The history of the title of "Our Lady, Queen of Peace" dates to the early 16th century when Jean de Joyeuse presented a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary to his bride, Françoise e Voisins, on their wedding day. Unlike other statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary was depicted holding an olive branch in her right hand and the Prince of Peace - Jesus Christ - seated in her left arm. The statue became a family heirloom that was passed down to Jean's grandson, Henri Joyeuse, who joined the Capuchin's in Paris, France. The statue remained with the Capuchins in Paris for the next two-hundred years. It was at this time that the statue was re-named: Notre Dame de Paix - Our Lady of Peace.
In 1657, due to the growth of the Capuchin community, a new chapel was built, and the statue was properly blessed and enthroned in that chapel by the Papal Nuncio and in the presence of King Louis XIV on July 9, 1657. Pope Alexander VII would later designate July 9 as the date for the Capuchin's to celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Peace. No doubt, peace was greatly desired between Pope Alexander VII and France, especially after the pope's condemnation of Jansenism on October 16, 1656, in the bull Ad Sanctam Beati Petri sedem. Jansenism had a distorted and negative view of humanity and even taught that to say that Christ died for all men would be a semi-pelagian error. This Jansenist view was condemned by Alexander VII to uphold the goodness of humanity, especially considering the redemption wrought by Christ. Yet, at this time in France, Jansenism had made many in-roads especially at the Sorbonne and among the intelligentia such as Blaise Pascal. Thus, the action of enthroning our Lady of Peace in the presence of the King of France, at that time, was quite a bold act and one that surely sought Mary's intercession to bring peace to this theological error of Jansenism.
In 1789, amidst the turmoil of the violent and anti-Catholic French Revolution, the Capuchins were forced-out of their monastery in Paris. Secretly, they fled with the statue so that it would not be destroyed by the impious revolutionaries. The statue was kept, in Paris, and entrusted to a diocesan priest, Fr. Peter Coudrin, who kept it hidden until the revolution was over.
In 1800, Fr. Coudrin and Henriette Aymer de Chevaliere became the co-founders of an institute of sisters, brothers and priests: the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Coudrin gave the statue to Mother Aymer who brought it to their chapel in the Picpus district of Paris on May 6, 1806. From this time on, Our Lady of Peace was the patroness of the congregation.
On August 21, 1879, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Knock, Ireland. In this apparition of the Blessed Mother, she did not say anything but appeared alongside the Lamb of God upon an altar with adoring angels, Sts. Joseph and John the Evangelist. The apparition occurred in public in the town of Knock on the eve of the Feast of the Coronation of Mary, she is referred to as the “Queen of Peace”, especially in the song that tells of the apparition: "Lady of Knock". This apparition is commemorated with a feast on August 17.
On July 9, 1906, in the name of Pope St. Pius X, the Archbishop of Paris ceremonially crowned the original statue of Our Lady of Peace, thus Our Lady, Queen of Peace. Later, during the terror of the First World War, Pope Benedict XV added the title: Our Lady Queen of Peace to the Litany of Loretto.
Returning to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, this congregation were amongst the early missionaries to Hawai'i. There, they established the first Catholic church on the island chain and dedicated that church to Our Lady of Peace. When on January 25, 1941, the Diocese of Honolulu was erected by Pope Pius XII, the Cathedral was dedicated to Our Lady of Peace - Malia o ka Malu Hale Pule Nui. It is due to this date that Our Lady of Peace is celebrated on January 24 (January 25 being the Conversion of St. Paul) in the United States. However, less than eleven months later the United States would be brought into the Second World War when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawai'i.
After the Second World War ended, it became popular for celebrations of the “Queen of Peace” to be celebrated around September 1, the beginning of the Second World War, or September 2, the end of the Second World War. However, these celebrations mostly occur in Europe.
On June 25, 1981, the messages of Our Lady, who identifies herself as the “Queen of Peace” began in Medjugorje. Granted, Our Lady’s message of “peace, peace, peace occurred on June 26, however the 25th is the day that is celebrated.
In 1989, Pope St. John Paul II dedicated a basilica to Our Lady of Peace in Cote d'Ivorie. Also of note is the EDSA shrine in the Philippines dedicated to Our Lady, Queen of Peace.
On June 25, 2024, during a special parish year for peace and joy, for the first time in the history of the Diocese of Paterson, a Mass for the Solemnity of Our Lady Queen of Peace was celebrated, here, at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Branchville, by the Most Rev. Kevin J. Sweeney with numerous concelebrating priests, deacons, seventeen altar servers, and hundreds of our parishioners. The Mass was the culmination of two days of liturgical celebrations and special Masses (for the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Right to Life, and for Deliverance), youth events, a key note address on the Right to Life by Judge Andrew Napolitano, and a special address on the "Queen of Peace" from Ivanka Petrovic and Ivan Dragicivec (one of the visionaries of Medjugorje), devotions including many Rosaries and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and continuous Eucharistic Adoration for the two days (June 24 and June 25).
On September 19, 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, issued a doctrinal note: "The Queen of Peace": Note About the Spiritual Exeperience Connected with Medjugorje, in which the title of the "Queen of Peace" is highly extolled: "While the Gospa [i.e., Lady] most frequently ascribes to herself the name 'Mother', according to various expressions (Mother of the Church, of God, of the righteous, of the saints, etc.), the most original title in the messages is that of 'Queen of Peace' (cf. Message of 16 June 1983). This title offers a vision that is theocentric and very rich in the true meaning of peace. According to this understanding, peace signifies not only the absence of war; it also has a spiritual, family, and social meaning. Indeed, this peace is achieved primarily through prayer, but it is also spread through missionary efforts. One of the prevailing characteristics of the spirituality that emerges from the messages is that of trust in God through a total trust in Mary, in order to become instruments of peace in the world. (Note, 6)"