In 1965, St. Paul VI published an encyclical with an unusual title: Mense Maio, Latin for “The Month of May.” The document is dedicated entirely to Marian devotion during May and the practice of praying the Rosary. Aleteia recently highlighted this overlooked papal text, which stands apart from the weightier social encyclicals modern Catholics typically associate with papal teaching. This is a short, devotional document calling the faithful to intensify their prayer to Mary during a month traditionally dedicated to her honor.
What the encyclical says
Mense Maio was issued on April 29, 1965, during the final session of the Second Vatican Council. Paul VI wrote it to encourage Catholics worldwide to dedicate May to praying the Rosary for peace. The document is brief, about 2,500 words, and structured as a pastoral exhortation rather than a theological treatise. It emphasizes the long Christian tradition of honoring Mary in May and frames the Rosary as a meditation on the life of Christ through Mary’s eyes.
The Pope specifically asked that the faithful pray the Rosary during May for four intentions: that the Second Vatican Council would bear fruit, that peace would prevail among nations, that the Church would grow in missionary vitality, and that Christians separated from Rome would return to unity. He wrote during the Cold War and amid deep ecclesial change, and the encyclical reflects both anxieties of that era.
Paul VI roots his appeal in centuries of popular piety. May devotions to Mary became widespread in Europe by the 18th century, often taking the form of evening prayers, processions, and crowning statues of the Blessed Virgin. The Pope does not mandate specific practices but encourages pastors to adapt local traditions that draw people into Rosary prayer.
Why this matters
Encyclicals are typically reserved for major doctrinal clarifications or urgent social teaching. Mense Maio is an outlier: a papal letter dedicated entirely to devotional practice. It reveals how seriously mid-20th-century Popes took popular piety as a vehicle for forming Catholic life. Paul VI clearly believed that praying the Rosary in May was not a minor custom but a practice capable of renewing the Church and securing divine favor during a turbulent moment.
The encyclical also shows continuity with his predecessors. Pope Leo XIII wrote eleven encyclicals on the Rosary during his pontificate (1878–1903), several of them tied to the month of October. Paul VI’s choice to write about May suggests he saw Marian devotion as essential to the Church’s identity, even as Vatican II was modernizing liturgy and ecclesiology. The document is a window into a papal mind balancing tradition and reform.
For Catholic readers
If you have never read Mense Maio, the full text is available at Vatican.va. It is short enough to read in one sitting. Consider praying one decade of the Rosary this week for the intentions Paul VI named: the flourishing of the Church, peace among nations, missionary renewal, and Christian unity. These intentions remain urgent sixty years later.
Sources:
1. Aleteia — original report
