Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa de Bulakan - The First image of the Flores de Mayo tradition in the Philippines

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Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa
de Bulakan
The Month of May is arguably the most festive month of the year, aside from Christmas due to numerous fiestas and other pious traditions that are performed every month of May. The month of May is also known as the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary because numerous feasts of Our Lady, both in the traditional and modern liturgical calendars are celebrated this. In the fertile and colorful month of May, an annual tradition is observed not only in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world - the May flower offering or more popularly known as the "Flores de Mayo" where the faithful, especially children and the youth would offer flowers to Our Lady in her honor.  The "Flores de Mayo" tradition in the country became an important part of Marian devotion in the country where we once again show our love and gratitude to the country's Mother, Patroness and Protectress.

For this blogpost, we are tackling the first documented Marian image in the country as the focal point of the early years of  "Flores de Mayo" tradition in our country - the image of Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa of Bulakan, Bulacan.

The image

The image of Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa de Bulakan (also called as Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa y de las Fores de Bulakan) is a de vestir image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal based from the description of St. Catherine Laboure in her vision: "The Virgin was standing. She was of medium height, and clothed in all white . Her dress was of the whiteness of dawn, made in the style called a la Vierge, that is, high neck and plain sleeves. A white veil covered her head and and fell on either side of her feet. Under the veil her hair, in coils, was bound with a fillet ornamented with lace, about three centimeters in height or of two fingers' breadth, without pleats, and resting lightly on the hair. Her face was sufficiently exposed, indeed exposed very well, and so beautiful that it seems to me impossible to express her ravishing beauty."

Over the years, the images is vested with numerous vestments of different colors were given by her devotees over the years. The image also wears a set of metal works from a crown and doce estrellas on her head, and rayos on her hands. She stands on a peaña with a cloud base and she is enshrined in one of the altars of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion Parish in Bulakan, Bulacan.

Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa de Bulakan
with a sampaguita garlands and crown
The May Flower offering to the Blessed Virgin Mary

The tradition of May flower offering to the Blessed Virgin Mary began towards the end of the 13th century when the Catholic custom of dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary started in Western Europe. This was part of the conscious effort by the Church to Christianize the persistent pagan feasts that continued in places to be part of the religiosity of the people. In particular, there were May or spring celebrations of Germanic and Roman origins wherein offerings from Mother Nature were made to deities. Instead of offering the richness of nature’s luxuriant flowers to goddesses of sorts, the people were encouraged by the Church to bring the flowers to Mary the Mother of our Savior.

The present form of the May devotion of prayers and flowers for Mary the entire month first appeared in the second half of the 18th century in Italy particularly as a pious exercise among the students of the Jesuits in their Roman College and for the public in their Gesu church in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.,From there, this pious practice soon spread to France and Spain and by the middle of the 19th century it was well all over Europe. Pope Pius IX granted plenary indulgence to the devotion in 1859.

Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa de Bulakan
The Flores de Mayo tradition in the Philippines

The Flores de Mayo tradition has an interesting beginnings in the Philippines that can be traced back in Iloilo as early as 1855, when the Augustinian friar, Fray Raymundo Lozano Mejía, OSA, parish priest of San Miguel, published his "Diario de María", courtesy of the University of Santo Tomás. Ten years later, in 1865 Fray Lozano republished his Diario, together with a new booklet called "Mes de María." . Years later, Fray Lozano later edited his booklets where he provided the seasonal backdrop of the flores de mayo, why Spaniards offered flowers and sang hymns to the Holy Mother of God in May. This booklet, which he called "Flores ni María Santísima". 

This Marian May devotion got its big boost in the country when Rev. Fr. Mariano Sevilla, an outstanding diocesan priest and a patriot from Bulakan, Bulacan, wrote in Spanish his earliest work “Las Flores de Maria” between 1864-1865 hardly two years after his ordination to the priesthood and while assigned as an assistant priest in San Rafael, Bulacan. In 1867 as newly appointed faculty member at the Real Colegio de San Jose he published its Tagalog translation: “Flores de Maria o Marikit na Bulaklak na sa pagninilaynilay sa boong buwan nang Mayo ay inihahandog nang mga deboto kay Maria Santisima”. This work gave form and devotional substance to the practice adopted too in the Philippines, as first introduced by the Jesuits, of offering flowers to Mary daily with hymns and the praying of the Rosary during the whole month of May as an act of special devotion in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was proclaimed in 1854. The "Marikit na Bulaklak" book contains meditations, a set of prayers and and hymns for the duration of the month of May. One of the hymns written in the manual is the famed "Bulaklak na Alay" that became a staple in the Flores de Mayo tradition in the country.

Over the years, numerous Flores de Mayo meditation manuals were published and used in different parts of the country yet the original "Marikit na Bulaklak" meditation manual of Fr. Sevilla is still being used in the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Bulakan, Bulacan.

Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa de Bulakan
La Medalla Milagrosa as the first Virgen de las Flores image

It is said that the image of La Medalla Milagrosa was also commissioned by Fr. Sevilla by the time his Flores de Mayo meditation and prayer manual was published. Out of his fervent love for the Virgin, he propagated the tradition of offering of the most special flowers to her.and it became a daily Maytime affair. It is also said that the image was commissioned for the flower offering rites since the image can be placed in a more accessible place in the Church since the the image of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion was placed in the high altar.

 Soon afterwards, Fr. Sevilla also established the Hijas y Caballeros de Maria to keep and maintain the Flores de Mayo traditions alive and it is still observed up to this day.

The Flores de Mayo tradition would soon spread all over the Philippines and it is interesting to note that some parishes in the country still uses an image of Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa as the Virgen de las Flores, most specifically in Cavinti, Laguna, General Trias and Kawit, Cavite.

Legacy

As the Flores de Mayo flourished all over the country, the rites and practices also evolved over the years due to the pressing need of the times to keep the pious devotion alive.  The month of May became associated to the Flores de Mayo tradition because since this month was dedicated to Our Blessed Lady, it is the occasion for a moving tribute of faith and love to the Queen of Heaven. It is in this tradition that we offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, we also thank God for the abundance of graces that gave to us his children the benefits of God's mercy that come down to us from the Queen of Heaven's throne in greater abundance.

References:

Custodio, Arlo, (2019) "Flores de Mayo in the new millennium", Manila TImes, May 19,2019, Retrieved from https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/05/19/weekly/the-sunday-times/cover-story/flores-de-mayo-in-the-new-millennium/556664/ on May 2, 2020.
Aviado, Lutgarda, (1972), "Madonnas of the Philippines", Manlapaz Press, Quezon City.
LeBlanc, Marie FSSP, (1995), "Marian Apparitions and Devotions", Pauline Publications, New York,  USA.
"Probing the Flores de Mayo", Retrieved from https://cappellagregoriana.wordpress.com/ on May 3, 2020.

Special credits to the owners of the photographs used in this blog post dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa de Bulakan.
+AM+DG+

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