During the month of May, our Church honors Mary, the Mother of Jesus, with traditional devotions. For example, at the conclusion of the opening Mass for the annual New Jersey Knights of Columbus Convention on May 13 at Saint Ann Church in Wildwood, a group of children from Wildwood Catholic Academy who recently received First Holy Communion crowned a statue of the Blessed Mother. The Crowning of Mary is a traditional Marian devotion that usually takes place in the month of May.
During the ceremony, the congregation sang, “Bring Flowers of the Fairest, Bring Flowers of the rarest … O Mary, we crown Thee with flowers today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May.” As the children, dressed in their First Communion finery, approached the statue of the Blessed Mother, I looked out on the congregation from the sanctuary and saw some men and women wiping their eyes. I confess that I felt a lump in my throat as I was flooded with memories of singing that hymn and participating in May Crowning ceremonies during my childhood. Something about the innocence and the purity of the First Communicants and something about the maternal love of the Mother of God touched many of us that morning.
My mother taught me the Hail Mary before I went to school. Praying it and other prayers was a daily bedtime ritual. She was very devoted to the Mother of God, and her love of the Blessed Mother was passed on to her children. She always wore a Miraculous Medal. At Confirmations, I frequently notice the Miraculous Medal on the necks of sponsors who are usually grandmothers. The Miraculous Medal recalls the apparitions of Mary to Saint Catherine Laboure in 1830. On the front side of the medal, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, stands on a globe, crushing the head of a serpent. On the back side of the medal twelve stars encircle a large M which is topped by a Cross. My mother faithfully attended the Miraculous Medal Novena on Monday evenings in our parish church. She had her intentions, which she devotedly and faithfully put before the Blessed Mother. I suspect they were about our family.
In grammar School, the Rosary was recited every day, and a classroom shrine in honor of Mary was appropriately decorated for each of the liturgical seasons. In high school, I was educated by the Marist Brothers founded by Saint Marcellin Champagnat in France in 1855 who named his religious community The Little Brothers of Mary. The Marist Brothers shared with and taught their Marian charism to their adolescent students. In a high school Latin class, I was taught the “Sub Tuum Praesidium,” which is the oldest known prayer to the Virgin Mary. It dates to the year 300 and addresses Mary as protector in recognition of her maternal role as protector of her children. In the seminary, the professors began each class reciting the “Sub Tuum” in its original Latin.
“Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix; notras deprecaciones ne despicias in necessitatibus; sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.”
“We fly to thy protection O holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers. O glorious and blessed Virgin Mary.”
As a parish priest ministering in New York City among Hispanics from different nations, I witnessed and was impressed with their devotions to Mary, the Mother of God under a variety of national titles. The stories associated with each of these national images of Mary are fascinating. I became familiar with Nuestra Señora de la Providencia (Puerto Rico); Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia (Dominican Republic); Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre (Cuba); Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Mexico); Nuestra Señora de Lujan (Argentina), to mention a few of the Marian Latino devotions.
Normally, for the Feast of the Virgin, large outdoor processions were organized by parishioners with the image of Mary dressed in her appropriate robes – the faithful carrying candles, praying the Rosary and singing hymns to honor their Mother. Those processions gave public witness to their faith in and love of the Mother of God. Among my Chinese Catholic parishioners at Saint Teresa in Manhattan, there also was sincere devotion to Our Lady of China.
Although Mary is honored under many titles, she is universal and unites us as our Mother. The Mother of God, the most venerable and ancient title our Church has given to her since 421AD at the Council of Ephesus.
Recently, on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Holy Father asked bishops and priests around the world to do the same in response to the war in Ukraine. The Annunciation recalls that event when Mary of Nazareth said, “I will” to the message the Angel Gabriel brought to her that she bear in her virginal womb the Son of God and bring Him to birth in the flesh. Mary, the Mother of God, who in her life, experienced suffering was beseeched by the Church around the world on behalf of the suffering in Ukraine and Russia.
Pope Saint Paul VI, in “Marialis Cultus,” his 1974 Apostolic Exhortation about devotion to Mary wrote, “She is held up as an example to the faithful for the way in which in her own particular life she fully and responsibly accepted the will of God and did it. And because charity and the spirit of service were the driving force of her actions, she is worthy of imitation because she was the first and most perfect of Christ’s disciples.”
Mary is a model of faith, charity and service. The cherished traditional devotions to the Mother of God can inspire our faith in the Lord Jesus and our charity and service to all people. Mary encourages us to be faithful disciples of her divine Son.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden