Honoring Mary as Queen during May

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COVENTRY — In the Litany of Loreto, the Blessed Mother’s queenship is mentioned 13 times. Among her many titles, she is named as Queen of Angels, Queen of Saints and Queen of Families. The queenship of Mary has long been recognized and honored in the Church. On their website, Franciscan Media notes that St. Ephrem first began using the title in the fourth century, which has continued into the present day. Hymns such as “Salve Regina” and “Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above” attest to Mary’s queenship.


Though the Church celebrates the Memorial of the Queenship of Mary on August 22, it recognizes May as the month of Mary, a custom held since the Middle Ages. Why is this? According to the online Catholic news and information website Aleteia, Western civilizations took the pagan custom that dedicated May to the fertility goddess Artemis and adapted it into a month to celebrate motherhood. In the 1700s, members of the Jesuit order began to devote the month of May to Mary, a devotion which quickly spread beyond that order. In much of the Catholic world today, Mary is given special honors in May through prayers and pageantry.


One visible means of observing Mary’s queenship is through the May crowning tradition. Like many of the Catholic churches and schools within the Diocese of Providence, students and staff at Father John V. Doyle School in Coventry practice this devotion yearly. Kevin Peloquin is in his fourth year as principal at the school and states that the tradition has long predated his tenure there. In fact, there are two May crowning events at the school and associated parish of SS. John and Paul — one held at the church with the first communicants and one at the school in which the soon-to-graduate eighth graders play a prominent role.
“We have a prayer service, then process outside to the Mary statue,” where the eighth graders place carnations at her feet, Peloquin explained. One girl from the class, “who exemplifies the virtues of our school,” is chosen to crown Mary. This year that honor goes to Alexandra Dwyer, whom Peloquin explains has attended since preschool, and he considers “a good addition to our eighth-grade class.”
For the students, especially the young lady chosen to crown Mary, “there is such a gravitas around it from the years of tradition that you don’t need to say anything extra.”
The pandemic was the only time in recent memory that Father John V. Doyle did not host a May crowning. Instead, staff and students prayed an outdoor rosary around the statue. The school also boasts stations around the grounds dedicated to Mary under her different titles, and during October — the month of the rosary — students do a walking rosary at those stations. Peloquin appreciates Mary’s aid in his own life.
“As an administrator, Our Lady Undoer of Knots is a big one,” he remarked.
May crowning ceremonies can also be done outside the church, with family, friends, homeschool groups, etc. All that is required is a statue of Mary and a little creativity. For families with young children, there are numerous websites such as CatholicIcing.com, CatholicSprouts.com and TheReligionTeacher.com that provide ideas, crafts, prayers and activities. Making a crown tops this list and can be done simply with decorative paper or more elaborately with real or artificial flowers and other supplies. Those children too young for crafts can still offer flowers to the Blessed Mother.
If May crowning celebrations may seem better suited for children than adults, another way to honor Mary might be to create a household garden dedicated to her. Oftentimes, one can tell a Catholic household by the statuary in the yard, and Marian statues are particularly popular, in various forms and poses – Our Lady of Grace, Fatima, Guadalupe – some standing, some kneeling, some holding the Christ Child. Planting flowers around such a statue brings beauty to the space as well as attention to the Blessed Mother.
In the Middle Ages, Catholics began naming flowers for Jesus and Mary and created entire gardens dedicated to her. The University of Dayton (originally named St. Mary’s) has various articles on this history. While any flower prayerfully offered honors Mary, many flowers have special significance and legends surrounding them.


Roses, one of the flowers most often associated with Mary, are one such flower. The Litany of Loreto calls Mary the “Mystical Rose.” On Tepeyac Hill, she gave Castilian roses to Juan Diego, she wore golden ones on her feet at Lourdes and early legends say that after her blessed assumption, her tomb was filled with roses and lilies. St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Brigid both compared her to a rose. The name “rosary” even comes from the word “rose.”
But roses can be high-maintenance plants, so there are other, easier flowers that anyone wishing to design a Mary garden might want to consider. Lilies honor Mary’s beloved husband Joseph, and it is said that the archangel Gabriel carried one at the Annunciation. Shade-loving bleeding hearts resemble Mary’s sorrowful heart as she stood at the foot of the cross. In German legend, carnations (dianthus) supposedly bloomed at Christ’s birth and are known as “Mary’s love for God.” Fragrant lilies-of-the-valley, not true lilies, were called “Our Lady’s tears” for the manner in which the tiny blossoms seem to drip down the stem.
Creating a Mary garden need not be a large, sprawling project, however. Even a small statue surrounded by potted annuals like marigolds (“Mary’s gold”) and petunias (“Our Lady’s praise”) or herbs like thyme (“The Virgin’s humility”) and sage (“Mary’s shawl”), among others, can be set up inside or outside a home.
While not everyone has space or money to create something like a garden for Mary, everyone can give the gift of time through sending her a spiritual bouquet. Praying the rosary as a family on Mother’s Day or reciting the Angelus at the appropriate hour of the day greatly please Mary. And in times of deepest need or distress, one can always turn to the Blessed Mother through St. Mother Teresa’s mini-novena: praying nine Memorares in a row.