Paul VI – encyclical Mense Maio (April 29, 1965): full Latin text

Paul VI’s encyclical Mense Maio (April 29, 1965) was the first Marian encyclical of his pontificate, devoted to calling the whole Church to pray during the month of May for peace in Vietnam and for the successful outcome of the final session of the Second Vatican Council. Text omitted from the main editions, collected in the S1 Omissa of the Enchiridion Vaticanum (paragraphs 51-61).

Full Latin text – n. 51

Mense maio instante, quem christifidelium religio Mariae Dei Genitrici iamdiu dicare consuevit, gaudio animus noster exsultat, illud quasi praecipiens fidei amorisque spectaculum ad permovendum aptum, quod mox ubique terrarum ad honorem Reginae caelorum praebebitur. Hoc enim mense, ex altera parte, cum in templis tum intra domesticos parietes a Christianorum animis Deiparae Virgini amantiora pietatis et cultus officia ex recepto instituto tribuuntur, ex altera, crebriora et ditiora divinae misericordiae dona e Matris nostrae solio in nos defluere solent.

English translation – n. 51

As the month of May draws near, which the piety of Christians has long been accustomed to dedicate to Mary the Mother of God, our spirit exults with joy, anticipating as it were a moving spectacle of faith and love that will soon be offered everywhere on earth in honor of the Queen of heaven. For in this month, on the one hand, both in churches and within the walls of the home, the Virgin Mother of God receives from Christian souls more loving services of piety and worship according to established custom; on the other hand, more frequent and richer gifts of divine mercy are wont to flow down upon us from the throne of our Mother.

Latin text – n. 52: Mary as the way to Christ

Quapropter iucundissimus solaciique plenus advenit nobis religiosus hic mos cum mense maio coniunctus, unde et in beatissimam Virginem tantus honor, et in populum Christianum tam uberes proficiscuntur fructus. Cum enim Maria iure merito tamquam via sit habenda, qua ad Christum ducamur, fieri idcirco non potest quin Mariae qui occurrerit, Christo pariter occurrat. Quid namque ad Mariam continenter confugientes aliud quaerimus, nisi in eius ulnis, in ipsa scilicet Virgine, per ipsam, cumque ipsa, Christum quaerimus, servatorem nostrum…

English translation – n. 52

For this reason this religious custom bound up with the month of May comes to us most delightful and full of consolation, from which so much honor results for the most holy Virgin and such abundant fruits for the Christian people. For since Mary is with good reason to be regarded as the way by which we are led to Christ, it cannot therefore happen that whoever meets Mary does not likewise meet Christ. For what else do we seek when we continually have recourse to Mary, if not to seek in her arms, that is, in the Virgin herself, through her and with her, Christ, our Savior…

The two requests of the encyclical

Paul VI sets out two specific requests for the month of May 1965:

1. For the successful outcome of the final conciliar session: The Second Vatican Council would enter its last period (September 14 – December 8, 1965), in which Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Gaudium et Spes, Sacrosanctum Concilium and the other final documents would be approved. The Pope asked for Marian prayers so that everything would be accomplished in concord.
2. For peace in Vietnam: The war in Vietnam had been intensifying since 1965 (Operation Rolling Thunder, begun in February). Paul VI entrusts peace to Marian intercession, a tradition that would be taken up again in Christi Matri Rosarii (1966) and Recurrens Mensis October (1969).

Historical significance

Mense Maio is historically significant because it shows how Paul VI had recourse to Mary at the most delicate moments of his pontificate. The other texts in this tradition include Christi Matri Rosarii and Recurrens Mensis October and culminate in Marialis Cultus (1974), the magna carta of post-conciliar Marian devotion.

Further reading

Marialis Cultus | Mense Maio + Christi Matri + Recurrens | Signum Magnum | Mater Ecclesiae Proclamation