Throughout the month of May, the Vatican Gardens are opening their gates for the second year in a row to pilgrims from around the world for a special tour in honor of the Blessed Mother. Created last year in collaboration with the Vatican Museums, the "May with Mary" pilgrimage includes ten stops at some of the most important images and statues of the Madonna in the Gardens.  

Sr. Emanuela Edwards leads the visit, which is offered every Wednesday and Saturday. She allows pilgrims to immerse themselves in the beauty of the Vatican Gardens by walking through the various Marian images found throughout the grounds.  

Sr. Emanuela Edwards is the Head of the Vatican Museums Educational Activities Office.  

"Throughout our trip," she explained, "we will meet some of the most important shrines to our Lady. For example, the Grotto of Lourdes, or the image of Our Lady of Fatima, the Madonna of Guadalupe. We see some of the most important images, but there are also images from all over the world, and so we find in the Gardens devotions from Latin America and the Philippines. And so, what can we say? It's international."  

Sr. Emanuela Edwards also spoke more about the international quality and relevance of this pilgrimage through the Vatican Gardens.  

"The Marian grottos, frescos, and statues featured in the 'May with Mary' tour are connected to the devotion of people across the globe," she said, "who have turned to the Queen of Peace in times of war and struggle to invoke peace. For this reason, the pilgrims stop at each Marian shrine to pray for this same intention."  

"Given the state of our world today and the call from our Holy Father, being so incessant for peace," she continued, "this year we have decided to offer this many pilgrimages for peace, and so at each sanctuary of Our Lady, we say a Hail Mary for the intention of peace, and throughout the visit I underline the places where Our Lady has intervened in the story of humanity to bring about peace."  

In addition to the exclusive tour given in the hidden gardens, pilgrims visiting the eternal city have also been able to join a candlelight rosary procession every Saturday in May as part of numerous Vatican initiatives for May in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  

During his pontificate, Pope Francis has often reminded the faithful of the importance of honoring our Lady and of praying the Rosary.  

On one such occasion in Portugal, praying the Rosary with sick young people, the Holy Father said, "We have recited the Rosary, a wonderful and vital prayer; vital because it connects us with the lives of Jesus and Mary. We meditated on the Joyful Mysteries, which remind us that the Church can only be a house of joy."  

Father Lawrence Lew O.P., Promotor General of the Rosary for the Dominican Order, commented, "No one really can live as a Christian without knowing the Mother of God, because God has willed that we should come to know and love Jesus through Mary. It is through Mary and through her yes at the annunciation that salvation has come into the whole world; it is through Mary's yes that creation was renewed."  

Once skeptical of all things Marian, Catholic convert Father Lawrence Lew today travels the world preaching the Holy Rosary and teaching others to love the Blessed Mother. As the promoter general of the Holy Rosary for the Dominican order, he combines his passion for theology and the sacred art to inspire Marian devotion through retreats, books, and international missions.  

"The rosary," he explained, "is a presentation of the mysteries of our salvation in a nutshell. It's not the chronology of Christ's life that we are looking at, but the theological story of what Christ has done for us: Christ becoming man, dying for us, and rising again so that we might rise and be divinized with him."  

Reflecting on the fittingness of praying the Rosary during the blooming month of May, Father Lawrence explained that the English word "rosary" comes from the Latin "rosarium," meaning a garden or garland of roses. And so, in the most literal sense, the Rosary is "a beautiful garland of flowers that we offer to our Blessed Mother, as a spiritual bouquet of prayers."  

"But the other thing," he reminded, "is we have a beautiful tradition in the Dominican order that says that, in fact, the rosary and the idea of the rosary comes from the Latin word 'ros,' which means 'dew' like 'little dewdrops.' And the idea there is that St. Dominic was told that heresy would not be eradicated until prayers rose like dew from the ground. And so this beautiful idea that as we pray, we're praying spiritual dewdrops that would bring refreshment and new life to a parched world. The world becomes parched by sin. And we know that our world is becoming very parched because of violence, division, and warfare. The Rosary, therefore, is all the more needed that we might water the earth with the dewfall of God's grace."  

As the pilgrims walk through the Vatican Gardens, where past popes like St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI would often take their daily walks for moments of quiet and prayer or process in St. Peter's Square prayer, they are inevitably reminded of the power of the Rosary.  

"And that's what the rosary is," Father Lew insisted. "It's prayer, placing ourselves like Mary at the disposal of God's grace, to be obedient to God, to say yes to God, and to strive to create a new creation and peace in the world. I think that's what the Rosary is about, and May is the best time, the springtime, to remember all this."   

Adapted by Jacob Stein 

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