Catholics throughout the world set aside May as a month to honor the Blessed Mother.
In much of the Philippines, a Catholic-majority nation where Marian devotion abounds, children still bring white flowers and petals to church every afternoon in May to pray the Rosary, sing traditional Marian hymns.
“Flowers are a sign of love — the kind of love Mary gives to her son, Jesus,” said Father Donardo “Dandi” Bermejo, a priest from the Philippines who served in the Jefferson City diocese for 10 years.
May 31 brings the culmination of the month-long Flores de Mayo celebration and a nine-day Santacruzan novena.
“Santacruzan — the Holy Cross — is a commemoration of St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine,” said Fr. Bermejo.
Constantine in 313 ended the state-sanctioned persecu-tions in the Roman Empire. He reportedly did so after having a vision that his solders would achieve victory in battle if their armor were adorned with a Greek symbol for Christ.
According to popular legend, Constantine’s mother trav-eled to the Holy Land in search of the true cross and cele-brated grandly upon finding it.
“The mother of Jesus and the mother of Constantine!” said Fr. Bermejo. “Both of them point us to the cross. Our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is not isolated. If you follow Mary, she will help you find Jesus: ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ ‘To Jesus, through Mary!’”
Traditional Santacruzan processions are impressive spec-tacles involving numerous children and young women and many, many freshly cut aromatic flowers.
“The the people line up in the streets, waiting for the procession to pass by their house,” said Fr. Bermejo.
Children in the procession are dressed as angels. Girls carry letters that spell out “Ave Maria” — “Hail, Mary” — the angel’s greeting to Mary. (Luke 1:28) Other participants rep-resents Mary under her various titles, including Our Lady of Peace.
The last young lady in the procession — carrying a cross and ensconced by a canopy of flowers — symbolizes St. Hilda, who searched for Jesus’ cross.
“She finds the cross, and the cross points to Jesus,” said Fr. Bermejo.
The event generates great enthusiasm, especially among children and young people, who tend to carry that spiritual fervor with them into adulthood.
“Especially if you’re a kid, you don’t want to miss it,” said Fr. Bermejo. “It’s a time for kids in the whole parish to be together and have a good time.”
He added that “it feels great” to worship God and give proper devotion to His Blessed Mother.
“It helps you from the very beginning to develop a healthy devotion to the Mother of God,” he said.
Her station keeping
Fr. Bermejo noted that these festivities date back to the country’s time as a Spanish colony — hence the use of Spanish words to describe them. It coincided with a groundswell of Marian devotion following Blessed Pope Pius IX’s promulgation of the dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception in 1854.
“It was introduced to us by the Spaniards a long, long time ago,” said Fr. Bermejo. “And it’s being carried out form the smallest village to the biggest city.”
He said the Mass and parade for Santacruzan draws more than 2,000 people to Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in May-silo, Philippines, where he served as pastor for 12 years.
Organizers of the celebration in Jefferson City antici-pate about 300 people attending, mostly Filipinos from in and near central Missouri.
While the event is always a spectacle, Fr. Bermejo cau-tions against losing sight of the simple truth it commemo-rates.
“There is great pageantry and some very rich symbolism, but if you don’t appreciate the significance, then is just an empty activity devoid of meaning,” he said.
And the significance is: “When we devote ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary, we will, like Helen, find the cross,” said Fr. Bermejo. “She will lead us to Jesus.”
Extended families
Boonville parishioner Aecia Sancho said Flores de Mayo and Santacruzan are enormously popular festivities that help people deepen their faith and connect with one another.
She grew up in a family of modest means in a small town in the Southern Leyte region of the Philippines.
“There were times when we struggled to own a white dress and a good-condition pair of shoes to wear,” she said.
Even so, she was determined not to miss a day in church. And as the oldest of seven, she made sure that her brothers’ and sisters’ baskets filled with flowers for the celebration and the girls’ white outfits and angel wings were pressed like new.
People who grew up with these celebrations and moved away miss them dearly, she said. So when she announced plans for this year’s observance in Holts Summit, the response was over-whelming.
“I believe having this even in our area is of huge sig-nificance to all Filipino-Americans,” she said. “In fact, some non-Catholic Filipinos have asked if they can attend the event.”
Her response? Absolutely! ... so long as they understand and appreciate the true meaning of the festivities.
“This is a celebration of life, our religious believes, faith, culture and traditions honored the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ,” she said. “It is the tie that binds Filipi-nos from a region or an area together, a time to reunite with your extended family and your kababayans (people from the same country).
“It is a time,” she stated, “to rejoice in fellowship and love to Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.”
