Flower Color for the Luminous Mysteries
of the Rosary


Nov 3 2002, Pamela Schmidt

I have a small Rosary Garden in our back yard - can you tell me
what color of roses/flowers will represent the New Mysteries of
the Rosary?

I have enjoyed your web site and refer to it often.


Feb 15 2003, Barbara-Lee Malikowski

I am planning on doing a Marys garden this year in MN and would
like to know what flowers to plant to represent the Luminous
Mysteries.

Thanks 


Nov 7 2002, Feb 21 2003, John Stokes, Mary's Gardens

In seeking flower symbols for scriptural revelations, we are to
look first of all to medieval oral traditions - from which names
were written down with the introduction of printing and general
literacy in the 16th century.  In surviving from generation to
generation in oral tradition these named symbols have acquired a
certain spiritual unction which quickens our reflections.

Every flower symbol was first perceived as such at some time and
place; in accordance with the doctrine of "signatures", in which
it is held that, in the overall unity of Creation, all revealed
truths are to be found symbolized in nature. However, if we can
find no traditional flower of a certain symbolism, we are to seek
to discern such symbols for our own use - so long as we keep the
distinction between them and the documented medieval symbols, when
talking about them to others, etc.

In the Mary Garden Prayer we invoke,

     "St. Bernard, searcher of flowers for likenesses of
     Jesus and Mary,"

And in our article on the Passion Flower, as an example of a flower
naming we write,

     "This flower, a genus with numerous species, indigenous
     to the tropical Americas, is unique among the hundreds
     of old Christian flower symbols in that there is
     specific historical documentation of the time and place
     of its origin - the symbolism having been first
     perceived by the Mexican Augustinian friar, Emmanuel
     de Villegas, who reported it, with sketches, in Europe
     in 1610."

With respect to the five new "mysteries of light" proposed by the
Holy Father for meditation on Sundays, these have all some
traditional correpondences, as follows:


     1. Christ's baptism in the Jordan River        - Columbine

     2. Christ's self-revelation at the marriage    - Grape
        of Cana.

     3. Christ's announcement of the kingdom of     - Anemone
        God with the invitation to conversion

     4. Christ's Transfiguration, when he           - Goldenrod
        revealed his glory to his Apostles

     5. The institution of the Eucharist at the     - Wheat
        Last Supper as the sacramental expression
        of the Paschal Mystery.

The columbine, which is named from it resemblance to doves
("columba") has long been used in paintings of the Baptism of
Christ to represent the descending dove of the Holy Spirit,

Grapes recall the turning of water into wine.

Anemones are believed by biblical plant researchers, because of
their widespread presence in the Holy Land, as most likely the
"Flowers of the Field" where Jesus preached the Kingdom of God in
the countryside.

Goldenrod is known in Germany as "Heavenly Radiance", and I have
long associated it with the Transfiguration of Christ since here,
in the mid-Atlantic states of the U.S., it first blooms around
August 1st, the Feast of the Transfiguration.

In the "Mary Garden Prayer" we invoke,

     "St. John Chrysostom, beholder of resplendent earth
     as the radiance of God's face".

As symbol of the Eucharist we have used wheat - particularly baby
wheat, in dish Mary Gardens.

Also, some have seen

     Lunaria annua     Honesty     Our Lady's Coins

as symbols of the Eucharist because of the white Eucharist-size
seed disks.

In Rosary Gardens, generally, we have favored basic groupings of
long-blooming white, red and gold roses flowers to represent,
generally the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries overall,
and then have interspersed the shorter blooming flowers symbolizing
particular mysteries.

I hope this is helpful.


Feb 24 Barbara-Lee Malikowski

It is helpful but would be hard to blend them in a flower garden.

How about a color scheme?


Apr 4 2003 John Stokes

Barbara-Lee,

Apologies for the delay in replying to your message of 24 Feb in
which you ask, "How about a color scheme?" (for the new Luminous
Mysteries)

In the unity of all thing spiritual and material, through the
creation of both through the eternal Word of God, "through whom
all things were made", there are to be found material
correspondences of all thing spiritual.

This is the familiar basis of all poetic imagery, and in theology
the material correspondences or imagery to be discovered, with the
help of scripture, of revealed truths are called "signatures".

As these are discovered, they are named - as Adam was to name all
the creatures.

Whether such correspondences are appropriate ("prophetic") is
determined by the test of their endurance in time, which the Bible
says is the test of of all prophecies.

So, we should be able to come up with something for the Luminous
Mysteries, as they are from the Gospel revelation.

Since the colors white, red and yellow/gold have been established
as symbolic, respectively, of the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious
Mysteries of the Rosary, we have to look for another color.

My personal thought on this is that the third Luminous Mystery,
"Christ's announcement of the kingdom of God with the invitation
to conversion" is the key one for our times because it places
emphasis on our conversion to the building and coming of the
earthly Peaceable Kingdom - which is to be transfigured at the end
of time into the eternal New Heaven and New Earth - instead of
"just" staying in a state of grace so our souls can go to heaven
when we die.

The 4th Mystery, of the Transfiguration, anticipates this, and the
other three are supportive - the coming of the Holy Spirit
baptismally to earth; Christ's miracles for the betterment of life
on earth; and the grace of the sacraments for our life on earth.

This is in accordance with God's teaching to Adam to care for,
develop and fill the originally harmonious earth; with the
proclamation of the Angel of the Nativity, "Peace on earth to men
of good will"; with the petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Your
Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven";
with Pope John XXIII's Encyclical "Pacem in Terris" ("Peace on
Earth"); and with the Vatican II Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World.

That the Holy Father has this in mind is clarified in a subsequent
address, in which he said,

     "This is our great hope and our invocation: 'Your
     Kingdom come!' - a Kingdom of peace, justice, and
     serenity, which will re-establish the original
     harmony of creation."

Purple is the color of royalty and kingdom, so I suggest this for
consideration in connection with your color scheme.


Apr 7 2003 Barbara-Lee Malikowski

I was just thinking that purple or blue would be perfect for the
sign of royality.  I agree with that.