Do you know why the month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary?

May is known as the month of Mary. Why?

Various reasons have led to this association. First, in theAncient Greece e Roma, the month of May was dedicated to the pagan goddesses linked to fertility and spring (Artemide e Flora).

Furthermore, what has just been written, combined with other European rites that celebrate spring, has led many Western cultures to consider May as a month of life and motherhood.

This happened long before the institution of Mother's Day, although this celebration is closely related to the innate desire to honor motherhood during the spring months.

Also, there is evidence of one great feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was celebrated on May 15 every year, inside the original church, at least until the eighteenth century.

Then, in line with theCatholic Encyclopedia, May devotion in its present form originated in Rome, where Father Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, to counteract infidelity and immorality among the students, he made a vow at the end of the XNUMXth century, dedicating the month of May to Mary. From Rome, the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and from there to almost all the churches of the Latin rite.

And again, dedicating a whole month to Mary is not a substitute tradition because there was a precedent of dedicating 30 days to Mary called Tricesimum.

Several private devotions to Mary then spread rapidly in the month of May, because they were recorded in the Collection, a mid-XNUMXth century prayer publication.

Finally, in 1955 Pope Pius XII he consecrated May as a Marian month after having instituted the feast of Mary's royalty on May 31. After Vatican Council II, this feast was moved to August 22, while May 31 became the feast of the Visitation of Mary.

The month of May, therefore, is a month full of traditions and a wonderful time of the year to honor Our Heavenly Mother.