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Why is May the Month of Mary?

SUMMER 2018

THIS IS A RELATIVELY NEW DEVOTION in the history of the Church. Pope Leo XIII (1878–1903) is credited with popularizing the custom. Scholars have suggested that it developed out of a longstanding practice of celebrating spring as a time of new life and rebirth. The Greeks dedicated the season to the goddess Artemis, who was linked to labor and childbirth. The Romans honored Flora, the goddess of bloom and blossoms.

Perhaps it was the same seasonal association that led Christians to connect the month of May with Mary, who, in giving birth to the Savior of the world, became the supreme expression of motherhood and the new life in Christ offered to God’s people.The most recognizable practice associated with this Marian devotion may be the May crowning of an image of Our Lady.

It is thought that this tradition began in1838, when Pope Gregory XVI added crowns to an image of the Blessed Mother at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In 1987, Saint Pope John Paul II issued a new ritual for the Order of Crowning an Image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, writing: “The queen symbol was attributed to Mary because she was a perfect follower of Christ, who is the absolute ‘crown’ of creation. The maid of Nazareth consented to God’s plan; she journeyed on the pilgrimage of faith. ... Thus, in an eminent way, she won the ‘crown of righteousness,’ ‘the crown of life,’ ‘the crown of glory’ that is promised to all who follow Christ.”

These papal points of reflection might serve as the subject of our own meditation during the beautiful Marian month of May.