Mary in art: a procession

This picture (detail) by the Dutch artist Nico Jungmann (1872-1935) depicts the people of Volendam entering their parish church in procession. They have just returned home from a pilgrimage to the famous German shrine Kevelaer, where the Virgin Mary is venerated as 'Consoler of the Afflicted'.

May, the month of Mary (III)

'May Magnificat'

May is Mary’s month and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season –

Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?…

Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is spring? –
Growth in every thing –

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld altogether;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees sympathising
With that world of good
Nature’s motherhood…

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

May, the month of Mary (II)

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) on why the month of May is dedicated to the Virgin Mary:

"WHY is May chosen as the month in which we exercise a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin? The first reason is because it is the time when the earth bursts forth into its fresh foliage and its green grass after the stern frost and snow of winter, and the raw atmosphere and the wild wind and rain of the early spring. It is because the blossoms are upon the trees and the flowers are in the gardens. It is because the days have got long, and the sun rises early and sets late. For such gladness and joyousness of external Nature is a fit attendant on our devotion to her who is the Mystical Rose and the House of Gold."

From Newman's 'Meditations on the Litany of Loreto, for the month of May'

May, the month of Mary (I)

The month of May has arrived, a time when the Virgin Mary is specially honoured by Catholics all over the world. From the Philippines to Italy, from Belgium to Mexico; everywhere her images are adorned with flowers and candles and carried around in processions. It is also a time for going on pilgrimage to one of her shrines or praying the rosary. These special May devotions celebrate the Virgin as giver of new life, as the Mother of the Saviour and a bringer of graces. It is very significant indeed that this month, in which Spring reaches its full bloom (at least in the northern hemisphere), was chosen as a time dedicated to Mary.

Naples was the first place in the world to specially honour the Virgin Mary in May. This was in the 18th century. From southern Italy the custom gradually spread through the rest of the Catholic world. It was greatly promoted by the Jesuits. The order saw it as a good alternative for the traditional May celebrations, which were often full of pre-Christian references. The crowning of May queens for instance, an ancient fertility celebration, was still a common practice throughout Europe in the 18th century. (The month itself actually takes its name from Maya, the Roman goddess of fertility.) In many Catholic countries this tradition was replaced by crowning images of the Blessed Virgin, thus Christianising the May custom. However, this does not mean that Catholic May devotions honouring the Virgin Mary are not a celebration of fertility and motherhood. After all, she gave birth to the Saviour and is the Mother of us All.