May crowning

"Bring flowers of the fairest,
Bring flowers of the rarest,
From garden and woodland
and hillside and dale;

Our full hearts are swelling,
Our glad voices telling
The praise of the lovliest
Rose of the vale."

St. Jude's has never had a May crowning before, so when the religious education director, who is also in my women's Bible study group, said she wanted to do one this year, I enthusiastically volunteered to help. She appreciated copies of programs from Holy Family in Yakima and our home school group there.


Then she asked Katie and me to make a crown for the statue of Mary. This was a new challenge. We wanted to use fresh flowers, but the wreath needed to be very tiny, which requires tinier, and more fragile flowers. So we made a basic wreath of silk flowers and on Sunday morning, Katie picked some fresh violets, double violets, and other tiny flowers out of our flowerpots and yard. I wove them into the wreath as we rode in the car, then we misted the wreath a few times during Mass. Miraculously, we kept Matthew from playing with it or sitting on it, and it survived until the celebration.

The procession began with the youngest and oldest g irls from Joseph's First Communion class carrying in and placing the wreath. Unfortunately, I missed getting a photo of them. They looked very sweet in their First Communion dresses.

"O, Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,

Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May."

"Hail Holy Queen enthroned above...

....Salve. Salve. Salve, Regina."