May Devotions to the Virgin Mary
By Dr. Stephen J. Ochs, Lawler Chair of History
Devotion to the Blessed Mother ran deep at Jesuit schools in the early 20th century. According to the Newprep News, students had resolved to make the celebration of her month especial as this would be the first time that it would be observed at the new campus. So, it was that on May 1, 1920, a month-long series of daily devotions to the Virgin Mary began.
During the last days of April, the students made a wooden altar, and located it at the north end of the corridor that bisected the main lobby. (The north wing of the building had not yet been added, and the altar stood just beyond the current location of the offices of Christopher Lapp '04, Director of Campus Management and Planning and Patrick Coyle '03, Director of Marketing and Communications in Boland Hall.) The students covered the altar with white cloth and then placed a statue of Mary on it along with wax candles and recently picked flowers. The altar stood in front of a big window with a lace curtain; rugs were spread on the floor on which students could kneel.
May devotions began on Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. The ceremony included the students chanting the Litany of the Blessed Virgin that had been taught to them on April 28 by Mr. Grattan from Georgetown College. The students' Latin assignment for the last day of April required them to translate the English verses of the Litany to Latin "so that we might know what we were singing." Following the Litany, one of the Jesuits (probably Headmaster John A. Morning, S.J.) delivered a short talk, and then the students "progressed" back down the hall. The boys retired to their rooms at 8:30 p.m. The Sacrament of Penance was made available to those who wanted to avail themselves of it.
Every evening during May after dinner, the students and their teachers came to the altar. They first recited the "Memorare," and then a student stood up and told a story that illustrated Mary's care of those who prayed to her. The chanting of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin followed. After each stanza, the chanting paused, and a different student related another short story of Mary's intercession. Finally, led by one of the Jesuits, the students knelt on the rug and said a closing prayer together.
The "Memorare" Is still prayed often on campus, and student participation in the religious life of the school, as seen in liturgies, retreats, organizations such as Love in Action, and service projects, is whole-hearted and inspiring.