There are many good reasons why May is dedicated to Our Lady. Several important Marian feast days fall during this month: Our Lady of Fatima on the 13th, Our Lady Help of Christians on the 24th, feast of the Visitation on the 31st and, on the same day, we have the feasts of Our Lady Mediatrix of all Graces and the Queenship of Mary. May was already “Our Lady’s Month” when she appeared for the first time on the thirteenth to the children of Fatima.
Many popes have endorsed the dedication of the whole month to Mary, at least since the eighteenth century. The Jesuits championed this dedication in the 1700s and from their church of the Gesu, in Rome, it spread universally. Pope Pius XII exalted the devotion in his encyclical Mediator Dei. Pope Paul VI wrote an encyclical “On the Month of May” to ask the whole Church to pray the Rosary every day of the month for peace.
May processions grew out of the traditional crowning ceremonies of icons and statues of Our Lord and His Mother. Clement VIII (1592-1605) wasn’t the first pope to crown images of Jesus and Mary in procession, but his solemn coronation of Our Lady’s picture in Saint Mary Major’s in Rome initiated a practice that was widely followed in local dioceses ever since. Pius XII who gave the Church the feast of the Queenship of Mary did so on the feast of the Divine Maternity through his 1954 encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam.
From solemn coronations in cathedrals and churches dedicated to Our Lady, the pious custom arose of setting up Mary altars in homes during May. The practice began in Italy with the encouragement of many bishops and also Pius XII. Soon Catholic schools adopted the devotion and on the last day of May the parish priest would lead a procession with a statue of Our Lady to a makeshift outdoor shrine where one of the children would crown the statue. There were flowers strewn by the girls along the pathway in front of the statue as all sang traditional Marian hymns. In the “enlightened” 1970s, this most loving and childlike tribute to Heaven’s Queen disappeared from most parishes and schools in the United States along with other public devotional ceremonies, such as Benediction. Thanks be to God the beautiful Marian processions have come back into popularity.
May we also sing to Mary every day in May if we only crown her in our hearts:
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today!
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.
Bring flowers of the rarest
bring blossoms the fairest,
from garden and woodland and hillside and dale;
our full hearts are swelling,
our glad voices telling
the praise of the loveliest flower of the vale!
May is also called the Month of the Magnificat because it ends with the feast of Our Lady’s visitation to Saint Elizabeth, the occasion for that canticle’s joyful proclamation from the heart of the Mother of God. When monks or other religious chant the Magnificat in choir they rise to their feet.
Another hymn that is recited standing is the Akathistos Theotokos Hymn to Our Lady of the Incarnation, which is recited in four parts on each of the first four Fridays in “Great Lent” in the eastern rite Churches, with the full poem being sung on Good Friday. Akathistos literally means “not seated.” When I read this hymn the other day, I was struck by its exquisite beauty. It is a poetic masterpiece that merges scripture, devotion, and faith. Some liturgical exegetes think it was composed as a mystagogical catechesis for the instruction of catechumens. It is instructive, to be sure, taking the reader from the creation and fall to the new creation in the New Adam and Eve; however, I do not think its seventh century author, Saint Romanus of Beirut, meant it only for the uninitiated, but for the baptized faithful as well. Sad to say, this Marian Akathistos is practically unknown in the West even though two popes have attached a plenary indulgence to it. The renowned preacher, retreat giver, and writer, Father Vincent McNabb, wrote in praise of it in a Forward for his English translation of the hymn: “No apology is needed for introducing the Akathistos to the Christian West. Indeed the West might well be apologetic about its neglect, or ignorance of such a liturgical and literary masterpiece.” There are other Akathistos hymns chanted in the eastern rites, some to different saints, one even to Job. The Akathistos Theotokos, however, is the oldest and grandest and it alone is part of the divine liturgy.
What follows at the end of my article is a sampling of a few of the stanzas of the hymn. In Greek, each of the twenty-four stanzas begins with a letter of the Greek alphabet, consecutive from alpha to omega. I had originally chosen to use the translation of Frederica Mathewes-Green, who is Greek Orthodox, because she translates the poem the way a poem ought to be translated, not literally word for word, but keeping to the exact sense while preserving the rhythm and assonance.
For example, where one translation has for the twelfth chant:
Hail, O Tendril whose Bud shall not wilt!
Hail, O Soil whose Fruit shall not perish!
Hail, O Tender of mankind’s loving Tender!
Hail, O Gardener of the Gardener of Life!
Frederica Mathewes-Green has:
Rejoice, branch of unwithering bud,
Rejoice, orchard of unfading fruit,
Rejoice, sustainer of him who sustains human love,
Rejoice, care-giver of him who cares for our life . . .
Hers is surely the better at least for these verses.
Something else she provides are forty-nine brief footnoted commentaries that follow the hymn explaining the scriptural references in the text. This is quite valuable for anyone seeking clarifications for what may be biblically unfamiliar. You can find them here.
However, that being said, the translation that she has for the refrain that ends each of the stanzas is a problem. It is the salutation: “Rejoice O Unmarried Bride!” The other two English versions I have before me read: “Rejoice, O Bride Ever-Virgin!” or again, “Hail, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!” These seem certainly more correct, although I do not have the original Greek (or was it written first in Arabic?), to verify it. Our Lady was, as we know, married to Saint Joseph, as the angel said to him when he was already espoused to her by the first espousal before the marriage (which in Jewish tradition officially occurred with the second espousal): “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife”.
The stanzas (oikos, in Greek, which literally means “house”) are coupled into five lines (kontakion) announcing the mystery followed by thirteen lines blessing the Ever-Virgin Mary. The whole hymn is composed in four parts:
Stanzas 1-6 recount the mission of the Archangel Gabriel and the Annunciation, extolling the purity of the holy VIrgin, the visit to Elizabeth, and the trial of Saint Joseph and his subsequent joy.
Stanzas 7-12 cover the angelic vision to the shepherds and their coming to the stable, the adoration of the Magi, and the flight into Egypt.
Stanzas 13-18 extols the new Creation which was wrought by the Incarnate Lord through the Theotokos, the call to lift up one’s spirit in faith to heaven from where the Logos descended (or condescended), His Omnipotence in being contained in Mary while the whole universe is contained in Him, and the wisdom of the true religion as opposed to the foolishness of the pagan philosophers.
Stanzas 18-24 honor the Blessed Virgin as protector of the faithful and refuge of sinners, the mystery of the “humility” of God becoming our Emmanuel in order to lift us to Himself, our feeble, but meritorious, attempts to praise Him and His mercy adequately in human words, the bestowal of grace sufficient for the salvation of all and the cancellation of our debt of sin, and finally, a renewed petition to Holy Mother Mary to protect us from misfortune and from eternal loss.
Here is the first stanza:
The Archangel was sent from Heaven to cry ‘Rejoice!’ to the Theotokos. And beholding You, O Lord, taking bodily form, he stood in awe, and with his bodiless voice he cried aloud to her such things as these:
Rejoice, you through whom joy shall shine forth. Rejoice, you whom the curse will vanish.
Rejoice, the Restoration of fallen Adam. Rejoice, the Redemption of the tears of Eve.
Rejoice, O Height beyond human logic. Rejoice, O depth invisible even to the eyes of Angels.
Rejoice, for you are the King’s throne. Rejoice, you bear Him, Who bears the universe.
Rejoice, O Star revealing the Sun. Rejoice, O Womb of divine Incarnation.
Rejoice, you through whom creation is renewed. Rejoice, you through whom the Creator is born a Babe.
Rejoice, O Bride Ever-Virgin!
The fifth stanza is sublime:
Carrying God in her womb, the Virgin hastened to Elizabeth, whose unborn babe forthwith recognizing Mary’s salutation rejoiced, and with leaps as it were with songs, he cried out to the Theotokos:
Rejoice, O branch of the unwithering Vine. Rejoice, O Land yielding the untainted Fruit.
Rejoice, O Husbandry of the merciful Husbandman. Rejoice, O birthgiver to the Planter of our life.
Rejoice, O Field bearing abundant compassion. Rejoice, O Table laden with an abundance of mercies.
Rejoice, for you make the meadow produce contentment. Rejoice, for you prepare a haven for souls.
Rejoice, acceptable Incense of intercession. Rejoice, Oblation for all the world.
Rejoice, Favour of God to mortals. Rejoice, Access of mortals to God.
Rejoice, O Bride Ever-Virgin!
Another gem is the thirteenth stanza:
New was the Creation which the Creator showed to us His creatures, when He sprang forth from the seedless womb; and He preserved it incorrupt, even as it was, that we, seeing this Miracle, may praise her saying:
Rejoice, Flower of incorruption. Rejoice, Crown of self-restraint.
Rejoice, O shining Token of Resurrection. Rejoice, you who reflects the life of the Angels.
Rejoice, Tree of delectable Fruit that nourishes the faithful. Rejoice, well-shaded Tree under which many find shelter.
Rejoice you who bear the Guide of those astray. Rejoice, you who give birth to the Redeemer of captives.
Rejoice, Intercession before the righteous Judge. Rejoice, Forgiveness for many transgressors.
Rejoice, Robe of confidence for those bare of courage. Rejoice, Tenderness conquering all desire.
Rejoice, O Bride Ever-Virgin!
How magnificent and inspiring are these lines, especially the last one:
Rejoice, Robe of confidence for those bare of courage. Rejoice, Tenderness conquering all desire.
There is a church in Moscow dedicated to the Disposition of the Robe of the Mother of God. You can view the icon here.
This is just a sampling from the Akathistos Hymn. For the full prayer go here.
Addendum
Here are some YouTube videos of the Akathist hymn to the Mother of God, in whole or in part. First, here is one in English (after a little Greek at the start):
This one is in Greek:
This one is in Old Church Slavonic (or perhaps Russian?):
This one is in Ukrainian (Sung by Greek Catholic Ukrainian monks of the Studite Order):
This one is in Arabic:
