Comments on: May Crowning

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:37:40 +0000

I am in charge of the May Crowning at our parish and am amazed at the number of children who want to participate….ours is not formally done with rehearsals, etc., but the way I feel Our Lord would want us to honor his Mother….let the children come to me….and come they do for this beautiful ceremony.

By: Linda Price

Linda Price — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:38:03 +0000

Our music director prepared the May Crowning ceremony this year after the 10:00 Mass. We have a beautiful statue of Mary on our portico in front of the church which used to be in a grotto before the restoration of the church. All of the parish attending mass were invited to join him in front of Mary and we sang songs and two children crowned her with a wreath of flowers and ribbons. It was precious seeing the littlest children trying to get closer to the “action”. I think next year I will ask the new First Communicants to wear their outfits to Mass and celebrate again. In the past we had the religious formation classes participate but we changed to include the parish.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:17:45 +0000

Christian, thanks for joining the discussion!

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 24 May 2009 05:17:03 +0000

Mary, what a wonderful story…love the rain-out angle!

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:31:51 +0000

We recently had an evening May Crowning Service (before this our May crownings were tacked on to the end of one of the Masses, and the crowning itself was often completed before everyone could gather). We invited students to be part of the procession, and held a drawing to pick the “crowner” and their court. We were excited that a young man was picked; his parents were thrilled. There were not a lot of students (we have no school) who participated, but they were a variety of ages, not just First Communion kids.
Our prayer service consisted of readings, prayers and many Marian hymns. We had a nice size assembly for this; the people were a variety of ages, not just the mature members of our parish. As an aside, I spoke with the mom of the young man who crowned Mary — although religious, she was not raised with the tradition of May crownings, and said that she had no idea what a big deal it was. It turned out that her husband had signed up their son — who had a baseball game that started at 5PM, when the service was scheduled to begin at 6:30PM. We all lucked out; it was an evening threatening weather and rain, and his game got rained out!

By: Christian

Christian — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:31:15 +0000

These descriptions are great! I believe our parish & school does this as well, but I’m out of the First Communion loop.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:07:41 +0000

Kimberly, thanks for telling us about your school’s May Crowning.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:39:33 +0000

Each year our Catholic School crowns Mary at an evening prayer service. Second graders wear their First Eucharist clothes (or nice clothes) and Eighth graders, our school buddies and the oldest in the building, also are involved. The service is filled with the appropriate Marian hymns. We process in and recite the rosary. The priest announces the mystery with a very brief explanation. Mary’s Court (4 second, 2 eighth) recite a decade of the rosary. Next mystery. Second grade girls. Then second grade boys. The all of 8th grade. Then all of 2nd and 8th. Mary is crowned. Then (forgive me if I using the wrong term) the Benediction of the Eucharist occurs and the many present experience the exposure of the Eucharist for the first time. Somewhere in there is a long prayer as well. Quite moving, but not terribly well-attended. Few parishoners; mostly families of the 2nd and 8th.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:47:17 +0000

Jeanne, thanks for your thoughts.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:16:44 +0000

Joe, your explanation and understanding of May Crowning was well stated. However, I do not believe it is good theology to mix a balanced understanding of Mariology with First Eucharist (or First Communion). The honoring of Mary goes way back to the early church and their understanding of Mary as the “Theotokos” or God-Bearer. First Eucharist for young children only began in the beginning of the 1900’s. I believe we should keep these rituals separate for good theological understanding.