May 1: Our Lady Queen of the May - Mary is honored as Queen of May with garland-adorned processions and flower crownings, reflecting her role as the most beautiful spiritual "flower" during this flower-filled month.
May 2: Our Lady of Oviedo, Spain - Venerated in Oviedo Cathedral's Holy Chamber, which houses precious relics including a cloth that covered Christ's face after crucifixion, brought to Spain for safekeeping during Muslim invasions.
May 3: Our Lady of Czestochowa - Poland's beloved icon of Mary holding Jesus, bearing sword marks from a Hussite attack, symbolizing Poland's enduring faith through centuries of hardship.
May 4: Our Lady the Helper - A once-venerated shrine near Caen, Normandy, where annual processions honored Mary's assistance to the faithful.
May 5: Queen of Apostles - Mary is honored as Queen of the Apostles for her perfect missionary virtues, her years among pagans, and her central role in early Christianity after Christ's resurrection.
May 6: Our Lady of Miracles - A revered painting in Rome's Church of Peace that miraculously bled when struck by a dagger in 1483, now enshrined above the high altar.
May 7: The Seven Joys of Mary - Commemorates Mary's seven greatest joys: the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Epiphany, Finding Jesus in the Temple, seeing the Resurrected Christ, and her Assumption and Coronation.
May 8: Our Lady of Pompeii - A once-discarded painting that became the center of extraordinary miracles and revival of faith in the Valley of Pompeii in the 1870s.
May 9: Cathedral of Our Lady of Loreto - The magnificent basilica housing the Santa Casa (Holy House of Nazareth), adorned with precious gifts from royalty and pilgrims throughout centuries.
May 10: Our Lady of Saussaie - A Benedictine shrine in Paris where Mary miraculously calmed a destructive storm, converting it to a place of pilgrimage.
May 11: Our Lady of Aparecida - Brazil's patroness, a statue found by fishermen in 1717 that brought a miraculous catch of fish and countless healings, now enshrined in a grand basilica.
May 12: Our Lady of Power - A church in Aubervilliers, France, renamed for Mary after the 1336 "Miracle of Rain" when a statue sweated before ending a drought.
May 13: Our Lady of Fatima - Commemorates Mary's 1917 appearances to three children in Portugal, revealing prophetic visions about world wars and requesting prayer for world peace.
May 14: Our Lady of Bavaria - The "Lourdes of Germany," a chapel in Altotting famous for miraculous healings, including a drowned boy's resurrection in 1489.
May 15: Our Lady of France - An enormous statue atop Cornelius Rock in LePuy, cast from Russian cannons captured in the Crimean War, standing as a national symbol of faith.
May 16: Apparition to St. Catherine of Alexandria - Remembers when the Virgin Mary presented St. Catherine to Jesus in a mystical marriage, before Catherine's eventual martyrdom.
May 17: Our Lady of Tears, Spoleto, Italy - A painting of Mary on a house wall miraculously wept tears of blood in 1485, leading to the construction of a basilica to house the sacred image.
May 18: Our Lady of Bonport Abbey - Founded by King Richard the Lion Heart after he made a vow when in danger of drowning, named "Bonport" meaning "good harbor" or "safe arrival."
May 19: Our Lady of Flines - A shrine near Douay that became known for the miraculous healing of a lame child after fifteen visits, given to Saint Bernard by Margaret de Dampierre.
May 20: Church of La Ferte - The first daughter-house of the Cistercian Order, founded in 1113 by Counts of Chalons, once magnificent but largely destroyed during the French Revolution.
May 21: Our Lady of Vladimir - Russia's most revered icon showing Mary cheek-to-cheek with Jesus, believed to have protected Russia from invaders multiple times and used in tsars' coronations.
May 22: Our Lady of Monte Vergine - A large "Black Madonna" icon in a mountain sanctuary founded by Saint William, credited with numerous miracles and attracting over 1.5 million pilgrims yearly.
May 23: Our Lady of Miracles of Brescia - A painting of Mary on a house in Brescia, Italy became the source of miraculous healings during a devastating plague in 1478, leading to the construction of a marble church in her honor.
May 24: Our Lady Help of Christians - Established by Pope Pius VII in 1815 in thanksgiving for his liberation from Napoleon's captivity, this feast honors Mary's intercession in times of great crisis for the Church.
May 25: Our Lady the New, Jerusalem - Emperor Justinian built this magnificent church in Jerusalem in 530 AD, featuring miraculous stone columns and becoming a major pilgrimage site until its destruction by earthquake in 746.
May 26: Our Lady of Caravaggio - In 1432, the Virgin Mary appeared to a suffering peasant woman in Italy, left her footprints in stone, created a healing spring, and requested a church be built in her honor.
May 27: Our Lady of Naples - This 13th century basilica houses the Madonna Bruna (Dark Madonna), an icon believed to be painted by St. Luke and brought from Mount Carmel, which performed numerous miracles throughout history.
May 28: Feast of the Relics of Our Lady - Venice venerates precious relics of the Blessed Virgin including a rare bundle of her hair, preserved since her Assumption and believed to have been brought from the Holy Land by crusaders.
May 29: Our Lady of Ardents - In 1105, the Virgin Mary appeared to two feuding minstrels in Arras, France, reconciled them, and gave them a miraculous candle whose wax, mixed with water, cured a terrible epidemic.
May 30: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart - A painting brought to Mexico in 1940 became the source of countless verified miraculous healings, beginning with a boy cured of infantile paralysis on the very first day it was displayed.
May 31: Queenship of Mary - Celebrating Mary as Queen by grace, divine relationship, right of conquest, and singular election, this feast honors her royal dignity as Mother of Christ the King and her spiritual reign over hearts and minds.
©2025 James Dacey Jr.
