May crowning celebrates the start of month dedicated to the Blessed Mother
Golden sunflowers. White lilies. Pink carnations. Red roses. Orange, yellow, peach and purple blooms of all shapes and sizes, all for Mary, the Mother of God.
The St. Austin School community marked the start of May, traditionally dedicated to the Blessed Mother, with a May crowning prayer service under a providentially bright blue sky on May 4. Students processed to a small grotto on the side of the church carrying vases overflowing with flowers, placing them carefully in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother. An eighth grader then set a crown of yellow roses on Mary’s head.
“On this day, O beautiful Mother, on this day we bring thee our love,” they sang.
The eighth graders, preparing to graduate in a few short weeks, led students, staff, parents and other guests in Marian hymns, the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, the Litany of Loreto and the “Salve Regina,” decked out in their Sunday best as a sign of reverence. Second graders wore their first Communion finest, a reminder of the sacrament they received in April.
“It’s very important that our school celebrates the May crowning, because Mary is an important part of the Catholic faith,” eighth grader Giorgio Jansen said. “It’s a great time to all come together and pray the Rosary and show our reverence toward her.”
Honoring Mary is something they do throughout the year, too, Josephine Yallaly said. The school celebrates Mary’s birthday in September and incorporates the Rosary at several different events. During Lent, Josephine and some friends even set aside time during recess twice a week to pray the Rosary on their own.
Leading the May crowning hymns and prayers was an honor, she said. “I love that it’s giving respect to our universal mother, and I love that we have a dedicated month to her,” Josephine said. “And I love that we get to crown her because she is the queen of all saints, and the queen of heaven, and our mother.”
The St. Austin School is an independent Catholic, classical PreK-8 school founded in 2011. In January 2025, the school moved from its original location at a Christian church in Des Peres to the campus of St. Richard Parish near Creve Coeur.
As the school’s enrollment has grown, leaders were searching for a “more permanent home” for St. Austin and were blessed to find a Catholic location, head of school Dan Dilber said. The school community is able to attend Mass twice a week alongside St. Richard parishioners; the parish men’s club and other groups have become great partners.
“To be in a truly sacred space that is near a Catholic church, it really does revitalize and rejuvenate and refresh what we’re trying to achieve with our Catholic mission in forming disciples of Christ and truly being on sacred ground as we do it,” Dilber said.
Karen Andrus was one of several St. Richard parishioners who attended the May crowning. Her son Justin built the Marian grotto on the side of St. Richard Church as his Eagle Scout project in 2005. Justin and his team of volunteers tore out bushes, planted a flower bed, installed lighting and worked with a mason to construct the brick grotto. Then-pastor Father Robert Dorhauer purchased the Mary statue to complete the area.
Praying by the grotto always makes Andrus think fondly of her son. Her children attended St. Richard School, which closed in 2014, and it has been “wonderful” to have children around the campus again now that The St. Austin School has moved in, she said.
“It’s really wonderful to see the kids play and go to church. The church is filled with the children, and it’s just great — it invigorates the parish,” she said. “Everybody I know has said that they love having (a) school open again.”
