May is the greatest Marian month of all, traditionally known as the "Month of Our Lady." She begins the month as Queen of May, and final day of the month brings a bevy of Queenly titles. It is the month when the spring of new life flourishes.

1. Queen of May.

Donation of the May-pole to the church of Notre Dame. 1449.

2. Our Lady of Oviedo. Spain. 711.

3. Our Lady of Jasna Góra. Poland. The most famous of all the "Black Madonna" paintings, attributed to St. Luke. The Polish national Madonna. Mary is credited with turning back a Turkish invasion around 1453. Mentioned early in the great Polish epic poem "Pan Tadeusz." Our Lady of Jasna Gora was an immense source of inspiration and strength for Solidarity members, especially including Lech Walesa, in the worker and peasant struggle against hegemonic neo-colonial exploitation by the atheist Communist ruling elite.

Our Lady of Kiev. Ukraine.

4. Our Lady the Helper. Near Caen, France.

Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. Church in San Francisco founded in 1856, and named in gratitude for the Anglo-French victory in the Battle of Sevastopol, during the Crimean War. For more, see France-Amerique, Dec. 17-23, 2005.

6. Our Lady of Miracles. Church of Our Lady of Peace, Rome. 1483.

7. Second feast of Our Lady of Haut. Hainaut, France.

8. Madonna della Pompeii. Italy.

The scholar Justus Lipsius donates his silver pen to the Church of Our Lady of Haut

9. Our Lady of Miracles. Mauriac, France.

Madonna della Loreto. Ancona, Italy.

10. Our Lady of Saussai/Saussaie. France. 1305.

Constantinople is dedicated to Mary. 4th century.

11. Mary appears to St. Philip Neri. 1594.

Nossa Senhora Aparecida. Patroness of Brazil.

12. Humility of Our Lady.

Our Lady of Power. Aubervillers, France.

13. Our Lady of Martyrs. Rome; Lisbon. 608.

Nossa Senhora/Our Lady of Fatima. Portugal. 1917.

Mary appears to Théresè of Lisieux.

14. Our Lady of Bavaria. Germany.

15. Notre-Dame de France. 1860.

16. Mary appears to St. Catherine of Alexandria. 4th century.

17. Our Lady of Tears. Spoletto/Spoleto, Italy.

18. Notre-Dame de Bonport. Evreux, France. 1190. Mary saves Richard the Lionheart while he is crossing the Seine. Wikipedia entry, in French. Pictures and brief history, in French. Bibliographical information about 1904 architectural study (item 375). Also the subject of Jules Andrieux, Cartulaire de l'abbaye royale Notre Dame de Bonport (1862); J. Daoust, "L'abbaye Notre-Dame de Bonport" in Collectanea Cisterciensia (1958), pages. 250-258.

19. Notre-Dame de Flines. Douay, France. 1729.

20. Church of La Ferte is dedicated to Mary. Burgundy, France. 1113.

21. Our Lady of Sweat. Salerno, Italy. 1611.

Our Lady of Vladimir. Russia. 1115.

22. Madonna della Mount Vergine (Virgin's Mount). Naples, Italy. 1119.

23. Our Lady of Miracles. St. Onier, Belgium; Brescia, Italy. 1478.

24. Our Lady of the Way. Rome.

25. Our Lady of the New Jerusalem. Built by Emperor Justinian. Jerusalem, Israel. 530.

26. Notre-Dame de Vaucelles. Cambrai, France. Built in 1140. French site about the abbey. French history.

Madonna della Caravaggio. Italy. 1432.

27. Madonna della Naples. Italy.

28. Feast of the Relics of Our Lady. Venice, Italy. Fragments of her veil, more.

Mary armed with a spear saves Rhodes. 1480. Web summary of the account in Robert Ernst, Lexikon der Marienerscheinungen (Lexicon of Mary Appearances) (1980):

In the year 1480 40,000 Turks besieged the fortress of Rhodus, which was defended by the Knights of St. John; the then Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson then dared to start with his knights a counter-attack. It is reported that during this fight Mary appeared in heaven. In her right hand, she held a spear, and in her left hand, a shield. In any case, the Knights of St. John were able to beat off the attack of Mohammed II against Rhodus victoriously from 23rd to 28th of May 1480.

29. Notre-Dame d'Ardents. Arras, France. 1095.

30. Dedication of the Church of the Virgin's Mountain/Mount Vergine. Naples, Italy. Approx. 1119. Monastery founded by St. William. Home of a Black Madonna.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Mexico. 1966. Litany. History. Daughters of Our Lady of Sacred Heart, religious order.

31. Annual pilgrimage to the chapel of Mary, Help of Christians, in Tra Kieu, Vietnam.

Our Lady of Suffering (Notre-Dame-des-Douleurs). Church of St. Gervase, Paris. Chapel in Ultrera, Seville.

Feast of the Visitation. New. Based on Mary's visit to Elizabeth, in Luke 1:39-56, where Mary spoke The Magnificat. Reflection. (Also see July 2).

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