A child crowns a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary during a Mother’s Day May Crowning at the Archdiocesan Marian Shrine in 2022, honoring Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. Generations of families will again take part May 10. (Photo by Roses for Our Lady)
Chuck Wichgers and his family have attended more than 35 May Crownings at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Marian Shrine.
“I’m 60, and my wife and I have gone virtually every single year since our marriage,” Wichgers said. They and hundreds more, to whom the Blessed Mother and the Rosary are a central part of their lives in Jesus, are planning on attending the 2026 edition. It is set for Mother’s Day, May 10, at the shrine on 68th Street.
“We all are very dedicated to the prayer to our Blessed Lady,” Wichgers said.
“We grew up in a time where the Rosary was very important to the Catholic community on the south side of Milwaukee. We were coming out of a time of war where Our Lady of Fatima said to pray the Rosary daily. Many Catholics did. My family was one of them. We said the Rosary as I was a young man at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish.”
Participants take part in a May Crowning procession at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Marian Shrine, a multigenerational tradition centered on prayer and devotion to the Blessed Mother. (Submitted photo)
The May Crowning becomes an opportunity for all to simultaneously experience the power of both the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Mother through a Eucharistic procession.
“The bishop or a priest carries a monstrance around the neighborhood that encompasses the shrine,” said Wichgers, a state assembly member who attends St. Leonard, Muskego.
“All the attendees that are able to walk around the block with the monstrance recite the Rosary. We go around the neighborhood, come back and end the Rosary with Benediction, a prayer and a blessing and speech from the bishop.”
He said young people, many who are dressed in their First Communion attire, then take part in the actual crowning of a statue of the Blessed Mother.
“Little kids crown the statue of Mary that’s on the cart carried by four men. Children carry baskets with rose petals, and they sprinkle the petals in front of Mary as the men carry Mary through the street,” he said.
“Our Lady is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. It represents the coronation and we do the crowning of Mary.”
He said many families who attend go two, three and even four generations deep in their presence at the annual event.
“My dad was one of the young men, when I was a little tiny kid in grade school, (to) help carry the baldacchino over the monstrance while we process around the neighborhood to protect Jesus,” Wichgers said. “My dad would just do it out of joy, duty and appreciation. My seven brothers would get to watch him do it.
“I’ve been doing it for over 35 years, my son is doing it with me now, (and) I will have four of my grandkids who will be able to watch their uncle, their grandpa and maybe even great-grandpa if he helps out.”
Wichgers said his grandchildren, his father’s great-grandchildren, will probably be among many carrying rosaries, observing and understanding the prayerful ceremony among many who have made this what he calls a “wonderful Milwaukee tradition.”
“It’s all the same families and their kids. It’s multigenerational, the core groups of people that come, but there’s also many new people that come and they just love it,” he said.
“They say, ‘I hope I can come back again and again and again.’ Two years later, three years later, you see that person come back again. They bring more people with them. It’s beautiful to see how many people come that are pretty dedicated to being regulars.”
So many return because of the effect the Blessed Mother has on their own lives, just like it has for Wichgers, who said he has prayed multiple Rosaries daily for decades, prayers that have provided miracles.
“There’s efficacy in that prayer,” he said.
“Her hands are folded with urgency to pray and ask her Son to intercede for us, to bring us to peace in our families, peace in our communities, peace in our country and peace in the world. The only way that we can achieve that peace is through knowing, loving and serving God — each one of us individually. That’s the only way. And the more we know God, the more we can love him, the more we can serve him.”
MAY CROWNING DETAILS
What: May Crowning Celebration, organized by Roses For Our Lady
Whom: Presided by Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey Haines, assisted by other clergy including Fr. Tim Kitzke from the Family of Four Parishes
Where: Archdiocese of Milwaukee Marian Shrine, 141 N. 68th St., Milwaukee
When: Sunday, May 10 (Mother’s Day), 2 p.m.
Details: People are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair. Young people who have received their First Communion are encouraged to wear their dresses or suits. In case of rain, St. Vincent Pallotti-West, 201 N 76th St.)
