Marian custom in May

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A statue of the Virgin Mary (around 1515) from the workshop of Tilman Riemenschneider in the Würzburg Cathedral, decorated for May devotions

In the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church , the month of May as the month of Mary has been marked in a special form by Marian piety and related customs in the church and private sector since the Baroque period . The veneration of Mary as the Virgin and Mother of God in the services of the Marian Feasts in May and in special word worship in May are the solemn highlights. The May devotions can take place as public services or in private. A portrait of the Virgin Mary or a statue of Mary is specially decorated with flowers for the devotion .

The Marian customs have the status of "pious exercises" . The feasts of Mary, which are part of the official Roman Catholic liturgy, are to be distinguished from customs .

History and symbolism

Extra-Christian and Christian roots

Mirantic Mayen whistle by Laurentius von Schnüffis, Dillingen 1692
Depiction of Mary as Queen of May, in: Mirantischer Mayen-Pfeiff by Laurentius von Schnüffis, Dillingen 1692

Historically, the celebration of the May month in Europe goes back to the mythology of pre-Christian times. May (Latin "Mensis Maius") is named after the Roman goddess of fertility Maia , to whom the Flemish Volcanalis made a sacrifice on the first day of this month. Maia was also equated with the fertility goddesses " Bona Dea " and "Terra". The Latin word root * mag identifies May as the growth month for grain, which, along with the other vegetation months, was part of the Roman farming year. In the mythology of the Greek cultural area , May was dedicated to the goddess Artemis as the goddess of vegetation and fertility . In Rome in May, in addition to the goddess Maia, the fertility goddess Flora , the deity of plants , especially of the grain blossom , was worshiped . The cult belonged to the oldest stratum of the Roman religion and was influenced by Greek. At the popular festival- like Ludi Florales of the Roman Empire, from April 28 to May 3, intercession for all that blooms was made in games, fertility rites and sacrifices . In the Middle Ages , this custom lived on in the expulsion of winter and the greeting of spring . The custom of raising the maypole can also be seen in this context.

A veneration of Mary in May already took place in the Christian Middle Ages, but not yet as part of a month-long series of celebrations of Mary. The church wanted to "Christianize" pagan May celebrations of Roman and Germanic origin. As the oldest evidence of Marian worship celebrations, especially in May, the Marian chants "Cantigas de Santa Maria" by the Castilian King Alfonso X from the 13th century are considered.

Since the baroque period , several months have been specially celebrated as the month of Mary. Gradually May developed alongside October as the month of Mary par excellence. Since no Marian feast had been liturgically positioned in this month, May in its entirety should be given to Mary as a gift of devotion. The late Baroque Capuchin - preacher , composer and poet Lawrence of Schnüffis relates in his 1691 published magazine "Miran tables Mayen-Pfeiffer" the image of spring on Mary and celebrates it as a symbol of grace spring after the winter of perdition.

One motif of the May devotion can be seen in the medieval devotion to the cross in spring. It stands in the tradition of a late medieval passion piety , the "spiritual May" ( Heinrich Seuse , Stephan Fridolin OFM ), in which passion mysticism was expressed in the form of a garden allegory (" Hortus conclusus "). That “spiritual May” was based both on the feast of the finding of the cross on May 3rd and on the week of prayer and prayer before Ascension . These celebrations developed further as a form of piety of the Baroque in Rhenish and Franconian dioceses ( Archdiocese of Trier , Archdiocese of Mainz , Diocese of Worms , Diocese of Speyer , Diocese of Würzburg and Diocese of Bamberg ) at the beginning of the 18th century as prayers for good weather because the weather blessing was given in the churches from the feast of the finding of the cross. The background to these celebrations was a result of bad harvests at the beginning of the 18th century. These May prayers for good weather and a good harvest were preserved well into the 19th century. The May prayers did not have a special Marian orientation to date.

Marian coinage since the 18th century

Marienlieder to celebrate May devotions, Guido Görres, Rome 1842, Munich 1844
Religious image from the end of the 19th century to propagate the honor of Mary in May through floral decorations

From the 18th century, the forms of piety of the May prayer were given Marian influences. The motif of the plant blossom was taken up, and this was soon reduced to the flower blossom. The original request that an edible crop should ripen from the flower was lost. Referring to the Blütenmotivik of the Song of Songs ( Sg 2,1-2  EU ) the Maigebete and the month of May as flower and flower month in increasingly special way the Virgin Mary was dedicated.

The Marian May devotions had their origin in Ferrara in 1784 in the Church of the Camillians , where Marian devotions were held publicly throughout the month. It is documented as early as 1747 that the Archbishop of Genoa , Giuseppe Maria Saporiti, particularly recommended May services as house services. In Rome , the celebration of May devotions was customary in about 20 churches until 1813.

The May devotions came from Italy via Switzerland , France and Belgium to Germany and Austria . Special conveyor was from Lorraine originating Longwy / Langich Jesuit Pierre Doré (1733-1816), who had learned the devotions in Italy. The spread of the devotions can be seen in connection with the restoration movement after the anti-church turmoil of the French Revolution . At the time, they were interpreted as the ecclesiastical counterpart to the earlier spring celebrations of the French Revolution.

The public May devotions now spread across Europe - supported by broad supporters among the Catholic population - and developed parallel to the Marian pilgrimages . The May devotions reached America from Ireland . Although May falls in the winter months in the southern hemisphere , May devotions were made popular there by Catholic missionaries in the second half of the 19th century. On May 1, 1841, French nuns of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd celebrated the first May devotion on German soil in the Haidhausen convent near Munich . It is attested for 1842 in Aachen, and by 1860 it had developed into the most important form of Marian devotion among the Catholic population. Since around 1860, the Sunday “May sermons” have become another hallmark of the month of Mary.

Numerous books for the celebration of May devotions were published in the 19th century. These were private prayer books , but they were also designed for use in public worship and usually received the imprimatur , the ecclesiastical printing permission of the responsible bishop. Significant historical private prayer books came from the Jesuits Annibale Donese († 1754), Francesco Lalomia (1727–1789), Alfonso Muzzarelli (1749–1813) and Louis Debussy (1788–1822). Vincenzo Pallotti (1795–1850), Johannes Bosco (1815–1888) and John Henry Newman (1801–1890) wrote other important and widespread private prayer books for the holding of May devotions. Numerous Marian songs were composed and set to music for the purpose of church music.

The author and publicist Guido Görres , son of the Catholic publicist Joseph Görres , was decisive for the German-speaking area in the 19th century with his collection of Marian songs based on the Italian model, which he dedicated to the writer Clemens Brentano , who died in the same year . In the later editions of 1844 and 1853, the Marian cycle was greatly expanded. The Marian poems, in which a lyric self, as the representative of the entire Catholic Christianity, addresses the Mother of God in poems of greeting, praise and supplication, have a folk song-like character, which has made them part of the German song treasure trove and has remained known to this day. In its expanded version, the Marian devotional cycle, which is rooted in the romantic tradition , comprises 31 poems for one May day each. A specific chronology with regard to the life of Mary is not discernible. In the May cycle of Görres, Mary is praised as the venerable Virgin and Mother of God, as a helping refuge in danger and need, as Queen of Heaven and often as Regina Pacis . Her role as an advocate for sinners or mediatrix tends to take a back seat. Further Marian poems are contained in the work under the title "Flowers for the after-party". The content is Marian prayers, for example by Birgitta of Sweden or Maria Stuart , who pay homage to Mary as Queen of the Heavenly Hosts and as Mater Dolorosa . The texts of the Marienlieder by Guido Görres have been set to music several times and are sung on different melodies regionally.

These Marian songs and later also prayers and whole devotional concepts for Marian devotion found their way into some diocesan hymn and prayer books . The post-conciliar German hymn book " Gotteslob " , published in 1975, no longer contains May devotions. The widespread song “ Maria, Maienkönigin ” by Guido Görres was included in a modified form in some diocesan appendices to the 2013 revised praise of God . The first stanzas were essentially taken over unchanged, but there are often supplementary, newly composed stanzas that take into account a theology that is more christological , Trinitarian and ecclesiological .

High phase in the "Marian century"

The high phase of May devotions falls in the time of the so-called “Marian Century” between 1850 and 1950, the time between the proclamation of the two Marian dogmas of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (1854) and the bodily acceptance of Mary into heaven (1950).

The proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary by Pope Pius IX. on December 8, 1854 in the bull Ineffabilis Deus ('The Ineffable God') and the official church recognition of the Marian apparitions of Lourdes of 1858 before Bernadette Soubirous promoted the spread of May devotions in churches and chapels , in private rooms and in front of the Lourdes grottoes that were built everywhere . During the time of the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf in the German Empire , the May devotions experienced an enormous boom and offered space for religiously disguised church protests against the repressive state.

During the two world wars of the 20th century, the Popes recommended Benedict XV. (1915) and Pius XII. (1939) the May devotions as a special occasion to pray for peace. Children in particular should take part in these devotions. Pope Pius XII emphasized this peace aspect of the May devotions regularly throughout the Second World War . In the papal encyclical Mediator Dei of November 20, 1947, May prayer was recommended as an exercise in piety. Since 1950, the "Madonna von Altenberg" in Altenberg Cathedral near Cologne has been a light relay of peace, called " Altenberger Licht ". The statue of the Virgin Mary, created in 1530, has been venerated since the 1930s as the “Queen of the League”, the Catholic youth work in Germany.

Pope Pius XII At the end of the Marian Year 1954, with the encyclical Ad caeli reginam, put the Queen of Ideas festival for the Church as a whole on May 31. It had previously been celebrated in individual religious orders and dioceses since the middle of the 19th century. It has been celebrated on August 22nd since 1969. Pius XII. warned in the same encyclical against overly emotional "tightness of mind" in Marian piety.

Pope Paul VI recommended public prayer for peace in his encyclical Mense Maio published on April 29, 1965 , in view of the climax of the Cold War and the Vietnam War , but also for a good outcome and lasting effect of the Second Vatican Council . In total, he dedicated two encyclicals to Mary ( Mense Maio , 1965 and Christi matri rosarii , 1966) as well as three apostolic letters ( Signum magnum , 1967, Recurrens mensis october , 1969, and Marialis cultus ), in which he emphasized a reform of the Marian devotional exercises in accordance with the requirements of the 1965 council.

Currently, according to the theologians Kurt Küppers and Horst Rzepkowski, after the period of upheaval at the Second Vatican Council, May devotions have hardly any special significance in the piety of the Catholic population or in church art.

Floral and garden allegories

Boston copy-variant of the “ Madonna in the Rosenhag ” by Martin Schongauer in the Dominican Church in Colmar : Mary with the baby Jesus on a lawn bench in the middle of a garden with peonies, roses, lilies and numerous other flowers as a composition of the motifs of the “Madonna dell'Umiltà "(Madonna of Humility), the Garden of Paradise and the Hortus conclusus

In Marian May customs, the worship of the Mother of God is strongly linked to motifs from floral and garden allegories. May tariffs, May tears, Lourdes grottoes and Marian gardens are decorated with plants and flowers in honor of Mary. The mother of Christ is honored and praised for Christ's sake. In the Christian tradition, Mary is with particular reference to the Song of Songs ( Sg 2,1-2  EU ) and the Book of Sirach ( Sir 24.13 to 19  EU compared) early flowers and plants verschiedenster Art. Since the Middle Ages, with its awakening feeling for nature, the symbolism of flowers and plants in relation to Mary has spread strongly. The Marian floral symbolism was used especially in the women's monasteries during the heyday of German mysticism and in preaching practice. Numerous types of flowers and plants were used with regard to the Marian symbolism. The flowers given to the Blessed Mother are primarily to be understood as symbols of virtues since medieval sermon literature. The lily, for example, stands for chastity and virginity, the violet for humility, the white rose for pure maidhood, the red rose for perfect love, but also for the joys and sorrows of Our Lady. All the flowers are united in the Marian motif of the little paradise garden , which is to be regarded as a Hortus conclusus .

The pictorial motif of the Hortus conclusus with the associated plant motif , which appears again and again in the allegory of the May devotions, goes back to interpretations of the Song of Songs of the Old Testament , where it says:

A locked garden is my sister's bride, a locked fountain, a sealed spring. At your water channels - a pomegranate grove with delicious fruits, henna umbels with nardi blossoms, nard, crocus, spice cane and cinnamon, all frankincense trees, myrrh and aloe, the very best balm. You are the source of the garden, a fountain of living water that flows from Lebanon. North wind, wake up! South wind, come! Blow through my garden, let the balsamic scents flow! My beloved come into his garden and eat his delicious fruits! ( Hld 4.12-16  EU ).

The entire section of the Song of Songs (Hld 4,12-5,1) poetically praises the virtues of the bride in the image of a wonderful garden. Already in Jewish exegesis this was understood as a metaphor for the loving relationship between God and his people Israel . In Christianity, the interpretation of the Song of Songs was modified to include the relationship between Christianity and God. When Mary began to be interpreted as the archetype of the church, the image of the closed garden was now also related to the Mother of God. For the first time, the exegete, mystic and liturgy commentator Rupert von Deutz interprets the closed garden in his song commentary as a parable of the virginity of Mary. The garden motif as a new Marian symbol had a major impact on poetry and art. Especially in the late 14th and 15th centuries, the garden developed as a Marian pictorial theme, such as that of the Madonna in the Rosenhag or that of the Little Paradise Garden, and influenced the literary topos of the locus amoenus .

Other Old Testament garden motifs such as the story of paradise with the Garden of Eden ( Gen 2-3  EU ), the “vineyard member” in the book of Isaiah ( Isa 5.1–7  EU ) and the story of the garden of Susanna ( Dan 13  EU ) are presented in the tradition of exegetical prefiguration theology interpreted on Mary: The negative character of the sinfulness of these three gardens described in the Old Testament is seen as antithetical in the Virgin and Mother of God. This garden symbolism also appears in various visions of medieval mystics .

Since the late Middle Ages, the Marian floral symbolism has been largely restricted to roses and lilies, but is still traditionally preserved in its original abundance in the herb consecration on the Feast of the Assumption on August 15th. In this context, white Madonna lilies symbolize Mary's virginity and the thornless rose symbolize her inexhaustible mercy. In the Old Testament Song of Songs, the lily is compared to the physical beauty of the bride and groom. ( Hld 2,1f  EU , Hld 4,5  EU , Hld 5,13  EU , Hld 6,2  EU , Hld 7,3  EU ). Numerous other biblical passages also praise the beauty and fragrance of the lily, so that it was obvious in Christian tradition to associate Mary with the white lily and to regard the Mother of God in this sense as the epitome of purity and flawless beauty. The brilliant white of the lily blossom, repeatedly mentioned in orations and sacred poems, stands for the virginity of Mary.

Because of its beauty and fragrance, the rose motif has always been an attribute of love, youth, spring and a symbol of paradise. With regard to Mary, the Old Testament was particularly decisive for the assignment of the rose in its variety of meanings. The basis for a pictorial assignment was the comparison of divine wisdom with the rose planted in Jericho ( Sir 24.14  EU ) and the prophecy that rice would arise from the root of Jesse ( Isa 11.1  EU ). In addition, the thorns of the rose were seen as a symbol of the paradise sin, above which the thornless flower of flawless virginity rises triumphantly. In the Christian interpretation, the “lily among thistles” of the Song of Songs ( Hld 2.2  EU ) became the “rose among thorns” as a symbol of Mary's immaculate conception. As legend has it that the roses of Paradise had no thorns - these were only formed after the fall of Eve - Mary was free from original sin from the beginning as "Immaculata" . The thornless peony developed into a favorite symbol of Mary in this context. The miracle of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in the Virgin Mary led to the invocation of Mary as “ Rosa mystica ” ( Latin for “mysterious rose”) in the Lauretanian litany . The traditional meaning of the rose as the “queen of flowers” ​​also developed into the attribute of Mary as the queen of heaven. The “Hortus conclusus”, in which Maria sits, is often planted with roses in artistic representations.

to form

The May devotion and the related Marian piety were anchored in the parish prayer practice in two ways: as domestic family prayer and as church service. This double form of celebration remained common from then on. Daily May devotions and especially festive celebrations at the beginning and end of the May month as well as on May days and at high feasts in May (e.g. Ascension Day and Pentecost ) became customary . As the time of the celebrations, the early evening could increasingly prevail to make it easier for farmers and workers, servants and students to take part in the May devotions. The duration of the celebration with singing, sermons and prayers (especially the Lauretan Litany ) was between half an hour and an hour. Scripture readings, songs, prayers and sermons, as design elements for devotion, focus on God's saving work in the life of Mary. If a priest or deacon leads the devotion , a sacramental blessing can be given at the end .

Liturgical and theological importance

The practice of a “month of Mary” and the customs that go with it developed parallel to and often with little reference to the official Roman Catholic liturgy , which for the Catholic Church represents the “normative form of Christian cult”. From the point of view of the church leadership, liturgy and pastoral problems arose and should be taken into account. May devotions are considered pious exercises (devotional exercises , pia exercitia ) in the sense of the Second Vatican Council .

The council differentiates between “liturgical veneration” of Mary in Holy Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours on the feasts of the Blessed Mother and “customs and exercises of devotion to her which have been recommended by the Church's Magisterium over the centuries ,” which also includes May devotion . In the last chapter of its Church Constitution Lumen Gentium of 1964, which is dedicated to the Blessed Mother Mary, the Council demands "to abstain carefully from any false exaggeration such as too great a narrow mindedness when considering the unique dignity of the Blessed Mother", since "true devotion is neither in sterile and temporary feeling still consists in some gullibility, but emerges from true faith ”. Marian piety must always be related to Jesus Christ and orient itself to the Bible , the writings of the Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church . The council referred to admonitions that Pope Pius XII. 1954 in his encyclical Ad caeli reginam had expressed.

As part of the liturgical reforms of the 20th century, Roman Catholic theology also reconsidered the priorities of the liturgy and the church year. On the basis of new research, the Second Vatican Council has regained and emphasized the idea of ​​the Passover mystery as a traditional theological motif, the core of which is the salvation-historical event of the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost . The central men's festivals between Easter and Pentecost fall in the months of April to June and should therefore, according to the will of the council, be emphasized more strongly against an exaggerated piety to Mary.

The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments of 2001 determined that it was necessary because of the "problem" of the "prevailing custom in the West to celebrate May as the" Marian month ", "To take into account some requirements of the liturgy, the expectations of the faithful and their maturity in faith". May, as the month of Mary, should not be abolished as it could confuse the believers. It was suggested to “combine the content of the 'Marian month' with the corresponding time of the liturgical year” and, for example , to participate in the devotional exercises during the month of May, which largely coincides with the fifty days of Easter to make clear to the Virgin about the Easter mystery and the event of Pentecost (cf. Acts 1.14  EU ) (cf. Joh 19.25-27  EU ), on which the path of the Church begins: a path that she, sharing in the new life of Risen, placed under the guidance of the Spirit ”.

Appropriate forms of Marian piety oriented towards salvation history are today:

  • Celebrating the Word of God as “listening to the Word of God in prayer”, since it is “an expression of special respect for the Virgin Mary, as she herself hears the Word of God” (cf. Lk 2:19, 51  EU );
  • the prayer of the Angel of the Lord as a “reminder of the salvation event that according to the plan of the Father the Word became man through the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary”;
  • the Regina caeli , the "mystery of the Incarnation of the Word (Christ whom you were worthy to carry) with the Easter event (he rose, as he said)";
  • the rosary , "a biblical prayer revolving around contemplation of the saving events of the life of Christ with which the Virgin Mother was closely united";
  • the Lauretanian litany and the litany for the coronation of an image of Mary

Marian festivals in May

Remembrance Day of Our Lady of Fátima

The three Portuguese shepherd children Lúcia dos Santos and the siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared to them on May 13, 1917 in a field near Fátima . At another apparition on July 13th, three messages, the three secrets of Fátima , were revealed to them. On May 13, 1930, the apparitions of José Alves Correia da Silva (1852–1957), Bishop of Leiria , were declared credible and the public veneration of “Our Lady of Fátima” was permitted in this place. In 2002 the anniversary “Remembrance Day of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Fátima” ( Memoria Beatae Mariae Virginis de Fátima ) was added to the Roman Catholic general calendar and can be called “memoria ad libitum” d. H. be celebrated as a non-mandatory day of remembrance .

Mary, Help of Christians

In 1814, led Pope Pius VII. For the 24 May the feast of Mary Help of Christians in gratitude for the liberation from Napoleonic captivity after the abdication of Napoleon one. It is also called protective jacket tight. A similar feast of the Orthodox Churches is on October 1st in the Julian calendar , where it is called the Protection of the Virgin and Intercession . “Maria, Hilfe der Christisten”, abbreviated “Mariahilf” (Latin: Maria, auxilium Christianorum ), is an invocation from the Lauretanian litany. It was inserted into the litany in 1571 by Pope Pius V in thanks for the victory of the Holy League over the Ottoman Empire at Lepanto . The feast is no longer included in the general Roman calendar of the church year, but is celebrated as a solemn feast by the Order of the Salesians of Don Bosco .

Mary Queen

Pope Pius XII At the end of the Marian Year 1954, the centenary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary , with the encyclical Ad caeli reginam, the Queen of Ideas festival for the Church as a whole was on May 31st. It had previously been celebrated in individual religious orders and dioceses since the middle of the 19th century. The Roman general calendar laid in 1969 the festival on August 22, the Octave of the Solemnity Mariäe ascension to which it is in inner relationship.

Visitation of the Virgin Mary

In 1969, instead of the Maria Queen Festival, the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary was moved from July 2nd (inappropriately after the birth festival of John the Baptist ) to May 31st as the new closing festival of the month of Mary . In the regional calendar for the German-speaking area , July 2nd was retained because of the deep roots of the old date and many church patronages .

Immaculate Heart of Mary

The feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary , previously celebrated on August 22nd, was placed on the day after the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and is thus celebrated on the third Saturday after Pentecost . The date depends on the date of Easter and falls on May 29th at the earliest and therefore very rarely in May.

Maria, patroness of Bavaria

The veneration of Mary as " Patrona Bavariae " goes back to the years 1615/1616, when the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I proclaimed the Mother of God to be the patroness of the Duchy of Bavaria in connection with the erection of a statue of Mary with the inscription "Patrona Boiariae" at the Munich Residence . He renewed this consecration with the construction of the Munich Marian Column during the Thirty Years' War in 1638.

The Bavarian King Ludwig III. turned to Pope Benedict XV during the First World War . with the request that the Holy See declare Mary in a special way the patron saint of the Kingdom of Bavaria and allow a Bavarian Marian festival. Pope Benedict XV granted both requests on April 26, 1916, and on May 14 of the same year the festival was celebrated for the first time in Munich with an associated octave . From 1917 onwards, the festival of the “Patrona Bavariae” was celebrated on May 20th in all Bavarian dioceses. The date commonly used today, May 1st, was introduced by the Freising Bishops' Conference in 1970 and is celebrated as a solemn festival by the Bavarian dioceses .

Our Lady Octave of the "Consolatrix Afflictorum"

Since the first miraculous healing in front of an image of Mary in Luxembourg in 1639, the octave of Our Lady has taken place there every year , that is, the pilgrimage to the miraculous image of Our Lady as the “ comforter of the afflicted ”. From 1651 to 1920 the octave of Our Lady was celebrated in the weeks between the fourth and fifth Sunday of Easter , and since 1921 as a double octave between the third and fifth Sunday of Easter. The miraculous image is today in the Luxembourg cathedral . "Comforter of the Sorrowful" is the German translation of the title "Consolatrix afflictorum", to which Mary as the mother of Jesus, along with many others, is assigned in the Lauretanian litany. There is no generally valid feast day for the invocation. Thus, the day of remembrance of worship depends on the local patronage and the tradition of miraculous work. The Lorraine Jesuit Jakob Brocquart (1588-1660) had started the construction of a Marian shrine in Luxembourg in 1625. The inauguration took place in 1628. The "Consolatrix Afflictorum" was founded in 1678 by the Assembly of Estates with a confirmation from Pope Innocent XI. elected as patron saint of the Duchy of Luxembourg . The state ceremony took place on July 2, 1679. The veneration of the Luxembourg “Consolatrix Afflictorum” established several daughter pilgrimages: Kevelaer (1642), Arlon (1655), Baslieux (1664), Werl (1661) and numerous others.

Commemoration day "Mary, mother of the church"

In 2018, Pope Francis designated Whit Monday, which falls in May in most years, for the whole Church to be the “Remembrance Day of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church ” ( Memoria Beatae Mariae Virginis, Ecclesiae Matris ). The Second Vatican Council dedicated the final chapter of its church constitution to Lumen Gentium Maria and, in accordance with a long theological tradition, called her the "mother of the church": "The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, worships her as a beloved mother with filial love."

May tarry

Maialtar, parish church St. Gertraud , Würzburg, Pleicher Vorstadt

A May devotion can take place in a church or chapel at a specially built altar , an existing May tarry or the main altar redesigned for this purpose. A picture or a statue of the Mother of God Mary is used, and there is often a variety of floral decorations. For the Strasbourg cathedral , the erection of its own May tariff in front of the high choir is documented for the first time in 1855. The priestly blessing is often given before this May tarry. The priority of the high altar should however - according to the church orders - remain visible. Like the May devotion, the custom of the May tariffs also came to Germany from the Romanic countries of Europe. French sources from the beginning of the 1840s report the particularly splendid decoration of the Marian altars in churches and chapels, as well as private "Maialtärchen" in May.

The biblical reference to this floral design is the Old Testament Song of Songs ( Hld 2,1–2  EU ), where it says: “I am a flower of Sharon , a lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thistles, so is my friend among the daughters. ”In addition, the Hortus conclusus (locked garden) motif is used in the Song of Songs when it says:“ My sister, dear bride, you are a locked garden, a locked one Source, a sealed fountain ”( Hld 4,12  EU ). Another floral reference can be found in the Lauretanian litany , where Maria is referred to as Rosa mystica (mysterious rose).

The piety exercise of the establishment of May altars was particularly promoted and influenced by the book "The Golden Book of Complete Devotion to Mary" by Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716), a French people's missionary , writer and founder of the order .

Maialtärchen

Private Maialtärchen

With the rise of the May tariffs in the churches, the custom of celebrating private May devotions also spread in Catholic families and regions. Catholic edification literature on Marian piety propagated this pious practice. In addition to the family, neighbors, relatives and friends should also gather in a house for private Marian devotion. The elements of such a private devotion included prayers, Marian songs (such as ' Maria, Queen of May '), the rosary , the Lauretan litany and reflections from one of the devotional books. To do this, a small “altar” is erected in one's own house, with a figure of Mary or an image of Mary adorned with flowers - such as the widespread icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help - in the center. The Herrgottswinkel can also be redesigned accordingly. Authors of private May devotional books as well as official church pronouncements took up the topic and advocated the construction of private May tears. In Catholic diaspora areas, May prayer in front of a Maial tärchen was recommended as a substitute for the impossible attendance of a public Main prayer.

Today a domestic Maial tärchen for Marian prayers is rarely found in the family and is considered a "forgotten tradition".

literature

  • Gerlinde Haid : May devotion. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 3, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-7001-3045-7 .
  • Kurt Küppers: May devotion . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 6 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997, Sp. 1200 .
  • Kurt Küppers and Horst Rzepkowski: May devotion. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk . 4th volume, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 244-248.
  • Kurt Küppers: Maialtärchen . In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, p. 243.
  • Kurt Küppers: May. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 242–243.
  • Kurt Küppers: Marian piety between the baroque and industrial ages. Studies on the history and celebration of May devotions in Germany and in the German-speaking area. (= Munich Theological Studies, Historical Department, Volume 27) St. Ottilien 1987.
  • Heinrich Petri :  Maiadacht . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 5, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2002, Sp. 687.

Web links

Commons : Marian Customs in May  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Radke: Maia 2, in: Der Kleine Pauly, Lexikon der Antike, edited and edited on the basis of Pauly's Realcycolpädie of the classical antiquity with the collaboration of numerous scholars. by Konrat Ziegler and Walther Sontheimer, Vol. 3, Munich 1979, Sp. 895.
  2. ↑ Walther Sontheimer: Maius, in: Der Kleine Pauly, Lexikon der Antike, edited and edited on the basis of Pauly's Realcycolpädie der classical antiquity studies with the collaboration of numerous scholars. by Konrat Ziegler and Walther Sontheimer, Vol. 2, Munich 1979, Col. 906.
  3. ↑ Werner Eisenhut: Flora / Floralia, in: Der Kleine Pauly, Lexikon der Antike, edited and edited on the basis of Pauly's Realcycolpädie der classical antiquity with the collaboration of numerous scholars. von Konrat Ziegler and Walther Sontheimer, Vol. 2, Munich 1979, Sp. 579-580.
  4. ^ Eduard Nagel: Marian month of May. In: worship. Dictionary. on-line
  5. ↑ Cornelia Wedler: Laurentius von Schnüffis, in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, p. 33.
  6. ↑ Peter Lippert: The "Marienmonate". In: Honor Mary today. A theological-pastoral handout. Edited by Wolfgang Beinert , 3rd edition, Freiburg im Breisgau 1979, pp. 249-258.
  7. ^ Kurt Küppers: May. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 242–243.
  8. ↑ Petra Seegets: Passion Theology and Passion Piety in the Late Middle Ages. The Nuremberg Franciscan Stephan Fridolin († 1498) between the monastery and the city. (= Late Middle Ages and Reformation; NR, 10). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-16-146862-7 [1] , pp. 91-121, esp. 113-121.
  9. ↑ Guillaume van Gemert: Görres, in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 2, St. Ottilien 1989, p. 669.
  10. ^ Kurt Küppers and Horst Rzepkowski: Maiandacht. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 244–248.
  11. ↑ Rupert Schreiber: Church and Piety, The Lourdes Grottoes in Saarland, in: Saargeschichten, 1/2016, p. 64.
  12. ↑ Rupert Schreiber: A Grotto in the Garden, 150 Years of Lourdes, Popularized Piety and Denominational Identity, The Triumph of the Cult of Mary from Lourdes an der Saar, in: Saargeschichten, 1/2008, pp. 25-29.
  13. ↑ Oranna Dimmig: Art Lexicon Saar, Kunstort Hasenberg Ensdorf / Saar, ed. from the Institute for Current Art in Saarland, Saarbrücken 2014.
  14. ^ Kurt Küppers: May devotion . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 6 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997, Sp. 1200 .
  15. ↑ Ad caeli reginam . Holy See. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  16. ^ Encyclical Ad caeli reginam (October 11, 1954), No. 44.
  17. ^ Kurt Küppers and Horst Rzepkowski: Maiandacht . In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 244–248.
  18. ↑ Lothar Schmitt: Schongauer , in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, 6th volume, St. Ottilien 1994, pp. 59-62.
  19. ↑ Luise Böhling: Flowers , in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, 1st volume, St. Ottilien 1988, pp. 510-513.
  20. ↑ Josef Scharbert: Locked Garden , in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, 6th volume, St. Ottilien 1994, pp. 618–619.
  21. ↑ Genoveva Nitz: Hortus conclusus , in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, 3rd volume, St. Ottilien 1991, pp. 247-250.
  22. ↑ Luise Böhling: Flowers , in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, 1st volume, St. Ottilien 1988, pp. 510-513.
  23. ↑ Josef Scharbert and Genoveva Nitz: Lily , in: Marienlexikon , ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 121-122.
  24. ^ Margot Schmidt and Silke Egbers: Rose . In: Marienlexikon , ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 5, St. Ottilien 1993, pp. 548-552.
  25. ↑ Lottlisa Behling: The flora of the medieval cathedrals. Vienna 1964.
  26. ↑ Gerd Heinz-Mohr, Volker Sommer: The Rose. Unfolding of a symbol. Düsseldorf / Cologne 1991.
  27. ↑ Walter Dürig: Mysterious Rose . In: Marienlexikon , ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 2, St. Ottilien 1989, pp. 604–605.
  28. ↑ Manfred Becker-Huberti: Celebrations - festivals - seasons, living customs throughout the year - history and stories, songs and legends, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1998, p. 343.
  29. ^ Kurt Küppers and Horst Rzepkowski: Maiandacht. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk. 4th volume, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 244-248.
  30. ^ Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments: Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy. Principles and orientations. December 17, 2001, No. 190 online
  31. ↑ Devotional exercises of the Christian people , Sacrosanctum Concilium No. 13 [2] .
  32. ↑ Lumen gentium No. 67 online
  33. ↑ Pius XII .: Encyclical "Ad caeli reginam" (October 11, 1954), No. 44: Curent theologi ac divini verbi praecones ut quasdam e recto itinere aberrationes devitent, ne in duplicis generis errores inducantur; caveant nempe et sententias fundamento carentes ac veritatem quadam verborum superlatione excedentes; et nimiam mentis angustiam in singulari illa, omnino excelsa, immo fere divina Deiparae dignitate consideranda. [3]
  34. ^ Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments: Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy. Principles and orientations. December 17, 2001, no.191 online
  35. ^ Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments: Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy. Principles and orientations. December 17, 2001, No. 192–203 online
    Pope Paul VI also recommended praying the rosary in May. in the encyclical Mense Maio , No. 14 online
  36. ↑ Stefano De Fiores, Heinrich Maria Köster, Martin Übelhör: Fatima. In: Marienlexikon. Edited by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 2, St. Ottilien 1989, pp. 444–451.
  37. ^ Adolfine driver: Fatima days. In: Marienlexikon. Edited by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 2, St. Ottilien 1989, p. 451.
  38. ↑ Calendarium Romanum Generale in Missale Romanum , Editio typica tertia (2002) digital
  39. ^ Walter Dürig: Die Lauretanische Litanei, Sankt Ottilien 1990, pp. 60f.
  40. ↑ Walther Dürig and Genoveva Nitz: Lauretanische Litanei, in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 33-44.
  41. ↑ Mechthild Müller: Lepanto, in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 103-104.
  42. ↑ Matthias Altmann: You (maybe) do not know these Marian feasts yet. In: kathisch.de , May 3, 2019 online
  43. ↑ Ad caeli reginam . Holy See. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  44. ↑ Elmar Fastenrath and Friederike Tschochner: Kings of Mary, in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, 3rd volume, St. Ottilien 1991, pp. 589-596.
  45. ^ Kurt Küppers and Horst Rzepkowski: Maiandacht. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 244–248.
  46. ↑ Elmar Fastenrath and Friederike Tschochner: Kings of Mary In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 589-596.
  47. ↑ Heinrich Maria Köster, Norbert Hoffmann, Hanns-Albert Reul, Johannes Stöhr, José María Canal: Herz Mariä, in: Marienlexikon, ed. on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 3, St. Ottilien 1991, pp. 163–171.
  48. ↑ Emmeram H. Ritter: Patrona Bavariae , in: Marienlexikon , ed. by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 5, St. Ottilien 1993, pp. 122-124.
  49. ↑ Directory 1019-220 for the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising , p. 96.
  50. ↑ Florian Trenner: Bavaria. In: Marienlexikon. Edited by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 1, St. Ottilien 1988, pp. 390–393.
  51. ↑ Directory 1019-220 for the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising , p. 96.
  52. ^ Website of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising for the Patrona Bavariae festival
  53. ↑ Michael Faltz and Margot Schmitt: Luxemburg , in: Marienlexikon , ed. by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 194–195.
  54. ^ Decreto della Congregazione per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti sulla celebrazione della beata Vergine Maria Madre della Chiesa nel Calendario Romano Generale. In: Holy See Press Bulletin. Press room of the Holy See, March 3, 2018, accessed on March 3, 2018 (German).
  55. ↑ Lumen gentium No. 53, in: Karl Rahner , Herbert Vorgrimler : Small Council Compendium, Complete Texts of the Second Vatican Council , Freiburg i. B., 35th edition, 2008. ( Online document on the Vatican website )
  56. ^ A. Huppertz: Marienaltar and Herz-Jesu-Altar. , in: ORPB, 43 (1942), p. 51f.
  57. ^ Kurt Küppers: Marian piety between the baroque and industrial age. Studies on the history and celebration of May devotions in Germany and in the German-speaking area. St. Ottilien 1987.
  58. ↑ Kurt Küppers: Maialtar. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 243–244.
  59. ↑ Kurt Küppers: The “Maialtar” - a problematic focus. in: Gottesdienst 22 (1988), p. 54.
  60. ^ Kurt Küppers and Horst Rzepkowski: Maiandacht. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, pp. 244–248.
  61. ↑ The Golden Book of Total Devotion to Mary. Complete new translation by Hilde Firtel, foreword and introductory chapter by Rudolf Graber. Friborg (Switzerland) 1954.
  62. ↑ z. B. May flowers on the altar of the virgin mother of God, Mary, brief considerations for the month of Mary held at St. Maria Rotunda in Vienna, published by Albert Wimmer, Cath. Priest , Kempten 1900ff.
  63. ↑ https://www.kirche-und-leben.de/fileadmin/redaktion/pdf/2018/Maiandacht_Immerwaehrende_Hilfe.pdf , accessed on May 3, 2020.
  64. ↑ Kurt Küppers: Maialtärchen. In: Marienlexikon. Edited on behalf of the Institutum Marianum Regensburg eV by Remigius Bäumer and Leo Scheffczyk, Volume 4, St. Ottilien 1992, p. 243.
  65. ^ Kurt Küppers: Marian piety between the baroque and industrial age. Studies on the history and celebration of May devotions in Germany and in the German-speaking area. St. Ottilien 1987.
  66. ↑ Fabian Brand (KNA): The Maialtar - A forgotten tradition in honor of the Mother of God. In: kathisch.de , May 1, 2020 online