Stella matutina is an invocation of the Litany of Loreto, drawn from the scriptural praise of light — the woman fair as the moon and bright as the sun of the Song of Songs, and the morning star of the Wisdom books — and developed by medieval preachers who called Mary the dawn that comes before the Sun of Justice. Benedict XVI took up the same imagery at the end of the encyclical Spe Salvi, addressing Mary as a star of hope for those who travel in the dark.

The title is Christological before it is Marian: it is Christ who says in Revelation 22:16 that he is the bright morning star, and Mary is called by that name only by participation, as the first light that heralds his day. It also names her place in Christian hope. She has already reached the end of the road the Church is still walking, and her presence at the edge of the darkness is a promise that the darkness ends.

Universal Church

Mary is shown crowned with twelve stars after Revelation 12:1, or with a single star on the shoulder or veil of her mantle, an old convention of Eastern icons; blue and gold, the colours of the night sky before dawn, belong to the same visual language.

• Stella Matutina
• Morning Star
• Star of Hope

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