WelCom May 2023
Throughout May, the month dedicated to the Blessed Mother Mary, many images of Our Lady are visited in dedicated garden settings in places around the world.
Many believe the reason is because, in the Northern Hemisphere, the month of May is the height of spring. Gardens everywhere are alive with blooming flowers and trees are filling their branches with leaves. This new beginning and new birth in nature reminds us of the life Mary gave to Jesus.
It is a Catholic tradition in many places to honour Mary during the month of May by crowning her statue with flowers. The reason is summed up by Pope St Paul VI who wrote in 1965 that May is an occasion for a ‘moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world pay to the Queen of Heaven’. The crown symbol is attributed to Mary because she is the Mother of the Son of God, our Heavenly King.
