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Crowning Mary: A May Tradition

For many decades, the lovely words and melody of the hymn Bring Flowers of the Raresthave been gracing the beautiful traditional crowning of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The ceremony has been held in countless parishes, schools and homes throughout the world.

“The crowning is symbolic of Mary as Queen of Heaven and of our lives,” Father John Broussard, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin, explained to the Register. “We entrust all our intentions to her, and she takes them to her Son, who is the King. Even here at the shrine, when she appeared to Adele Brise [in 1859] at the opening of the apparitions, she said, ‘I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners.’”

“We take that to heart,” the priest added. “Our Blessed Mother is our Queen and our intercessor, and we symbolize that with our May crowning. Mary’s queenship in the shrine is represented in the crowning of the statue.”

In 1987, in its “Order of Crowning an Image of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the precursor to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, “The month of May is dedicated to the Queen of Heaven, as are all flowers. Early this month, a statue of the Virgin at church is crowned with a wreath of flowers, and flowers are laid at her feet.” 

Incalculable are the number of times girls in white dresses and veils and boys in white shirts and ties have taken part in processions during May crownings, some holding Marian banners, or the number of teens and adults who have also formed an honor guard, processing and acting as attendants to honor the Blessed Mother.

Most churches and schools try to hold the crowning on or near Mother’s Day (May 8 this year) because Our Lady is both Queen and Mother to all the faithful. Some parishes, like St. Raphael Church in Bay Village, Ohio, celebrate more than one crowning — one for the congregation on the Monday evening after Mother’s Day and one during the day for the 600 children in the parish school. All the first Communicants will dress in their first Communion finery. Two of the second graders and two recently confirmed eighth graders are chosen to place the crown of flowers on the head of the school’s Blessed Mother statue.

Read more at National Catholic Register

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