comes the versicle and its response, and finally the collect, "Let us pray... O God, who through the resurrection of Thy Son..." closing with the Amen.

When prayed in common, the leader gives the versicle ("Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia") and all answer ("For the Lord hath truly risen, alleluia"), and the leader alone says the collect. Prayed alone, you simply carry both parts. The whole takes under a minute, yet it tethers the day — morning, noon, and night — to the central fact of the faith: Resurrexit, sicut dixit. He is risen, as He said.

"Regina caeli, laetare": the opening words

The antiphon is known by its first two Latin words, Regina caeli — "Queen of heaven" — and it is from the third word, laetare ("rejoice"), that its whole character flows. Some old books and indexes list it under the fuller incipit Regina caeli laetare, and you may meet the same Latin reversed as caeli Regina; both point to the one antiphon. The imperative laetare is not a gentle invitation but a command of joy addressed to the Mother of God: she who stood beneath the Cross is now bidden to be glad, "for He whom thou didst merit to bear... hath risen as He said." The word should not be confused with Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, which takes its name from a different text (the Introit Laetare Ierusalem). Here laetare is spoken to Our Lady alone, and the cause of her gladness is the empty tomb.

Why so many churches are named "Regina Caeli"

Because the antiphon is among the best-loved Marian texts of the Latin Church, its opening words have long been borrowed as a title for parishes, churches, chapels, religious houses, and hermitages dedicated to Our Lady. To name a church Regina Caeli is to place it under the patronage of Mary as Queen of Heaven and to claim for it the paschal joy of the antiphon. The title belongs to the same devotional vocabulary as Salve Regina ("Hail, Holy Queen") and Stella Maris ("Star of the Sea"); it does not denote a particular feast or apparition, but simply honours the Blessed Virgin under one of her most ancient liturgical titles. When you see the name over a parish door or on a hermitage, it is this Easter antiphon — and the Queen it salutes — that is being invoked.

A printable Regina Caeli (PDF and pocket card)

Many of the faithful like to keep the Regina Caeli on a card or printed sheet so they can pray it at the three daily hours through Eastertide without searching for the words. The full text in English and Latin given above — antiphon, versicle, response, and collect — is everything you need; copy it onto a single page and you have a complete prayer card. The whole antiphon is short enough to commit to memory within a day or two of praying it, which is the older custom: the words are meant to rise to the lips at the bell, not to be read. In the Iter Fidei app the Regina Caeli is set out in Latin and English with audio, so it can be prayed or learned by heart wherever you are.

A word on its history

Tradition has long associated the Regina Caeli with a Roman procession on an Easter morning, when Saint Gregory the Great is said to have heard angels sing the first three lines and added the fourth, "Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia," himself. Whatever the truth of the legend, the antiphon is woven through the medieval liturgical books and has been the Easter song of the Latin Church for well over a thousand years. It belongs to the same family of seasonal Marian antiphons as the Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina) of ordinary time, and it shares the spirit of praise found in the Magnificat, Our Lady's own canticle of joy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Regina Caeli prayer?

The Regina Caeli is a short Marian antiphon — "Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia" — in which the Church calls on the Mother of God to rejoice because her Son is risen from the dead. It is one of the four seasonal antiphons to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is the one proper to the Easter season.

When is the Regina Caeli prayed instead of the Angelus?

From Easter Sunday through Pentecost Sunday inclusive — the fifty days of Eastertide. During that whole season the Regina Caeli replaces the Angelus at the three daily hours of morning, noon, and evening. Outside Eastertide, the Angelus returns.

Is the Regina Caeli prayed standing or kneeling?

Standing. Unlike the Angelus, which is prayed kneeling, the Regina Caeli is always prayed standing, as a sign of paschal joy in the Resurrection. The Church does not kneel during the season of the Risen Christ.

What does "Regina Caeli, laetare" mean?

It is Latin for "Queen of Heaven, rejoice." Regina caeli means "Queen of heaven," a title of Our Lady, and laetare is the command "rejoice." It opens the antiphon and sets its entire tone of Easter gladness, sealed in each line with alleluia.

Why does the Regina Caeli say "alleluia" so many times?

Alleluia is the Church's great cry of praise, suppressed throughout the penitential season of Lent. Its fourfold repetition in the Regina Caeli marks the overflow of joy at the Resurrection — the word the Church had silenced now returns, again and again, in the song of Easter.

How do I get the Regina Caeli prayer in English and Latin to print?

The complete text is given above in both languages — the antiphon "Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia," its versicle and response, and the closing collect, with the Latin Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia alongside. It fits easily on a single page, so you can copy it onto a card to pray at morning, noon, and evening through Eastertide. In the Iter Fidei app the same text is available in Latin and English with audio.

What does "Regina Caeli" mean and why is it a church name?

Regina caeli is Latin for "Queen of Heaven," a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is both the opening of the Easter antiphon and one of Our Lady's oldest liturgical titles, which is why so many parishes, churches, chapels, and hermitages are named Regina Caeli — they are placed under Mary's patronage as Queen of Heaven. The name carries no separate feast or apparition; it simply honours the Mother of God under the title sung in this antiphon.

Iter Fidei serves the prayers, psalms and devotions, in Latin and English with audio. Download it here.

Sources. The text of the Regina Caeli, its versicle, response, and collect, follows the traditional Roman use of the Divine Office; the English rendering is the customary traditional translation. The seasonal use replacing the Angelus follows the rubrics of the Roman Breviary.