Calendar Class of May 12, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

The month of May has always been associated with an abundance of flowers, both in Michigan (lilacs, lily of the valley, daffodil...) and in Rome (poppies, roses, azaleas...). Also in bloom in May are the flower fairies! Since I was a young child, flowers and the books and artwork of Cicely Mary Barker have always been associated in my mind, particularly during the month of May. Cordelia is ever eager to dress up as one of Baker's models, and Valentina ever able to create a costume for her.

Liturgical: Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:1-10

Sanctoral: The Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of Saints Nereus and Achilleus (d. 98) who were Roman soldiers in the household of Flavia Domitilla. They were instructed and converted by St. Peter. These two soldiers in turn inspired St. Domitilla to consecrate her virginity to God. Thereupon, Aurelianus, the fiancee of Domitilla, reported all three to the Roman authorities as being Christians. They were martyred out of hatred for Christianity.

It is also the Optional Memorial of Saint Pancras (d. 290), a noble Phrygian youth, came to Rome at the age of fourteen and was martyred in 275 because he refused to offer sacrifices to the pagan gods.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates Bl. Imelda Lambertini (1322-1333), daughter of Count Egano Lambertini of Bologna and Castora Galuzzi. She was a student at Dominican Convent of Valdi-Pietra in Bologna and had a great devotion to Saint Agnes of Rome, of whom she may have had visions. On May 12, 1333 she miraculously received her First Communion, and immediately after died in an ecstasy of love and joy.

Human: 113 AD – Trajan’s Column was dedicated in Rome. It was erected in 113 AD in Rome in Trajan’s Forum to commemorate the victory over the Dacians. Designed probably by Apollodorus of Damascus. Trajan ordered to put an eagle at the top of the column. After his death, by the order of Hadrian, the eagle was replaced with the statue of Trajan, who after 392 AD, was removed by Christians. It was not until 1587 when a statue of Saint Peter was put on top instead and it remains there to this very day.

Natural: Tonight is the beautiful full flower moon of May! Fortunately, we glimpsed it last night when it rose at just the right time for viewing.

Flowers spring forth in abundance this month. Depending on the Native American tribe, May’s Full Moon was called the Full Flower Moon as well as Mother’s Moon, Milk Moon, and Corn Planting Moon. The May Moon marked a time of increasing fertility with temperatures warm enough for safely bearing young, a near end to late frosts, and plants in bloom.

Italian: Mandorla (almond)

Quote: May And The Poets

There is May in books forever;

May will part from Spenser never;

May's in Milton, May's in Prior,

May's in Chaucer, Thomson, Dyer;

May's in all the Italian books:—

She has old and modern nooks,

Where she sleeps with nymphs and elves,

In happy places they call shelves,

And will rise and dress your rooms

With a drapery thick with blooms.

Come, ye rains, then if ye will,

May's at home, and with me still;

But come rather, thou, good weather,

And find us in the fields together.

--James Henry Leigh