O Mary, We Crown Thee

We continue our celebration of Mary’s month of May with a hymn, “O Mary, We Crown Thee.” During May, many parishes crown their statues of Our Blessed Mother with flower garlands. These ceremonies symbolize our love and thanks for the Blessed Virgin’s heart, the love she lavishes upon us, and the grace of God which is mediated through her. Under her gaze, our hearts and lives bloom like the flowers we present to her, filled with the Holy Spirit, guiding us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

O Mary, we crown thee
With blossoms today
Queen of the Angels
Queen of the May.


Bring flowers of the fairest
From garden and woodland
And hillside and dale.


Our full hearts are swelling
Our glad voices telling
The praise of the loveliest
Rose of the vale.

We honor and praise thee
Please pray that our hearts
Will forever be thine.


In joy and in sorrow
From thee may we borrow
A faith that is trusting
In Jesus thy Son.



(from the 1938 Saint Basil Hymnal)