Mary! The Blessed Virgin, the Holy Mother, the Heavenly Queen!
May is traditionally dedicated in a special way to honoring and seeking the intercession of Mary, mother of God as "the Queen of May" and Mother of the Church.
May Devotion = Blessed Virgin Mary
May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary refer to special Marian devotions held in the Catholic Church during May honoring Mary. A "May Crowning" is a traditional Roman Catholic ritual that occurs in May.
According to Frederick Holweck, the May devotion in its present form originated in Rome where Father Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, to counteract infidelity and immorality among the students, made a vow at the end of the eighteenth century to devote the month of May to Mary. From Rome, the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and thence to nearly every Catholic church of the Latin rite.[4] The tradition of honoring Mary in a month-long May devotion spread eventually around the Roman Catholic world in the 19th century together with a month-long devotion to Jesus in June and the Rosary in October.
There is no firm structure as to the content of a May devotion. It usually includes the singing of Marian anthems, readings from scriptures, and a sermon.
In May, Catholics might offer Mary:
pilgrimages
visits to churches dedicated to her
little sacrifices in her honor
periods of study and well-finished work offered up to her
more attentive recitation of the rosary
reading books dedicated to Mary, Fatima, or the Rosary
May is an excellent time to consider doing a consecration to Mary, such as 33 days to Morning Glory: A Do It Yourself Retreat (If anyone should be interested in doing this as a group through us please notify the Directors) Maybe you want to memorize some prayers such as the Memorare or even get yourself enrolled in a Scapular.
