Mary's Month of May

The Coronation of the Virgin, Fra Angelico

May is traditionally a time of growth in regard to nature, and for the Church at least some of Eastertide falls in May, and occasionally all of the month falls with in this great season. May has traditionally been associated with Our Lady, with a number of wonderful feast days: Our Lady of Fatima on 13th May, the Feast of the Queenship of Mary (31st May) according to the 1962 missal, and on the same date is celebrated the Visitation according to the modern missal. The Christian custon of dedicating this month to the Blessed Virgin Mary arose at the the end of the 13th Century, and over time various devotions have become associated with the month.

In 1954 Pope Pius XII issued the Papal Encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam some of which is reproduced here:

“...if Mary, in taking an active part in the work of salvation, was, by God's design, associated with Jesus Christ, the source of salvation itself, in a manner comparable to that in which Eve was associated with Adam, the source of death, so that it may be stated that the work of our salvation was accomplished by a kind of "recapitulation," in which a virgin was instrumental in the salvation of the human race, just as a virgin had been closely associated with its death; if, moreover, it can likewise be stated that this glorious Lady had been chosen Mother of Christ "in order that she might become a partner in the redemption of the human race"; and if, in truth, "it was she who, free of the stain of actual and original sin, and ever most closely bound to her Son, on Golgotha offered that Son to the Eternal Father together with the complete sacrifice of her maternal rights and maternal love, like a new Eve, for all the sons of Adam, stained as they were by his lamentable fall," then it may be legitimately concluded that as Christ, the new Adam, must be called a King not merely because He is Son of God, but also because He is our Redeemer, so, analogously, the Most Blessed Virgin is queen not only because she is Mother of God, but also because, as the new Eve, she was associated with the new Adam.

Certainly, in the full and strict meaning of the term, only Jesus Christ, the God-Man, is King; but Mary, too, as Mother of the divine Christ, as His associate in the redemption, in his struggle with His enemies and His final victory over them, has a share, though in a limited and analogous way, in His royal dignity. For from her union with Christ she attains a radiant eminence transcending that of any other creature; from her union with Christ she receives the royal right to dispose of the treasures of the Divine Redeemer's Kingdom; from her union with Christ finally is derived the inexhaustible efficacy of her maternal intercession before the Son and His Father.

In order to understand better this sublime dignity of the Mother of God over all creatures let us recall that the holy Mother of God was, at the very moment of her Immaculate Conception, so filled with grace as to surpass the grace of all the Saints. Wherefore, as Our Predecessor of happy memory, Pius IX wrote, God "showered her with heavenly gifts and graces from the treasury of His divinity so far beyond what He gave to all the angels and saints that she was ever free from the least stain of sin; she is so beautiful and perfect, and possesses such fullness of innocence and holiness, that under God a greater could not be dreamed, and only God can comprehend the marvel."

Coronation of the Virgin, Fra Angelico (Louvre)

Besides, the Blessed Virgin possessed, after Christ, not only the highest degree of excellence and perfection, but also a share in that influence by which He, her Son and our Redeemer, is rightly said to reign over the minds and wills of men. For if through His Humanity the divine Word performs miracles and gives graces, if He uses His Sacraments and Saints as instruments for the salvation of men, why should He not make use of the role and work of His most holy Mother in imparting to us the fruits of redemption? "With a heart that is truly a mother's," to quote again Our Predecessor of immortal memory, Pius IX, "does she approach the problem of our salvation, and is solicitous for the whole human race; made Queen of heaven and earth by the Lord, exalted above all choirs of angels and saints, and standing at the right hand of her only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, she intercedes powerfully for us with a mother's prayers, obtains what she seeks, and cannot be refused." On this point another of Our Predecessors of happy memory, Leo XIII, has said that an "almost immeasurable" power has been given Mary in the distribution of graces; St. Pius X adds that she fills this office "as by the right of a mother."

Let all Christians, therefore, glory in being subjects of the Virgin Mother of God, who, while wielding royal power, is on fire with a mother's love.

The happy birds Te Deum sing,

'Tis Mary's month of May;

Her smile turns winter into spring,

And darkness into day;

And there's a fragrance in the air,

The bells their music make,

And O the world is bright and fair,

And all for Mary's sake.

Where'er we seek the holy Child,

At every sacred spot,

We meet the Mother undefiled;

Who shun her seek him not:

At cloistered Nazareth we see.

At haunted Bethlehem,

The throne of Jesus, Mary's knee,

Her smile, his diadem.

The Daughter, Mother, Spouse of God,

None silence her appeal

Who long to tread where Jesus trod,

What Jesus felt to feel.

O, Virgin-born, from thee we learn

To love thy Mother dear;

Her teach us duly to discern.

And rightly to revere.

To love the Mother, people say,

Is to defraud the Son.

For them, alas, there dawns no May,

Until their hearts are won:

Then, when their hearts begin to burn.

Ah, then, to Jesus true,

And loving whom he loves, they learn

To love Saint Mary too.

How many are the thoughts that throng

On faithful souls to-day!

All year we sing our Lady's song,

'Tis still the song of May:

Magnificat! O may we feel

That rapture more and more;

And chiefly, Lord, what time we kneel

Thine altar-throne before.

'Tis then, when at thy feet we pray,

We share our Lady's mirth;

Her joy we know who hail to-day

Thy Eucharistic birth;

That trembling joy to Mary sent,

Ah, Christians know it well,

With whom in his dear sacrament

Their Saviour deigns to dwell.

Yes, Mary's month has come again,

The merry month of May;

And sufferers forget their pain,

And sorrows flee away,

And joys return, the hearts whose moan

Was desolate erewhile

Are blithe and gay - once more they own

The charm of Mary's smile.

Thy Son our Brother is, and we,

Whatever may betide,

A Mother, Mary, have in thee,

A guardian and a guide;

Thy smiles a tale of gladness tell

No words can ever say?

If but, like thee, we love him well,

The year will all be May.

All hail! An angel spake the words

We lovingly repeat;

The song-notes of the singing birds

They are not half so sweet:

This is a music that endures,

It cannot pass away,

For Mary's children it ensures

A never-ending May.