The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-05-08
MARY, QUEEN OF MAY.

Again the mOutH OIL uOW0IS Hdo
come. And this beautiful fioWery
month of May is Our Lady's month.
In every Catholic Church throughout
the entire world Mary is crowned the
Queen of May, writes Rev. e. OFT, O.
F. NJ, in st Anthony's Messenger"
She of whom the prophets wrote
Coming forth as the morning, rising
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
shining in the Temple of God as the
morning star in the midst of a
cloud; she whom they greeted as the
glory of Jerusalem, the joy of Israel,
the honor of her people; she who is
our life,. our sweetness and our hope,
without whom we are unhappy crea-
lures weeping and mourning in this
valley of tears, her do we enthrone
upon our affairs during this blessed
month and hail her as our Queen.
We lay the spotless lily at her feet
in honor of the purity that is hers;
we decorate her shrine with a lovely
rose in token of our love; we illumine
her altar with numerous lights, for she
is the light of our lives. Exiles and
pilgrims in this vale of tears, with sOr-
row and pain and death before us,
with no human aid in sight, with the
hand of no man outstretched to save
us, to her we look and say, Turn thou,
most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of
mercy towards u.s.
When Christ from the Cross, said to
the beloved disciple: Behold thy
Mother he willed humanity its grand
est heritage. He not only bequeathed
the mankind Mary as mother, but
also as an unparalleled pattern of
perfection, as model embodying all
the virtues in the highest degree; as
an exemplar of moral grandeur for
us to initiate, and whence to draw the
inspirations for our ideal Mary's life
is the greatest poem of Christianity.
"And if our faith had given us moth
ing more
Than this example, of all womanhood,
So mild, so merciful, so strong, so
good,
So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving,
pure,
This were enough to prove it higher
and truer
Than all the creeds the world had
known before"
Really Mary is worthy to be our
mother, worthy to be our guide, our
ideal, our star, our Queen, for she, in
, deed, is truly blessed. my soul doth
magnify the Lord and my spirit hath
rejoiced in God, my Savior. For. be
hold, from henceforth all generations
! shall call me blessed"
7 Mary herself prophesied that al
generations to the end of the world
? shall call her blessed. History testi
: fies to the fulfillment of this prophecy
in every age and country and cline
t We see her honored at the present
1 time. Thousands and thousands Of
r shrines are erected to her during this
: glorious month of May. Affairs, cha
3 pels, churches, yea, cathedrals, are
e dedicated to her. Sodalities, societies
confraternities are established contin
q ually in her honor, under her star
i with her as their ideal. Thousand:
: of pilgrims wend their way to Europe
: each year and visit her shrines, there
: to pay homage to the noblest of won
: en-, and indirectly to womanhood il
E general.
S We go back to the sixteenth cen
q fury, to the time of the great religious
e Iupheaval, the Protestant Reformation
: and we find the so-called reformer:
g exhibiting an unnatural hatred to
e wards her to whom Christ was sub
e ject from the first instant that He
e took flesh from her. Is not this pa
e tent proof that the Reformation was
e not work of God? When Luther
n rose against her host of saints rose
: to defend her; and well did they
e speak for her, for history attests the
t sixteenth century called her blessed
e Back in the Middle Ages the Mani
r cheans preached against the devotion
: to the Blessed Virgin. But many ;
L noble soul arose to champion he
n cause, and the hereticaI doctrines O
THE Manicheans became thing of ths
O past, and the Middle Ages continued
: to call her blessed. In the fifth cen
o fury the historians taught falsely re
e | garding her, but the Council of Ephe
Y sns, A. ID. AL, condemned the heresy
+ and the world of that day called he
t blessed.
y Throughout the centuries men o
e genius and men of learning hav,
r tried to outdo each other to homo
e her. The great architects have lor
Il ingly brought all their talents int
n play when building her shrines. Tn
e greatest painters have endeavored t
v make the Madonna their masterpiece
g The greatest sculptors would not res
e until they had created her image i
Ie marble. Mary remains the woman
e type in art even IN these ultra-fashfor
r. able days, and will remain SO. TIL
IS greatest musicians have dedicate
ii some Of their best work to her, an
e even the most erotic of poets hav
a paid her their respects with at leas
a few decent lines.
is And yet when 9 Catholic kneels b