MAY, MONTH OF. - Practice of particular devotions in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary on each day of the month dedicated to her.
Already in the Middle Ages, Mantua and Paris consecrated the first days of May to the Blessed Virgin. Blessed Henry Suso distinguished himself by such devotion. In the 16th century, St. Philip Neri gathered young people around an image of the Virgin during this month, encouraging them to adorn her with the first flowers of the season and with acts of virtue. In Naples, in the royal church of St. Clare, an hour of sacred singing in honor of the Madonna was dedicated each evening, followed by Eucharistic benediction. However, the practice in its current form was proposed by the Jesuit Annibale Dionisi, who published *Il mese di Maria o sia il mese di maggio* [The Month of Mary, or the Month of May], dedicated *to Mary through the exercise of various flowers of virtue* (Parma 1726). The exercise consisted of displaying and adorning a devout image of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the most frequented room of the house with flowers and lights, reciting together before it the Rosary or the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, followed by a brief meditation for each day, an example, and the drawing of a "fioretto" (a small act of virtue to be practiced), an act of homage, and a ejaculatory prayer. The month concluded with the offering of the heart to Mary.
Fr. Dionisi merely gave form to a pious custom already practiced in several Marian congregations of students, especially in Rome at the Roman College and in Milan at the Chapel of the University of Brera. It was the merit of Fr. A. Muzzarelli (1786) to obtain that the most distinguished members of the Italian episcopate introduce the Month of May in their dioceses, so that the devotion became common among the faithful. Ferrara was the first city to give public form to the Month of May, celebrated solemnly in the churches of St. Michael, St. Crispin, and that of the Fathers of the Ministers of the Sick. Once established, the devotion quickly became popular and was enriched with indulgences by Pius VII (March 21, 1815) and his successors. It soon spread to France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany (1840), and from there throughout the Catholic world. In Italy, the Month of May fostered popular preaching and "little songs" in honor of the Madonna.