The titles “Our Lady of Peace” and “Queen of Peace” are among the most popular designations to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary throughout Christendom, and especially within the Roman Catholic Church. In art, the Blessed Mother is represented under these titles as holding both a dove and an olive branch – recognized symbols of peace.

Several stories accompany these titles. In one account from South America, tradition maintains that in 1682, several merchants found a heavy, abandoned box on the shore of El Salvador’s “Mar de Sur”, which they were unable to open. Believing it to contain a treasure of great value, they carried it to the city of San Miguel to find a way to unlock it. They tied it onto the back of a donkey, intending to bring it to the local civil authorities, but as they passed the parish church, the donkey stopped and lay on the ground, refusing to move. In front of the church, they were suddenly able to open the box, which contained an image of the Blessed Mother holding the Christ Child. At that time, a bloody war raged in the local region, but when the warring parties heard of the abandoned box, they immediately put down their weapons and discontinued the fighting. Because of this incident (and others that followed to maintain the peace), this image of Mary was given the title “Our Lady of Peace”. Pope Benedict XV authorized the crowning of this image on November 21, 1921.

Our Lady Queen of Peace also has roots in Europe. When Peter Coudrin founded the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in France during the French Revolution, Our Lady of Peace was chosen to be the patroness of the Order. When members of this Congregation founded the Catholic Church in Hawaii, they consecrated the Hawaiian Islands under the protection of Our Lady of Peace. The Cathedral in Honolulu dedicated to Our Lady of Peace is now the oldest Roman Catholic Cathedral in continuous use in the United States.

The Epifanio de Los Santos (EDSA) Shrine in the Philippines marks the site where Our Lady of Peace appeared in 1986 to prevent what would have been a bloody military attack on quiet protesters, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, is the largest house of worship in the entire continent of Africa. Additionally, there are literally hundreds of parishes, schools, hospitals and even cemeteries throughout the world – and especially in Ireland and the United States – that have honored Mary under the titles Our Lady of Peace, Queen of Peace or Our Lady Queen of Peace.