Since medieval times, Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been linked with the month of May.

By 1784, the custom of devoting the entire month to Mary had begun in Italy, spreading widely in the 19th century.

Catholics honored Mary with monthly devotions like recitation of the rosary, May altars in their homes and coronations of images of the Blessed Mother.

The tradition continued at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in Herman on Friday when students from St. Mary of the Assumption School honored Mary by crowning her Queen of the May.

"May crowning is a non-liturgical devotional. We do it to preserve the tradition and draw attention to Mary and her role in saying 'Yes' at the Annunciation," said the Rev. John McCloskey, pastor at St. Mary.

Each May, second grade students at St. Mary, some dressed in lacy white communion dresses, process into the church following Mass. Hymns that honor the Blessed Mother are sung as sixth grade girls carry fresh flower bouquets to place at the feet of the Blessed Mother.

To conclude the event, one girl is chosen to crown the statue with a wreath of fresh flowers. This year's choice was Becca Schnur.

Cherilayne Miller, 54, of Herman, a secretary at the school, fondly remembers when she was a first grader at what is now Butler Catholic School and was chosen as an attendant to one of the eighth graders who participated in the May crowning.

"I can still remember (the eighth grade girls) coming into the room. They just came in and chose who they wanted. It was very important, and you were honored," said Miller.

"All the gowns were different colors. The eighth graders all had gowns to match their attendants. My gown was purple. It was very beautiful," she added.

Miller said the devotion was even more ceremonial when her mother was small and attended St. Mary.

"Years and years ago a statue of Mary was carried in the procession, and they had a maypole then, too. Everybody brought flowers from their garden and processed through the cemetery. It was such a big thing. Children would bring flowers to the classroom all month for Mary."

McCloskey has a theory on why the devotion has scaled down in recent years.

"Because it is non-liturgical, (the devotion) can take lots of different forms. In Vatican II, emphasis was placed on sacraments and liturgical life and there was a softening of non-liturgical devotions," he said.

"Also, the devotion reflects where American culture is. Lots of things were more formal in the past."

The devotion has also changed significantly at St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church, part of the Parish of St. Peter in Forestville.

On a rainy Mother's Day last Sunday, the simple coronation ceremony that generally occurs on the church lawn took place indoors instead.

"I had a student crown the statue of Mary outside, before we started," announced Donna Boy, who coordinated the devotion.

Each student then carried a single silk flower to a vase on the altar indoors as the congregation sang the hymn "Immaculate Mary."

They returned to their seats, and it was over.

But in 1947, the coronation at St. Anthony was much more elaborate.

"We had about 30 in the May Crowning," said Anna Ferrere of Forestville who, as May Queen, crowned the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Anthony Church in May of 1947.

She and 30 other single women of the parish also participated.

"It was always at about three o'clock in the afternoon on the first Sunday in May. No Mass was said, but the church would be full. Everybody carried a special bouquet of flowers. One had lilacs; one had roses. Each one would lay the flowers at the feet of the Blessed Mother and say a poem. All the women would fight over who would carry the lilies," she said.

The Altar Society voted on the May Queen, who had to be single. The May Queen wore a borrowed wedding dress and the other women wore gowns or "dressy dresses," she said.

In later years, there was a procession outside.

Ferrere believed the elaborate devotion as she knew it stopped in the late 1940s just after she was honored as Queen of the May.

The event has since evolved to include only the church's Sunday school children, usually numbering a dozen or so.

"They stopped calling the person who crowned Mary May Queen because actually Mary is the Queen," said Miller.

But Miller emphasized the Marian Coronation was an important part of growing up Catholic in the 1950s.

"I was registering a child here when her grandmother looked at me and said 'I know you.'"

The woman was Kay Costa of Butler, who remembered that day in first grade that she and Miller were chosen to be attendants at the Catholic school.

"I am so blessed being out here as the fifth generation. We kind of keep tradition out here," Miller said.