In both Greek and Roman culture, May was recognized as the season of the beginning of new life. In the Greek world, May was dedicated to the goddess Artemis and associated with fecundity. Roman culture linked the month of May to Flora, the goddess of bloom and blossoms.
In the month of May, the winter comes to an end and the spring season begins. Mother’s Day is celebrated during May not only in the United States but in many countries and cultures of both the East and the West.
The connection between motherhood and May led Christians eventually to adopt May as a Month fittingly dedicated to Our Blessed Mother, Mary.
The practice of dedicating the month of May to our Lady was popularized especially during the pontificate of Leo XIII – beginning in 1883 and concluding in 1889, who wrote twelve encyclicals and five apostolic letters on the Rosary.
In an encyclical on the Rosary, Pope Leo XIII wrote, “In as much as the enemies of Christianity are so stubborn in their aims, its defenders must be equally staunch, especially as the heavenly help and the benefits which are bestowed on us by God are the more usually the fruits of our perseverance… For it is indeed, an arduous and exceeding weighty matter that is now in hand: it is to humiliate an old and most subtle enemy in the spread-out array of his power; to win back the freedom of the Church and of her Head; to preserve and secure the fortifications within which should rest in peace the safety and weal of human society. Care must be taken, therefore, that, in these times of mourning for the Church, the most holy devotion of the Rosary of Mary be assiduously and piously observed.”
And so how fitting to have an entire month to persevere in prayerful petition. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to set up a Marian altar in the home, and during the Month of May to seek the help of the Blessed Mother with special prayers, especially the rosary. The Popes encourage us to pray the rosary especially when the Church is under attack, and a month of devout recitation of the rosary surely can bring about so much good in so dark a time, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
In the month of May, the winter comes to an end and the spring season begins. Mother’s Day is celebrated during May not only in the United States but in many countries and cultures of both the East and the West.
The connection between motherhood and May led Christians eventually to adopt May as a Month fittingly dedicated to Our Blessed Mother, Mary.
The practice of dedicating the month of May to our Lady was popularized especially during the pontificate of Leo XIII – beginning in 1883 and concluding in 1889, who wrote twelve encyclicals and five apostolic letters on the Rosary.
In an encyclical on the Rosary, Pope Leo XIII wrote, “In as much as the enemies of Christianity are so stubborn in their aims, its defenders must be equally staunch, especially as the heavenly help and the benefits which are bestowed on us by God are the more usually the fruits of our perseverance… For it is indeed, an arduous and exceeding weighty matter that is now in hand: it is to humiliate an old and most subtle enemy in the spread-out array of his power; to win back the freedom of the Church and of her Head; to preserve and secure the fortifications within which should rest in peace the safety and weal of human society. Care must be taken, therefore, that, in these times of mourning for the Church, the most holy devotion of the Rosary of Mary be assiduously and piously observed.”
And so how fitting to have an entire month to persevere in prayerful petition. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to set up a Marian altar in the home, and during the Month of May to seek the help of the Blessed Mother with special prayers, especially the rosary. The Popes encourage us to pray the rosary especially when the Church is under attack, and a month of devout recitation of the rosary surely can bring about so much good in so dark a time, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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