Marian Crowns for May: 4 Apparitions for Kids

Why do we revere our Heavenly Mother?

The Month of May is dedicated to Our Lady. Some Catholic parishes in the UK have a ‘crowning of Our Lady’ at the beginning of the month. Typically, a crown of flowers will be placed on the head of a statue of Our Lady.

But what if we could do more?

What if we could crown her under four of her titles throughout May? Wouldn’t this be a wonderful way to show, as the angel Gabriel declared:

“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee”

Luke 1:28, Douay-Rheims Bible

And as St. Elizabeth declared when Mary visited her, and St. John the Baptist leapt in her womb at the sound of her voice:

“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? …blessed art though that hast believed.”

Luke 1:42-45, Douay-Rheims Bible

Four Titles and Four Crowns

Our Lady always brings messages to draw us back to her son, Jesus. God has been uber-generous in allowing His Mother to appear to her children on Earth several times over the centuries. Some of her titles are little known, so please don’t worry if you haven’t heard of all the apparitions below - because neither had I!

For young children, I thought it would be nice to gently introduce just 4 apparitions of our Lady by focusing on something very specific… her crowns.

Let’s look at the crowns of Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Le Puy, Our Lady of Bearaing and Our Lady of La Salette. It might be nice to make the crowns to fit a daughter or mum. In this way, they can pretend to be Our Lady for the crowning, and while you sing a crowning hymn (see below). If there is no female presence in your family, then please click on the link below and print this image of Mother Mary, lay it flat on your family altar/table, and then place the crowns on her head. This is the image you will be printing:

Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal



The Apparitions

Our Lady of Fatima appeared six times to three shepherd children starting on 13th May 1917 and ending on 13th October 1917. Some of her messages were:

"I am the Lady of the Rosary, I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask for pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord anymore, for He is already too grievously offended by the sins of men. People must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it every day."

"When you say the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need."

“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need of Thy mercy.”

The names of the children from left to right were Lucia dos Santos and her two cousins (who were brother and sister), Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto.

The photo on the right shows the canonical coronation of the image of "Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fatima" by Cardinal Benedetto Aloisi Masella on 13 May 1946. This means that the Pope has given approval to the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.

So, this is the first crown that we are going to make. I hope that you will have enough time to make it and crown Our Lady of Fatima on her feast day, the 13th May.

Please show this the photo of the children and the video below to your 3 – 6-year-old to help them know a bit about Our Lady of Fatima before they make the crown with you:



How to make the crown



Please look at this video for instructions and measurements on how to may this crown. I couldn’t find the craft materials that were used, and so I used A3 size black card instead. I also used staples, glue and stick-on fake jewels (as I could not find any braid to buy). These all worked well! I decided to make the cross which goes on top of the crown in my own way using black card. I have tried to show how I did this in the photos below.



I attached a small piece of card to the base of the cross with a staple and bent the card so that it could stand up on its own – with 2 legs! Then I just added the fake jewels



While you crown Our Lady, it might be nice to sing this hymn! You can sing this hymn whenever you crown her! It’s really easy to learn.



Our Lady of Le Puy, France

The Apparition



Please show this video to your little ones. You will need to point out the relevant parts as it is not made for children. Sadly, it was the best video I could find. It is about 3 minutes long.

Her message, in this her very first apparition on earth, was to invite us to come and pray to her as she is The Mother of God.

Sometime in the first five centuries after Christ, Our Lady appeared to a very sick widow in France called Ville and asked her to climb up the volcanic mountain of Anais in the town of Le Puy. Her servant had to carry her up the mountain because she was so sick. No doctor had been able to cure her. When she got to the top, she was laid on the stone that had been marked out by an angel and she fell asleep.

As Ville slept, she dreamt of an exquisitely, beautiful lady dressed in dazzling, misty-white robes and surrounded by angels. In her dream, she was told by one of the angels that this was “The Mother of God” and that as a sign for the bishop to have Our Lady venerated there – she was to be healed! Upon waking, Ville, found she was completely healed! Many years later, the local bishop was moved, through a dream, to have the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Annunciation built on the hill at Le Puy. It is a place of huge pilgrimage and healing. In the 15th Century they had to have 3000 confessors to support all the pilgrims who flocked there!



Our Lady of Puy, France, is the first ever Marian apparition of Our Lady since her Assumption. The apparition happened sometime between the first and fifth century and it was recognised by the Church in 430 AD. It was traditionally approved back then and though you will not find it amongst the 16 modern, approved Marian apparitions - it is still a church recognised apparition. The feast day of Our Lady of Le Puy is 15th August.  She is often known as the Black Madonna because her statue in the shrine has become blackened with age.

How to make the crown

I have tried to emulate this lacey crown by using heart shaped doilies, fake stick-on pearls, glue and black card.

• I used an A3 black card and cut a strip across the entire length of the A3 card. This strip will help to complete the circular base of the crown.

• I drew a slightly curved triangular-type shape as you can see below. The length of the crown is the same as the length of the A3 paper. I have shown this here.



• Once I cut out the crown, I glued on the doilies and added some fake stick-on jewels.
• Lastly, I attached half of the cut-across strip onto either side of the crown
• with staples. I measured to fit my head and used some more staples to secure it. And here I am modelling the finished crown!



Our Lady of Beauraing, Belgium



The Apparitions

In November 1932, Our Lady appeared to five children in Beauraing, Belgium. Please show this short video to your children as well as the photo of the five visionaries.



Our Lady appeared to the children thirty-three times from 1932 - 1933! And she often appeared near a Hawthorn tree. Her messages included:

“I am the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven. Pray always.”

Always be good”

“I will convert sinners”

“Do you love my Son? Do you love me? Then, sacrifice yourself for me.” By this she meant to offer small sacrifices for the conversion of sinners.

This is a photo of the five visionaries who saw Our Lady of Beauraing, in Belgium, or as she is also known: The Virgin of the Golden Heart. How amazing that we can see them back in time, when it all took place!

The sixth child in the photo, on crutches, was not a visionary.



From left to right the names of the five children who were visionaries are Gilberte Voisin aged 13 years, her brother Albert Voisin aged 11 years, their sister Fernande aged 15 years, Andree Degeimbre aged 14 years and her sister Gilberte Degeimbre aged 9 years. They were all friends.

The feast day of Our Lady of Beauraing is the 29th November – the first day of the apparitions.

How to make the crown

Our Lady of Beauraing wore a golden crown - as if beams of light were coming out of her head. I have made this crown so that it can be transformed into the crown for Our Lady of La Salette! Please follow the photographs to make the crown.

Again, I used A3 black card, glue, staples and gold paper straws that I squashed flat as best I could! While I waited for the straws to attach to the card, I covered them with some material and then placed my heaviest bible on top of them for 10 minutes. Then I cut the straws to size. This crown with measurements fits my adult head. For your child you will need to make it much smaller.

Our Lady of La Salette, France

The Apparitions

In the alpine mountains of La Salette, on 19th September 1846, Our Lady appeared to two shepherd children. The boy was called Maximin Giraud, and the girl was called Melanie Calvat. She spoke to the children in French and as she spoke, she cried continuously. She wore a crown like rays of light and roses.



This is a photo of the Maximin and Melanie taken on the one-year anniversary of the apparition, 19th September 1847. The feast day of Our Lady of La Salette is the 19th September.

Her messages:

"Come to me, my children. Do not be afraid.  I am here to tell you something of the greatest importance. If my people will not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my Son's arm. It is so heavy, so pressing that I can no longer restrain it."

" 'I have appointed for you six days for working. The seventh I have reserved for myself. And no one will give it to me.' This is what causes the weight of my Son's arm to be so crushing."

"The cart drivers cannot swear without bringing in my Son's name. These are two things that make my Son's arm so burdensome.

Please show the pictures of the two children (so precious and amazing for us to have access to this!) and then please show them the following video about the apparitions at La Salette.



How to make the crown

Please look at how to make each rose from square tissues, an elastic band, some blusher to colour the rose and some cello tape to attach the roses to the base of the crown.



Here is how I made mine. They don’t need to be perfect, and as you can see, mine aren’t!

Next, take out the staples at the back of the previous crown and bring down the large flap that was folded back and behind the golden straws. Then remove all the staples as the headband will have to be moved.



Attach double sided cello tape to the base of each rose and then adjust the headband to fit.



Suggestion: Make crowns on the following days!

Our Lady of Fatima whose feast day is Wednesday 13th May

Our Lady of Le Puy Sat 16th May

Our Lady of Bearaing Sat 23rd May

Our Lady of La Salette Sat 30th May

I hope this month’s crown making will bring you joy as you crown Our Lady in the form of the printout or your little girl or mum if you prefer! Enjoy!