May, Month of

MAY, Month of. - Practice of particular devotions in honor of the B. V. Mary on every day of the month of May consecrated to her.

Already in the Middle Ages in Mantua and in Paris the first days of May were consecrated to Mary Most Holy; Bl. Henry Suso distinguished himself by this devotion; in the 16th century St. Philip Neri gathered young people during that month around an image of the Virgin, encouraging them to adorn it with the first flowers of the beautiful season and with acts of virtue; in Naples, in the royal church of St. Clare, an hour of sacred songs in honor of the Madonna was dedicated every evening, followed by eucharistic benediction. But in its present form the most practical was proposed by the Jesuit Annibale Dionisi, who printed Il mese di Maria o sia il mese di maggio, consegnato a Maria coll'esercizio di vari fiori di virtù (Parma 1726). The exercise consisted in exposing and adorning a devout image of Mary Most Holy with flowers and lights in the most frequented room of the house, in reciting together before it the Crown of the rosary or the litanies of the B. Virgin, afterward reading a brief consideration for each day and an example and drawing by lot a "fioretto" or act of virtue to be practiced, an example and an ejaculatory prayer. The month closed with the offering of the heart to Mary.

Fr. Dionisi did nothing but give form to a pious custom that already prevailed in several Marian congregations of students, especially in Rome at the Collegio Romano, and in Milan in 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 into their dioceses, so that the devotion became common among the faithful. Ferrara was the first city that gave public form to the month of May celebrated solemnly in the church of St. Michael, of St. Crispin and in that of the PP. Ministri degli Infermi. Having established itself and soon become popular, the devotion was enriched with indulgences by Pius VII (21 March 1815) and by his successors, and soon spread to France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Germany (1840), and then throughout the entire Catholic world. In Italy the month of May favored popular preaching and the "canzoncine" in honor of the Madonna.

Arnaldo Lanz