The reasons why May is the month of Mary

I think many of us know that May is the month of Mary, but not many of us know why it is.  Here are some insights into this, courtesy of the National Catholic Register, and Aletia.org.

The custom spans both centuries and cultures, with roots going back as far as the Ancient Greeks. In early Greece, May was dedicated to Artemis, the goddess of fecundity.  In Ancient Rome, May was dedicated to Flora, the goddess of blooms, or blossoms. They celebrated ludi florals, or floral games, at the end of April and asked the intercession of Flora for all that blooms. 

In medieval times, similar customs abounded, all centering around the practice of expelling winter, as May 1 was considered the start of new growth.  This was long before “Mother’s Day” was ever conceived, though the modern celebration is closely related to this innate desire to honor maternity during the spring months.  During this period, the tradition of Tricesimum, or “Thirty-Day Devotion to Mary,” came into being.  Also called, “Lady Month,” the event was held from August 15-September 14 and is still observed in some areas.  It included thirty daily spiritual exercises honoring Mary. 

However, the idea of a calendar month dedicated specifically to Mary didn’t come into play until the 18^th century.  It was in this era that Mary’s Month and May were combined, making May the Month of Mary with special devotions organized on each day throughout the month. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “The May devotion in its present form originated at 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.”

Various private devotions to Mary quickly became widespread during the month of May, as it is recorded in the Raccolta, a publication of prayers published in the mid-19th century. It is a well-known devotion, to consecrate to most holy Mary the month of May, as the most beautiful and florescent month of the whole year. This devotion has long prevailed throughout Christendom; and it is common here in Rome, not only in private families, but as a public devotion in very many churches. Pope Pius VII, in order to animate all Christian people to the practice of a devotion so tender and agreeable to the most blessed Virgin, and calculated to be of such great spiritual benefit to themselves, granted, by a Rescript of the Segretaria of the Memorials, March 21, 1815 (kept in the Segretaria of his Eminence the Cardinal-Vicar), to all the faithful of the Catholic world, who either in public or in private should honour the Blessed Virgin with some special homage or devout prayers, or other virtuous practices.

So we see a connection here between Mary and the themes of new life, springtime, maternity, and fruitfulness.  It makes sense!   Let us use the graces available this month to counteract the anti-life and anti-motherhood mentality that has been unleashed in our times, and pray for a renewal of life and family values in the world today.