“O Mary, we crown Thee with blossoms today, Queen of the angels, Queen of the May.”
On Sunday during the 12:00 Noon Mass, our First Communion students will crown a statue of Mary with flowers in an age-old tradition that Catholics have celebrated since the 16th century. In May of 1784, at the Church of Camillians in Ferrara, Italy, a statue of Mary was crowned publicly for the first time, beginning the tradition of this popular celebration of the “May Crowning.” The tradition quickly spread to central Europe, where faithful pilgrims processed with a statue or icon of Mary into the church, while singing Marian songs and praying Hail Marys. Today, though not as often since Vatican II, that tradition still exists in many Catholic churches throughout the world.
But why is the month of May chosen in correlation with the Blessed Virgin Mary? No one really knows the reason, though it has been suggested that because blossoms emerge in the month of May, it is the fitting time to adorn our lives with beauty, and what greater beauty than Christ’s mother, the Blessed Virgin?
May is here. Let us sing our Marian songs, pray the rosary daily for the salvation of souls, and consecrate our lives to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of the May!
