Rex Aternae Gloriae

"When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony." - Quas Primas

​"Christians have ever hailed our Divine Lord as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It was as a King that the representatives of the Eastern world came to adore Him in the manger; it was as a King, albeit not knowing what he did, that the official representative of the western world lifted Him up on the Cross. The patriarchs and prophets of the old dispensation foretold His royalty; He spoke constantly of His Kingdom: when asked plainly whether He were in truth a King by the representative of Caesar, He acknowledged that such indeed He was, though of a Kingdom not of this world." - Dom Gueranger

Recognizing the manifold evils which humanity suffers, most of which are caused by man's rejection of our dear Lord Jesus Christ and His holy law, the saintly Pope Pius IX declared that he could see no better remedy to the problems and strife of the world than the restoration of the Empire of Jesus Christ. In Quas Primas, the encyclical establishing the feast of Christ the King in 1925, His Holiness gave us a means of making reparation to the King of Hearts who is so often rejected by His beloved subjects. The Holy Father placed the feast at the end of the liturgical year to set "the crowning glory upon the mysteries of the life of Christ already commemorated during the year. In the encyclical, He clearly articulates the foundations of the feast as found in Scripture and Tradition, and as indicated by reason.

"It has long been a common custom to give to Christ the metaphorical title of "King," because of the high degree of perfection whereby he excels all creatures. So he is said to reign "in the hearts of men," both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also because he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind. He reigns, too, in the wills of men, for in him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by his grace and inspiration he so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavors. He is King of hearts, too, by reason of his "charity which exceedeth all knowledge." And his mercy and kindness which draw all men to him, for never has it been known, nor will it ever be, that man be loved so much and so universally as Jesus Christ. But if we ponder this matter more deeply, we cannot but see that the title and the power of King belongs to Christ as man in the strict and proper sense too. For it is only as man that he may be said to have received from the Father "power and glory and a kingdom," since the Word of God, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created." - Quas Primas

Christ, King of the Universe,

Have mercy on us!

Christ, King and Center of all hearts,

Reign in our hearts!