May Crowning
The month of May was very important in the Church. This was the time for First Communions and May Crowning's.
We will be focusing on May Crowning’s, as few are celebrated anymore.
The May Crowning was focused on honoring the Blessed Mother. It was an important function for the Young Ladies Sodality. “The Young Ladies’ Sodality was a Catholic church society for young ladies that had four components: 1) Religion, 2) Purity & virtue, 3) Charity, 4) Social. The emphasis on each of these four parts seems to have differed somewhat from parish to parish and from age to age.”
There was a procession from the school or convent to the Church as Mary was carried on a platform decorated with flowers by the older girls of the Church’s Sodality. Usually the president or prefect of the Sodality was chosen as May Queen and she would have the honor of crowning the Blessed Mother with a wreath of flowers when they arrived at the church. The school children and especially those who just received their First Holy Communion earlier that day also processed. Some of the children would carry flowers picked from their gardens to give to Our Lady.
Please look at these galleries of photos of May Crowning's at Erie's four Polish Parishes.
( Click on each photo to enlarge).
Saint Stanislaus
Holy Trinity
Saint Hedwig
Saint Casimir
Statue of our most Blessed Mother in the parish hall of St. Casimir Church.
Zdrowaś Maryjo!
Zdrowaś Maryjo!