May is the month Catholics particularly honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, so today our parish held a May Crowning for the homeschooling community. A May Crowning is, at its most basic, when we crown a statue of Mary with flowers in order to give honor to our mother in heaven.
Our priest led a procession of at least 50 children into the church while singing "Immaculate Mary."
The children carried flowers . . .
. . . which they placed at the feet of the statue of Mary.
A First Communicant was given the honor of crowning Our Lady with flowers while we sang "Bring Flowers to the Rarest." (I appreciated the special touch of whomever thought to decorate the utilitarian stepladder with a garland of flowers.)
We then recited one decade of the Rosary, prayed the Litany of Our Lady, and listened to a homily by our pastor.
We concluded by making an Act of Consecration to Jesus through Our Lady. Then Fr. Reid blessed Miraculous Medals (which some sweet mommy had strung on blue yarn to make necklaces) and those were passed out to the children. We recessed out of the church singing "Hail Holy Queen."
What would a liturgical event such as this be without an ice cream party to follow?
The weather was exquisite, so four mothers visited while our children played outside in the courtyard for at least an hour.
Two precious babies pointing
John tells me, "I'm rough and tumble"
Mary playing hide-and-seek, coaxing a child out of the bushes
ooo I love Margaret's dress at the May crowning-- where did you get it?
ReplyDeleteElaine: I sewed that dress for Mary when she was a toddler and now it fits Margaret.
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