Servants of Charity

Dear Confreres, 

The month of May is the "month in which the piety of the faithful is especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of Heaven. During this month, Christians, both in church and in the privacy of home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance" (Paul VI: Encyclical on the Month of May, no. 1).
The reason that the month of May was chosen to honor Mary dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the ancient Greek world, May was dedicated to Artemis, the goddess of fertility and life. Roman culture linked the month of May to Flora, the goddess of blooms and blossoms. The Romans celebrated ludi florales (floral games) as a preparation for entering into the month of May and to celebrate the beginning of spring. (The month of May was the official beginning of spring in Roman culture). Over time, the ancient tradition of celebrating life and fertility in May led Christians to adopt May as the month to honor the Mother of Jesus.
This Christian custom of dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin arose at the end of the 13th century. In this way, the Church was able to Christianize the secular feasts which did not take place at that time. In the 16th century, books appeared and fostered this devotion. The practice became especially popular among the members of the Jesuit Order - by 1700 it took hold among their students at the Roman College and a bit later it was publicly practiced in the Gesu Church in Rome. From there it spread to the whole Church.
The practice was granted a partial indulgence by Pius VII in 1815 and a plenary indulgence by Pius IX in 1859. The pious practice of honoring Mary during the month of May has been especially recommended by the popes. Pope Pius XII made frequent reference to it and in his great Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy (Mediator Dei). He said:

Devotions to Mary are exercises of piety which although not strictly belonging to the Sacred Liturgy, are nevertheless of special import and dignity, and may be considered in a certain way to be an addition to the liturgical cult: they have been approved and praised over and over again by the Apostolic See and by the Bishops" ( Mediator Dei no. 182).

Our dear saintly founder too had his special devotion for this Marian month. In 1884, he released in Milan a pamphlet titled 'In the Month of Flowers', a scriptural maxim suggested for each day. He wanted to offer it to the people as part of Marian devotion a complete series of meditations for the month of May. These meditations are arranged according to a biographical scheme, which goes through the life of the Blessed Mother based on episodes from the New Testament. He did this with the intention of honoring theVirgin Mary and to assist souls and to bring to light a course of sacred lessons for every day of the month of Mary. I suggest you, dear confreres, to read these meditations of our founder. You can find it in Volume 5, starting pages 164-307.
Pope St. Paul VI wrote a short encyclical in 1965 using the Month of Mary devotion as a means of obtaining prayers for peace. He urged the faithful to make use of this practice which is "gladdening and consoling" and by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is honored and Christian people are enriched with spiritual gifts" (no. 2). In May 2002, Pope St. John Paul II said,

Today we begin the month dedicated to Our Lady, a favorite of popular devotion. In accord with a long-standing tradition of devotion, parishes and families continue to make the month of May a 'Marian' month, celebrating it with many devout liturgical, catechetical and pastoral initiatives!"

In our observance of the Marian month, we should take into account the season of the Liturgical Year which largely corresponds with the fifty days of Easter. The pious exercises connected with the month of May can easily highlight the earthly role played by the glorified Queen of Heaven and our pious exercises could emphasize Our Lady's participation in the Paschal mystery and in Pentecost during which the Church is given birth.

• We thank and pray for Fr. Joseph Rinaldo for his extraordinary contribution for the growth of the congregation in USA and for stabilizing the economy.

• We pray for all our staff who assist us in our communities, homes & centres.
• We pray and wish all the best to the group of confreres who are making their pilgrimage on May 5, 2022 to the places of the founder in Italy (Sui Passe di Don Guanella).
• We wish and pray for our temporarily professed brothers who will be renewing their religious profession on May 26th, the day in which our dear founder was ordained a priest by Bishop Bernardine M. Frascolla in Como (May 26, 1886).
• We wish and pray for our postulants who will be entering into Novitiate and our novices who will be making their first religious profession on the day in which our dear founder celebrated his first thanksgiving Mass in Prosto (May 31, 1866).
• We wish all the best to the permanently professed confreres who will be observing their annual retreat in two batches in Beschi Illam, Centre for Ignatian Spirituality, Dindigul.
• We wish and pray for all the confreres who will be assuming their new offices for the forthcoming academic year.

Fr. Ronald J, SdC

Provincial Superior