O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May
- Pauline Books & Media
- May 1
- 4 min read
"In Mary, at the dawn of the New Testament, the gratuitousness of divine mercy reaches its supreme degree. In her, God's predilection witnessed to the chosen people, and in particular to the humble and the poor, reaches its culmination. Nourished by the Word of the Lord and the experience of the saints, the Church exhorts believers to keep their gaze fixed on the Mother of the Redeemer and to feel loved by God like her."
JOHN PAUL II
8 May 1996
Why is May dedicated to Mary?
May did not become specifically associated with the Virgin Mary until the 18th century. The May devotion in its current form began in Rome at the end of the eighteenth century when Father Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, vowed to dedicate the month of May to Mary in order to combat immorality and infidelity among the students. From Rome, the custom extended to other Jesuit schools, and from there it reached almost all Latin-rite Catholic churches.
In 1815, Pope Pius VII encouraged the faithful to honour Mary either publicly or privately with pious prayers and honourable practices. Pope Pius XII established the feast of the Queenship of Mary on May 31st, thereby establishing May as a Marian month in 1945.
This feast was rescheduled for August 22 following the Second Vatican Council, and May 31 was designated as the Visitation of Mary.
Devotion to Mary
"We are delighted and consoled by this pious custom associated with the month of May, which pays honor to the Blessed Virgin and brings such rich benefits to the Christian people. Since Mary is rightly to be regarded as the way by which we are led to Christ, the person who encounters Mary cannot help but encounter Christ likewise. For what other reason do we continually turn to Mary except to seek the Christ in her arms, to seek our Savior in her, through her, and with her? To Him men are to turn amid the anxieties and perils of this world, urged on by duty and driven by the compelling needs of their heart, to find a haven of salvation, a transcendent fountain of life."
MENSE MAIO
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI
APRIL 29, 1965
The Crowning of Mary
In May, Mary's statue is traditionally crowned with flowers as part of a Catholic tradition. When Pope Paul VI wrote in 1965 that May is a time for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world pay to the Queen of Heaven," he summed up the reason we crown Mary.
After the love which we owe Jesus Christ,
we must give the chief place in our heart to the love of his mother Mary.
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
A contemplative prayer
The Rosary is one of the best prayers to the Mother of God "precisely because it starts with Mary's own experience, is an exquisitely contemplative prayer. Without this contemplative dimension, it would lose its meaning, as Pope Paul VI clearly pointed out: “Without contemplation, the Rosary is a body without a soul, and its recitation runs the risk of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas, in violation of the admonition of Christ: 'In praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard for their many words' (Mt 6:7). By its nature the recitation of the Rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's life as seen through the eyes of her who was closest to the Lord. In this way the unfathomable riches of these mysteries are disclosed”. It is worth pausing to consider this profound insight of Paul VI, in order to bring out certain aspects of the Rosary which show that it is really a form of Christocentric contemplation."
The Rosary
"We might call it Mary's way. It is the way of the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between Christ and his Blessed Mother: the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense the mysteries of his Mother, even when they do not involve her directly, for she lives from him and through him. By making our own the words of the Angel Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary, we find ourselves constantly drawn to seek out afresh in Mary, in her arms and in her heart, the “blessed fruit of her womb” (cf Lk 1:42).
What a joy to remember that she is Our Mother!
Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?
St. Therese of Lisieux
Let us pray
May she who experienced the cares and hardships of earthly life,
the weariness of daily toil, the hardships and trials of poverty, and the sorrows of Calvary,
come to aid the needs of the Church and the human race.
May she graciously lend an ear to the devout pleas of those all over the world who beg her for peace. May she enlighten the minds of those who rule nations.
And finally, may she prevail on God, who rules the winds and storms, to calm the tempests in men's warring hearts and grant us peace in our day.
What we seek is true peace grounded on the sturdy foundations of justice and love—on a justice which recognizes the legitimate rights of the weak as well as those of the strong;
on a love which keeps men from falling into error through excessive concern for their own interests.
Thus each person's rights may be safeguarded without the rights of others being forgotten or violated.
MENSE MAIO, POPE PAUL VI
Comments