Marian Devotions Through the Year: May

Truly there is no better Queen of the May than Our Lady, Fairest of them all. As spring overrules winter and new growth springs up to delight our eyes and our senses (and sometimes wreak havoc with our allergies), the best of each is laid at the feet of Our Lady, for there is no woman purer, sweeter, more clement than the august Woman who reversed the “No” of Eve and showed how her species is meant to be the crown jewel of creation.

Marian Virtue: Heroic Patience

This month we focus on the eighth of the traditional Ten Virtues of Our Lady. Heroic Patience may not seem to belong to May with all its cheery springtime and quickly budding blooms, but it certainly resonates within a mother’s—or any woman’s—heart and her nurturing instinct. Women currently in a season of toddlers will especially understand what a blessed undertaking Heroic Patience is as they seek to respond with grace and love while still firmly training up in the way he should go that irrepressible and often bogglingly stubborn little person who is newly figuring out how far his autonomy truly stretches. Women everywhere are familiar with the feeling of seasons of waiting for the seeds planted in faith to withstand spring thunderstorms and poke their green heads of promise up at last in the gardens of their life. Woman is aptly compared to the fertile earth in much of literature, and Our Lady is no less an image of this—in fact, the most perfect and fecund witness to this—idea in her patience and hidden carrying of both the immense Gift and the weighty Cross that began the moment the Savior was planted within her Womb. 

Marian Theme: Queen of the May

This month the Marian theme is the same as the monthly theme of the liturgical year—Our Lady.

Marian Antiphon: Regina Caeli and Salve Regina

Regina Caeli

V. Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia. 
R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia. 
V. Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia. 
R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia. 
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus. Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus; ut per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

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V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. 
R. For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia. 
V. Has risen, as he said, alleluia. 
R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia. 
R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Salve Regina

Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae.
Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia ergo, advocata nostra, 
illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte. 
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, 
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. 
O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo Maria.

V. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix. 
R. Ut digni efficamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui gloriosae Virginis Matris Mariae corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu Sancto cooperante, praeparasti, da, ut cuius commemoratione laetamur; eius pia intercessione, ab instantibus malis et a morte perpetua liberemur. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen

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Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry,
Poor banished children of Eve;
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy toward us;
And after this our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, Who by the working of the Holy Spirit didst prepare both body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother, Mary, that she might deserve to be made a worthy dwelling for Thy Son, grant that we who rejoice in her memory, may, by her loving intercession, be delivered from present evils and from lasting death, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

The liturgical year cycles through four Marian Antiphons, each having a Simple Tone and Solemn Tone in Gregorian chant. May often includes both the Easter season of the Regina Caeli and the following switch back to the Salve Regina the day after Pentecost Sunday which will continue until Advent. Marian antiphons are typically chanted after night prayer and immediately before going to bed. 

The Regina Caeli text is often attributed to Pope Gregory who died in 998 although it seems to have first appeared around 1200. The chant melody is thought to date from the 14th century. 

Sheet music for Regina Caeli Simple Tone may be printed from here (page 240 of the Parish book of Chant pdf). 

Sheet music for the Solemn Tone may be found on page 239 of the same pdf.

The Salve Regina has been attributed to a couple different authors — Hermann Contractus, the Bishop Petrus of Monsoro (+ circa 1000 A.D.), the Bishop Adhemar of Podium who supposedly composed it as a war song asking intercession of the Queen of Heaven on Crusade, but most notably St. Bernard of Clairvaux who was said to have added the triple salutation, “O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!” when moved to do so. Many know the Salve Regina today particularly because of the Carmelites who have claimed it as their own in a special way with their singing of its Solemn Tone amid candlelit procession every Saturday evening on the way to Solemn Vespers.

Sheet music for the Simple Tone may be printed from here (page 232 of the Parish Book of Chant pdf). 

Sheet music for the Solemn Tone may be found on page 233 of the same pdf. 

Marian Feasts:

• May 1 - Our Lady Queen of the May (shared with St. Joseph the Worker)
• May 3 - Our Lady of Jasna Gora (where the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa is kept)
• May 5 - Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles
• May 7 - The Seven Joys of Our Lady (11th century)
• May 8 - Our Lady of Pompeii
• May 9 - Our Lady of Loreto
• May 10 - Dedication of Constantinople to Our Lady
• May 13 - Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament
• May 16 - Apparition of Our Lady to St. Catherine of Alexandria (4th century)
• May 17 - Our Lady of Tears (Spoleto, 1492)
• May 24 - Our Lady Help of Christians (16th century)
• May 31 - The Visitation (Novus Ordo), Queenship of Mary and Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces (Old Rite)

Marian Devotion: 'Tis the Month of Our Mother Hymn

“’Tis the Month of Our Mother” is a lovely French folk hymn. Though supposed to be sung as a lilting tune, the only recordings that are easily found leave a little to be desired in their slow pace. This one by Daughters of Mary is still a good one for learning the tune and harmonies. You can find the sheet music here. 

Marian Customs Highlight: Nods to the May Queen

While some Maytime Marian customs are a given—May crownings, Rosary processions, extra bouquets, singing of Marian hymns—there is another one that has recently been growing in popularity. That is a Mary Garden. 

The idea is to take a corner of your yard, landscaping, or garden and turn it into a bower of plants that contain nods to Our Lady. If you have an outdoor Marian statue, that would be the perfect place to train an arbor over and plant a couple blooms in front of it. If you have a deck or front door statue, potted plants work just as well. If you don’t have a statue, a small garden or even a couple well-known Marian floral varieties is just as honorable a nod. Those who don’t have outdoor space could easily draw or paint various Marian flowers and pin or frame them around a Marian painting or on the wall as a backdrop behind an indoor statue. 

If you have Ember Journal Issues from 2025, I did a whole series on Marian florals in each season over the course of the journal publications that year. (You could also get a digital copy of the Ember issues to reference.) This year Alden McRae on Instagram (that you can find linked on her Substack “Virtue Signals”) has just started a sweet series of posts on the old Marian names for flowers and their identifying pictures. Other resources include FishEaters.org and John Stoked’s Mary Gardens project. 

Whatever resources you have, spend some extra time memorizing the Marian names of popular florals as you implement them into your garden. It’s a simple way to honor Our Lady and re-imbue modern culture with its former Catholic foundations.