The Catholic practice of assigning a special devotion to each month goes back to the early 16th century. Since the best known of those devotions is probably the dedication of the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary, it might come as a surprise that it wasn't until the late 18th century that this devotion arose among Jesuits in Rome. In the early years of the 19th century, it quickly spread throughout the Western Church, and, by the time of Pope Pius IX's declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, it had become universal.

May crownings and other special May events in honor of Mary, such as public recitation of the rosary, stem from this time. Sadly, such communal events are more rare today, but we can take the month of May as an opportunity to renew our own devotion to the Mother of God by dusting off our rosaries and adding a few more Marian prayers to our daily routine.

Parents, in particular, should encourage Marian devotion in their children, since their encounters with non-Catholic Christianity today often downplay (if not denigrate) the role that the Blessed Virgin played in our salvation through her fiat--her joyous "Yes" to the will of God.

Prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

• Invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary
• For the Help of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Prayer of Saint Augustine to the Blessed Virgin
• Petition to Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori
• To Mary, Refuge of Sinners