May the Month of Promise

During the month of May, I plan to publish a series of posts based on notes made by John Henry Newman (1801-1890)  for his meditations on Mary in the Litany of Loreto. For the Latin and English texts of this Litany, please follow the link to Thesaurus Precum Latinarum.

[  ] References in the text to numbered footnotes are not hyperlinked but may be found at the end of the relevant paragraph.

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. 

Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam

May the Month of Promise

WHY is May chosen as the month in which we exercise a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin?

May blossom on the Rosary Route in Oaks Park. [PB 2019]

The first reason is because it is the time when the earth bursts forth into its fresh foliage and its green grass after the stern frost and snow of winter, and the raw atmosphere and the wild wind and rain of the early spring. It is because the blossoms are upon the trees and the flowers are in the gardens. It is because the days have got long, and the sun rises early and sets late. For such gladness and joyousness of external Nature is a fit attendant on our devotion to her who is the Mystical Rose and the House of Gold.

A man may say, "True; but in this climate we have sometimes a bleak, inclement May." This cannot be denied; but still, so much is true that at least it is the month of promise and of hope. Even though the weather happen to be bad, it is the month that begins and heralds in the summer. We know, for all that may be unpleasant in it, that fine weather is coming, sooner or later. "Brightness and beautifulness shall," in the Prophet's words, "appear at the end, and shall not lie: if it make delay, wait for it, for it shall surely come, and shall not be slack."[1]
May then is the month, if not of fulfilment, at least of promise; and is not this the very aspect in which we most suitably regard the Blessed Virgin, Holy Mary, to whom this month is dedicated?
The Prophet says, "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of his root."[2] Who is the flower but our Blessed Lord? Who is the rod, or beautiful stalk or stem or plant out of which the flower grows, but Mary, Mother of our Lord, Mary, Mother of God?

Annunciation. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

It was prophesied that God should come upon earth. When the time was now full, how was it announced? It was announced by the Angel coming to Mary. "Hail, full of grace," said Gabriel, "the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women."[3]


She then was the sure promise of the coming Saviour, and therefore May is by a special title her month.



[1] [2] And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables: that he that readeth it may run over it.
Et respondit mihi Dominus, et dixit : Scribe visum, et explana eum super tabulas, ut percurrat qui legerit eum.
[3] For as yet the vision is far off, and it shall appear at the end, and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come, and it shall not be slack.
Quia adhuc visus procul; et apparebit in finem, et non mentietur : si moram fecerit, exspecta illum, quia veniens veniet, et non tardabit. 
[4] Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith.
Ecce qui incredulus est, non erit recta anima ejus in semetipso; justus autem in fide sua vivet. [Hab 2; Habacuc was a minor ptophet of the 6th/7th century, concerned here about the risk to Israel of conquest and ruin at the hands of the Chaldeans.]
[2] [1] And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root.
Et egredietur virga de radice Jesse, et flos de radice ejus ascendet. [Isa 11]
[3] [28] And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Et ingressus angelus ad eam dixit : Ave gratia plena : Dominus tecum : benedicta tu in mulieribus. [Luke 1]