The way we were - Flowers of May
30.04.2010
By Fr Patrick O’Connor
We are going to the Flores, Fader,” says little Teresita, meeting you on the dusty street of the Philippine town. With one hand she leads her brother Manuel, a wide-eyed, bare-footed urchin, while the other hand clutches a bunch of pink and white flowers.
Her cousins Carmen and Rodolpho are also going to the Flores, she tells you. So are a few score of other children whom you see crossing the plaza in twos and threes. They are going to the old grey church, which is enlivened every afternoon this month by the Flores de Mayo, the Flowers of May.
The Flores are a daily devotion to the Blessed Mother during May in the Philippines. They combine instruction with piety. First the children gather in the church for lessons in Christian doctrine and prayers. During an hour or more, the old stone building or the shaky wooden one, as the case may be, is full of their chirrup and chatter.
Girl catechists put them through the catechism in classes divided through the pews. These volunteer teachers may be the same Legion of Mary members who visited the nipa houses under the palm trees, persuading mothers to send the children.
You hear the voices of the children outside the church long before the catechism lessons begin. Most of them are poorly clad but always clean. As they play around the church you notice eight little girls who stand out demurely from the rest. They wear spotless white dresses and veils today. Tomorrow they will be as simply and poorly clad as the others. This afternoon they will have the honour of carrying the eight festooned standards, each with a large white letter, to spell out AVE MARIA.
Two tiny girls with wreaths around their heads and white wings fastened to the shoulders of their white dresses stand waiting at the church door. These are the “angels” who will escort each of the standard bearers to the sanctuary later on. The other children stop occasionally to admire the white glory of their friends. Before the month is over, every child will have a chance to play this part for a day.
For the Flores, the statue of Our Lady is placed just inside the sanctuary, on an altar decorated with Lights and flowers. This is where the devotion reaches its climax every afternoon, in a storm of petals.
After the lessons, the children form ranks in the aisles. Then, bearing a standard with a large A, one girl, attended by the two solemn little “angels,” walks slowly up to the altar puts her standard in position and walks gravely back. Then comes another, and another, until the standards are all in position, spelling AVE MARIA before the Blessed Mother’s statue. Meanwhile the other children sing hymns to Our Lady.
Next, all the children gather in front of Our Lady’s altar. All have flowers and, as they finish a hymn, they throw them towards the statue of the Blessed Mother. That ends the Flores for another day. Half an hour later, the church is quiet again. The flowers and petals are still strewn on the sanctuary floor, the children’s keepsakes for their Mother.
- Taken from The Far East, May 2, 1955.
