Regina caeli

Queen of Heaven

Level 2

An Easter hymn to Mary, learned a line at a time.

How It Works

Latin	English
Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia.	Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,	For he whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia,
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia:	has risen, as he said, alleluia:
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.	Pray to God for us, alleluia.

In Church Latin caeli sounds like CHEH-lee and Regina like reh-JEE-nah. In classical Latin they are KYE-lee and reh-GEE-nah.

Laetare ends like an infinitive, but here it is a command. It belongs to a deponent verb (Level 4), so learn it as a word for now.

Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia.
Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
Caeli means of heaven. Laetare is a command.
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia.
For he whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia.
Quem is the object of portare. Meruisti is a past form, learned whole.
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia.
He has risen, as he said, alleluia.
Resurrexit and dixit are past forms. Sicut means as.
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
Pray to God for us, alleluia.
Ora is a command. Deum is the object, and pro nobis means for us.
Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, Virgin Mary, alleluia.
Two commands to Mary. Virgo Maria is the form for calling her.

Putting heaven in the accusative.
Regina caelum.
Regina caeli.
The queen of heaven needs the form that means of: caeli. Caelum is the accusative or nominative.
Writing Deus where the antiphon has Deum.
Ora pro nobis Deus, alleluia.
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
Deum is the one being prayed to, so it is accusative. Deus is the subject form, and here it would make God the one who is addressed.

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Regina caeliLevel 2Queen of Heaven

The antiphon uses a genitive and is sung with Church sounds.

reginacaelumlaetorlaetare

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