Chat and Photos
The Girl In The Garden
Meditative poem, and and plans for a Mary Garden to be planted in
the spring of 2001.
o O o
22 Nov 2000
Greg Davis, Bethesda, MD
Following an inspiration received at a Franciscan retreat in August
2000, I co-authored the design of a Mary Garden and a reflective
poem with Sister Monica Sheeran, FMSJ. The poem is called "The Girl
in the Garden" and the garden is named "Contigo, Maria", which is
Spanish meaning, "with you, Mary".
Now that we have discovered your wonderful web site, we would like
you to consider posting our poem in your "Prayer and Meditation"
section.
The garden is not planted yet; it is only in the design stage. The
statue is real, though, picturing Mary before God called her, and
she is already enjoying nature in my backyard, resting peacefully
on a small plot of land awaiting spring, her flowers, and Sister
Monica's blessing. If you are local to Maryland, we would ask you
to be present at the blessing too (circa, April/May, 2001)!... if
not, then I will arrange to have someone videotape it ... another
idea for adding more content to your web site.
We did have lots of joyful moments writing the poem ... words
creating elation; real feelings. And, a couple of sorrowful ones
too, when, as two people, we needed to change (cut/revise) a few
words and bend the overall thought to its final ending ... the call
to Holiness (which happens to be where I am at the moment; called
to the Franciscan life). That, at least, puts me into a temporary
state of glory in the sense that I am so happy to have completed
the poem, I am (and I know Sister will too) sending it out to the
world via email, the internet, and even hard copy, face-to-face!
It is definitely a "new age" orientation, and if it does not fit
into your vision, please say so, and we will listen to your
thought.
We truly hope that you enjoy it, and I am looking forward to
planting those very special flowers, the ceremony of blessing, and
all the gentle loveliness that will be created from a single
thought.
Peace and All Good,
Greg Davis Candidate Franciscans of St. Mary of the Angels
Fraternity
22 Nov 2000, John Stokes, Mary's Gardens
Thank you for your valued message of today, with your kind words
about our website - telling of of the poem, "The Girl in the
Garden", and the Mary Garden, "Contigo, Maria", co-authored by
Sister Monica Sheeran, FMSJ, and yourself.
Yes, please send the poem for posting to our website.
And do send us a photo or two of "Contigo, Maria" in mature bloom.
I note your MD address, and hope you have had an opportunity to
visit the Mary Gardens at St. Mary's Parish, Annapolis and at the
National Shrine in Washington.
It will be a privilege to put your and Sister Monica's poem in the
"Chat and Photos" section - probably around January 1st, and also
in the Garden Prayer and Meditation section. I propose to open a
section on poems at some point, from which I will also link it.
The idea here is that after 50 years, and especially after the
last 5 years of extensive self-publishing on the website, a fairly
comprehensive presentation of the main dimensions of our project
has been accomplished, so that the time has now come to highlight
the contributions of others, such as yourselves.
This will also provide a focus for the future development of the
web site (through the Marian Library in Dayton) after I and my
founding and developmental colleagues are no longer able to
contribute (I am now in my eighties).
Also, have you read "Mary's Flowers, Gardens, Legends and
Meditations" by our Mary's Gardens Associate, Vincenzina Krymow?
29 Nov 2000, Greg Davis
Thank you for your timely note. Here is attached the poem attached,
in two forms, one requires Word 97 (with design pictures) and the
other Word 95 (words only).
The garden is not planted yet; it is only in the design stage. The
statue is real, though, picturing Mary before God called her, and
she is already enjoying nature in my backyard, resting peacefully
on a small plot of land awaiting spring, her flowers, and Sister
Monica's blessing. If you are local to Maryland, we would ask you
to be present at the blessing too (circa, April/May, 2001)!
No, I have not visited the Annapolis garden yet, but I will, and
with Sister Monica at my side (I hope).
We did have lots of joyful moments writing it ... words creating
elation; real feelings. And, a couple of sorrowful ones too, when,
as two people, we needed to change (cut/revise) a few words and
bend the overall thought to its final ending ... the call to
Holiness (which happens to be where I am at the moment; called to
the Franciscan life). That, at least, puts me into a temporary
state of glory in the sense that I am so happy to have completed
the poem, I am (and I know Sister will too) sending it out to the
world via email, the internet, and even hard copy, face-to-face!
If you choose not to publish it, we can also accept your decision.
It is definitely a "new age" orientation, and if it does not fit
into your vision, please say so, and we will listen to your
thought.
Nevertheless, we truly hope that you enjoy it, and I am looking
forward to planting those very special flowers, the ceremony of
blessing, and all the gentle loveliness that will be created from a
single thought.
Peace and All Good,
Greg Davis
Candidate
Franciscans of St. Mary of the Angels Fraternity
o O o
The Poem:
The Contigo Maria Garden
Fall, 2000
Sister Monica Sheeran, fmsj
And Gregory Davis
23 Dec 2000, Greg Davis
Yes, Vincenzina Krymow's book is where I started this project. My
book of poetry, "Reflections from the Garden", is not published yet,
so I attached a copy of it to this email. I am up late, actually
sending a gift thru amazon.com - a book by Thomas Keating on
centering prayer.
Thanks.
23 Dec 2000, John Stokes
Many, many thanks for the e-mail copy of your "Reflections from
the Garden".
No time to read it just now, but browsed the Table of Contents.
Look forward with much anticipation to reading.
Re. the title, are you aware of the book "Reflections From A
Garden" by Susan Hill & Rory Stuart, Pavilon, London, 1995?
(picked up in my constant browsing of bookstore garden sections;
on my bookshelf, but never cracked open. Made a quick check,
thinking it might be yours)?
Will get back to you after initial browsing of "Reflections".
23 Dec 2000, John Stokes
Love your "Reflections" poems.
Read them "cover-to-cover" (printed it out). Thanks for sharing it
with me. Actually it prompted me to put down a lot of thoughts
which sort of overflowed about poetry and a poetry section for the
website.
Don't have time to do anything with them just now, but here they
are in their raw stream of consciousness.
o O o
My favorite poet from high school English class days was
Wordsworth, as I sought God in nature. After a time, however, I
felt there must be something "more", noting also the observation of
Coleridge that what we find in nature turns out ultimately to be
what we put into it.
So, I began seeking God by way of psychology, sociology,
philosophy, etc, and then through the scriptures of the major
religions. With a lightening bolt of grace, I realized a loving
personal God - whom I had come to experience - would surely provide
for us a universal religious truth source, which we could find
through its claim to be such, and which in looking around I saw to
be the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.
Embracing the truths of the Church, I then realized that in the
unity of all things spiritual and material, we would find in nature
signatures and symbols of God's revealed truths, as well as God's
naturally created goodness and beauty; whereupon I turned to the
traditional nature signatures and symbols of the Gospel story,
theology and devotion - including the flower symbols of the
scriptures and Church, and especially those from the popular oral
religious traditions of the medieval countrysides, as
providentially recorded by field-researching botanists and
folklorists
Marian Flower Poetry
It is fitting that the Mary's Gardens website, in disseminating
the spiritual richness of the time-unctioned symbolic Flowers of
Our Lady, include an accompanying selection of Marian flower poems
- which likewise draw on historic tradition, in that historically
flowers were first introduced into English poetry in imagery of the
spiritual beauty of Mary, who herself, the "Flower of flowers"
(Chaucer), uniquely shows forth and magnifies God, as set forth in
the Magnificat.
We open this section with Marian flower poems which have been sent
us, to which will be added poems from Marian anthologies.
Commentary
In God's creation of the world, the divine goodness and beauty are,
in love, shown forth and shared with us in a special way in the
forms, colors and growth of flowers. We celebrate and share our
perception of these with one another through poetic imagery of the
correspondences of the beauty of flowers with moral and spiritual
beauty - in the unity of the mutual creation of Heaven and Earth by
the Eternal Word of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity,
through whom all things were made.
It is through these same earthly/heavenly correspondences that -
Inspired by the scriptures, the writings of the Church Fathers and
the saints, and the liturgy - flowers have been discerned, also, as
providential signatures and symbols of the revealed truths of the
deposit of faith, through which we are called to participation in
the eternal life of the three Divine Persons. This symbolism,
attested by the religious flower names of the popular oral
traditions of the medieval countrysides - preserved,
providentially, largely through the research of botanists and
folklorists - is being re-introduced and extended today through the
print and electronic media.
Like flower signatures and symbols of revealed truths, religious
flower poetry includes expressions of the immolative sorrows of God
the Son, and of our joining in them through Mary's sorrows and our
own - as well as of the goodness, beauty and joys of Creation and
the glories of heavenly transfiguration.
Thus, Francis Thompson writes in "The Sere of the Leaf",
"I know not equipoise,
only purgatorial joys"
adding that if our poetry celebrates only the divine joys and
transfiguration, the Spirit of sorrows will knock to be let in.
(Don't have the poem at hand for exact quote.)
Further, as we rise "from grace to grace, and glory to glory" to
union with God, our poetry becomes increasingly infused, through
Mary's co-redemptive advocacy and mediation, with the promptings of
her Spouse, the Holy Spirit, for the building of the Peaceable
Kingdom of God the Father, "on earth as it is in heaven", for
transfiguration on the Last Day into the eternal New Heaven and New
Earth, in culmination of Christ's Redemption of Creation, in
grateful return to the Father, glorified.
On the other hand, the most intrinsically "Marian" poems are those
of her maidenly spirituality prior to the Annunciation - as with
your and Sister's beautiful "A Girl In The Garden". I have a
collection of Marian poems (not at hand) with this emphasis, "I
Sing of a Maiden" (from the poem of that name, or first line, "I
sing of a maiden, that matchless is." (?). The early British poets
are exquisitely unique in this respect.
On the other hand, Hopkins' "The May Magnificat" quoted in my
"Mary's Month of May" (1996) - (See "Developmental Articles Index
on website) - is equally exquisite, seeing also Mary's maternity in
nature.
(End of fragment)
o O o
I assume you and Sister are familiar with St. Francis' "Into love's
furnace I am cast" (in Butler's "Lives of the Saints"), from which
I quote a couple of verses in "Plant Life and Social Renewal"
(1997):
"The tree of love its roots hath spread
Deep in my heart, and rears its head;
Rich are its fruits: they joy dispense;
Transport the heart, and ravish sense.
In love's sweet swoon to thee I cleave,
Bless'd source of love . . . .
. . . . .
"All creatures love aloud proclaim;
Heav'ns, earth and sea increase my flame;
Whate're I see, as mirror bright
Reflects my lover to my sight;
My heart all objects to him raise;
Are steps to the Creator's praise . . . ."
23 Dec 2000, Greg Davis
Fantastic! Not only that, you sent me this message on my birthday
... nice cosmic coincidence!
By the way, where do you live? Can you come to the garden ceremony
sometime next Spring ... if not, then I will arrange to have someone
videotape it ... another idea for adding more content to your web
site.
I am a convert, about 6 years ago. It was a slow journey until my
adopted son lit a fire under me for the second time. That led me
to the Franciscan retreat and my good friend Sr. Monica, the
garden, the poem, and the Secular Franciscans.
As I wrote in "Reflections", my first book, "Many people and things
have influenced my journey. Undoubtedly, many more people and
things will influence the rest of my journey. Where my path leads I
do not know, but I hope it will be 'astonishing,' a word used
often in the Bible."
Well, I am getting what I asked for
Peace and All Good
Greg
John Stokes, 11 Jan 2001
"The Girl In The Garden" was posted to our Chat section last
evening.
You will note I posted the MS Word formatting as a graphic file,
with border and the 2 photos. The font is rather small, but I
think people can read it ok. If you want, I can repeat just the
poem in larger type, without border.
Greg Davis, 11 Jan 2001
It looks great; so once again I am astonished at how God's gentle
presence unfolds.
I am going to keep your recent emails with me until I make my final
profession statement, as it has hit, not one, but two very important
ideas bubbling up in my head and heart.
ONE
I am working on a statement of my 8 principles in life, one of
which is "Touch" and its power, although it can be laden with
lustful thoughts and feelings. In my words before I read your
note, I am putting the 8 into the "furnace of purifying thought"
with the idea of creating words that create feelings that heal.
The image of Mary before the Annunciation is exactly the target of
the "Touch" premise, and your note has sharply focused that which
was right in front of me to begin with: the poem and the statue
and Mary's state in that context.
TWO
Fueled by the mysterious fires of love, I started writing yet
another poem, and guess what the theme was: a seed that became a
fruit tree that saw a woman and fell in love with her. It is an
Orange tree of all things, but I am not sure how it became that.
More to come on this one; but most important, one of Sister
Monca's favorite 'things' is TREES, so I am sure she is very happy
today.
Sr. Monica Sheeran, 13 Jan 2001
You have already heard about me through Greg. We are the ones who
had such a wonderful time writing the Mary Canticle together!
Please pardon my tardiness in writing to thank you for the interest
you have shown. Although I am a writer! ... letters all over the
world, as I am a missionary franciscan ... my own poetry ... I
usually like to take time to craft on my computer/word processer.
I have been persuaded to use email through meeting Greg! However,
it is not easy having access to email, as I live in a community.
So, I joined it in the public library! It has its disadvantages.
I can get over here only once or twice a week. We are limited to
half an hour a sitting! The server sometimes breaks down. But, I
must confess, it is worth it.
May God bless you in the great service you are giving.
Peace and All Good
14 Jan 2001, John Stokes
Sister Monica,
Thanks much for your message.
It's good to be in direct contact.
I value your and Greg's interest in the Flowers of Our Lady and
Mary Gardens, and the resulting plans for a garden and "The Girl
In the Garden".
The Mary Garden is first of all a virtual garden of the heart, and
it is a joy to see it blooming in the poem.
I note your mention that:
< it is not easy having access to email, as I live in a
community.
There is a paradox here, which many have experienced. To those of
one's immediate community - religious or family - one's time and
focus of attention on email seems distracting, competitive and in
conflict with community schedules, priorities and time allocation;
yet it is at the same time, religiously, a window to a much
larger, and most fruitful, participation in the Communion of
Saints.
When I first put up the Mary's Gardens Internet website in 1955, I
joined some 10 Catholic email correspondence "lists" - in which
all participants receive copies each day of all members' messages
to one an other or all - to get "up to speed" in contemporary
Catholic thought. (I have a massive Catholic library - not
immediately at hand at the moment - but, at age 80, have done
little reading in the past 15 years. Much reading is ultimately a
sharing in others' illuminative insights, and when one's
spirituality has become predominantly unitive, one's focus turns
more to the promptings of the Spirit and spiritual elections, for
action in circumstances and with souls for conversion,
sanctification and the building of God's Peaceable Kingdom.).
It was necessary to thus come up to speed with contemporary
Catholic thought as the circumstances to which I would be
presenting the the Mary Garden idea.
Email was invaluable in this, and then equally invaluable in
entering into communion with the numerous persons, at first in the
"lists", and then those (such as yourselves) contacting Mary's
Gardens by email.
It is to build on this, and having reached a kind of culmination
in "getting it all out" in my articles, that I am now going to
make the primary focus of the website the email correspondence -
per a message I will be sending out shortly to our email
correspondents.
16 Jan 2001 John Stokes
Greg and Sr. Monica,
Your "The Girl In The Garden" contributes beautifully to Mary Garden
devotion in its setting forth of flower and garden imagery of Mary's
maidenly spirituality, which disposed her for her filling with grace
and for God's espousal of her at the Annunciation.
While this spirituality is implicit in the Mystery of the
Annunciation, and can be seen as a fruit of Mary's fidelity to the
graces flowing from her Immaculate Conception, continuing in her
Perpetual Virginity, it has been celebrated not through specific
flower symbols, but characteristically in poetic flower imagery,
deriving from the Song of Songs, and ripening in the liturgical
nature celebration of Mary's Month of May.
Your poem thus serves to quicken our sense of Mary's continuing
maidenly spirituality, ever shown forth by flowers generally, while
in the Mary Garden flowers also are seen, specifically, as
time-steeped symbols of her life, mysteries and endowed
prerogatives.
Appreciatively,
8 Dec 2001 John Stokes
Hi Greg and Sr. Monica,
I hope this finds you both well.
We are pleased that visitors to our Mary's Gardens website have
accessed your poem, "The Girl in the Garden", pretty much daily,
and we thank you again for affording us he opportunity to share it
with others. The Communion of Saints is what it is all about.
We have spent most of the past 6 months doing an editing job on our
website, after which we plan to put up some new sections -
including one for garden poetry, in which we will include "The
Girl...", with a link back to your messages in the Chat & Photos
Section.
In our review, we note, Greg, that in your message of last Dec 22,
you mentioned:
"The garden is not planted yet; it is only in the design stage.
The statue is real, though, picturing Mary before God called her,
and she is already enjoying nature in my backyard, resting
peacefully on a small plot of land awaiting spring, her flowers,
and Sister Monica's blessing. If you are local to Maryland, we
would ask you to be present at the blessing too (circa, April/May,
2001)!... if not, then I will arrange to have someone videotape it
... another idea for adding more content to your web site."
Could you send us some photos of the garden and blessing ceremony,
and also any anecdotal information which we could add to the Chat &
Photos section? Also, a copy of the videotape of the blessing, if
one was made. (We're not up to adding video to the website yet,
although we're working with audio - such as a taping of a
conversation of our late partner, Bonnie Roberson, with her Bishop
in her Idaho Mary Garden.)
8 Dec 2001, Sr. Monica Sheeran
I have just received a copy of your letter from Greg. He cannot
reply at this time. He has asked me to do so.
Yes, i did go to greg's home. We did have a very beautiful
blessing ceremony. Just for greg, his wife, son, his son's girl
friend and myself.
I will certainly send it to you as soon as I can. The photos will
be by snail.
Thanking you for your great interest.
A blessed feast of Our Lady today.
9 Dec 2001, John Stokes
Sister, thank you for your reply to my message of Dec 8 to you and
Greg,
Due to the warm weather, roses still in bloom for Our Lady's
feastday. I hope each year for roses for December 8 and snowdrops
(Candlemas Bells) for February 2.
I have noted your new e-mail address. Glad you don't have to go to
the library any more for an on-line computer. Every little bit of
time we can save from circumstances gives us more time for more
important things. I appreciate your replying for Greg, under his
pressures.
(I had to turn all Mary's Gardens inquiry answers, correspondence,
research and article writing over to Bonnie Roberson in Idaho from
1968-80 due to pressures [Director of an inter-faith ecumenical
center, etc.]; and it was only after I retired from various jobs
that I was able to take it up again, in 1980, now on a 40 hours a
week basis.)
I was pleased to learn that you were able to join with Greg in
planting the Mary Garden at his home. Are you able to have a
little Mary Garden? Most Religious who want to have Mary Gardens
have to find a little niche in the plantings on their residence
grounds. I remember finding a tiny Mary Garden in a corner behind
some shrubs at a church where I used to stop for morning Mass on my
commute to work (Industrial) each morning back in the '50's. On
inquiring I found it was planted by one of the school Sisters in
the convent across the street.
Yes, please send me the photos and a note on the Garden dedication,
etc., when you can get to it.
I can then scan several photos in digital format for putting on the
website, with news about the planting, dedication, etc. A photo
with you and Greg at the Garden, if you are so disposed, would be
of interest to those visiting the website. Having pretty much
rounded out the flower, garden, research and devotional aspects of
the project on the web site, I am now focusing more on examples of
Garden plantings etc., in the Chat & Photo Section.
Sister Monica, 12 Jan, 2002
For unto us a Child is BORN
Unto us a SON is given
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!
Let there be justice on earth, and let it begin with me!
I belong to a human family.
If I try to live justly, the whole web of life is affected.
2Day we proclaim peace and hope with all our being,
in the Spirit of Jesus Ohrist!
NEW YEAR'S BLESSINGS
UPON YOU, YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS,
AND UPON OUR PLANET EARTH
Here is the promised material which you requested at last! The
Christmas/New Year season is a very full one for us, for one reason
or another!
Greg had originally wanted the Blessing to be celebrated in
April/May. But neither of us were able to make this. As you may
know, I am a missionary Sister living in upper state New York, and
I give mission appears every summer. It so happened I had one in
Baltimore, in July.
Greg and Coty came to the Church where I had been and took me
to their home for a few days. It was in this way we were able to
have the Blessing Ceremony. However, we decided it would be better
just to keep it very personal and devotional. I am enclosing the
outline of what we did, which we all found very moving.
We were so into the Spirit of it, and as I was the
photographer, few photographs were taken, and these were of the
family groups, before and after the blessing. I sent most of these
to Greg, but the few I kept are not what you would want, I think,
to put on your web site.
Besides, the garden which had only been recently planted was
beginning to wilt in the July heat! Maybe Greg would take some
photographs at a later date this year when the garden has had a
chance to grow and bloom, looking its best.
May God continue to bless your Ioving service. And our Lady
bless you with her sweet presence.
Peace and All Good!
The enclosed Garden Dedication ceremony:
THE CONTIGO MARIA GARDEN MARYLAND JULY 2001
Greg Davis and his wife Coty, Justin their son, and his son's
girl friend Katy, gathered with Franciscan Sister Monica, in the
garden of their home, one evening.
Introduction
Our Lady of Guadalupe taught Juan Diego in Mexico that the Word of
God should be carried to people in the clothing of their own
culture. The Girl in this Garden represents Mary in a different way
from the manner in which she is usually known and revered. We see
her as a young maiden, beautiful as befitting the future resting
place of the Son of God.
The Story
Greg wove for us the story of how the Statue and the Garden came
into being. The small circular plot of ground has been given to
Justin by his father. Coty and Justin chose this beautiful Statue
of a young maiden Greg planted the first flowers. Greg and Sister
Monica clothed her with the words of the Canticle:
"The Girl in the Garden".
The Reading
As a group, we then moved over to stand around the Statue. Coty and
Katy alternated in reading the Parts of the Canticle.
The Blessing
Sister Monica gave the words of Blessing: 'May whoever gazes upon
this Statue, a faint image of Mary's heavenly beauty, and becomes
quiet in her presence, be blessed abundantly'. Justin walked around
the Statue, sprinkling with holy water.
Final Prayer : (written by Mitch Finley) Mary always leads us to
her Son.
Mary the dawn, Christ the perfect Day
Mary the gate, Christ the Heavenly way.
Mary the root, Christ the Mystic Vine,
Mary the grape, Christ the Sacred Wine.
Mary the wheat, Christ the Living Bread,
Mary the stem, Christ the Rose blood-red.
Mary the font, Christ the Cleansing Flood,
Mary the cup, Christ the Saving Blood.
Mary the temple, Christ the temple's Lord,
Mary the shrine, Christ the God adored.
Mary the beacon, Christ the Haven's Rest,
Mary the mirror, Christ the Vision Blest.
Mary the mother, Christ the mother's Son
By all things blest while endless ages run. Amen.
Feb 5 2001, John Stokes
Sister Monica,
Many thanks for your Christmas greetings and New Year Blessings,
and the copy of the garden dedication and blessing ceremony, which
I have added to the website Chat posting of "The Girl in the
Garden".
Your and Greg's mission is getting around the world. For example,
the other day "The Girl..." poem and graphics were accessed from
our website by a visitor from the United Arab Emirates - the very
first of 30 files accessed by him/her.
I note the quote at the head of your community's New Years greeting
stationary:
"Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!
Let there be justice on earth, and let it begin with me!
"I belong to a human family.
If I try to live justly, the whole web of life is affected."
(Author?)
I was launched in the world by my parents as a Quaker, and have
ever followed - now in grace - George Fox's words,
"I strive to live in virtue of that life which takes away
the occasion for all wars."
As I see it, this is the essence of what it is all about.
"The Kingdom of God is (first of all) within (us)" - through
the grace universally mediated by Mary, Kingdom's Queen.
Greg - Do you have a photo of the garden I could add to the website
posting?
Prayerful best wishes,
6 Feb 2002, Sr. Monica Sheeran,
Thank you for your latest letter. February 2nd was a special feast
of Mary, Candlmas day ... Forty days after the birth of Jesus. So,
although it is now the 6th, i wish you a happy feast ... In England
(I am English) we usually have the first snowdrops on that day.
The author of the header/poem on the stationery is me!! It is
part of a very long poem I wrote on the feast of St. Francis, after
the September 11th tragedy. It was inspired by some remarks of
greg, and in response to those.
Greg and I both aspire to be poets!
Thank you for your very encouraging words.
peace and all good!
Feb 13 2002, John Stokes
Thanks for your best wishes for Candlemas. May I reciprocate.
Candlemas is a very special day for us at Mary's Gardens because
the blooming of snowdrops is the beginning of the Flowers of Our
Lady blooms for each new season. Every year we watch the snowdrops
in the most protected, south-facing spot (in Philadelphia or
Boston, where we've mostly been) to see if there are buds, or maybe
blooms. With the warm winters we've been having in the
Northeastern US in recent years, the snowdrops have been in bloom
for Candlemas 3 of the last 4 years. (See my article on the Mary's
Gardens website, "Seasonal Flower Reflection: Candlemas Bells".
Also, or I should say, first of all, Frances Crane Lillie - creator
of the "mother" U.S. public Mary Garden besides the Angelus Tower
of St. Joseph's Church, Woods Hole in 1932 - began her heavenly
season of bloom on Candlemas.
I would appreciate an opportunity to read your September 11th poem.
Some thoughts about September 11th were set forth in my October 21
response to the Sep 23, 2001 thread in the website Chat and Photo
section.
I am delighted to learn you are English and thus familiar with the
English Candlemas Bells, Fair Maids of February, tradition. We
receive numerous daily website accesses from England. I assume you
have read the website entries under
RESEARCH/Mary Flowers in the U.K.
In 1967 we received an e-mail message from
Sr. Lynn Marie, OCD
Carmelite Monastery,
Quidenham,
Norfolk NR16 2PH,
ENGLAND
saying that, as Kitchen Gardener at the monastery, she was
undertaking the promotion of Mary Gardens in England, and that
articles about this had been published in "The Catholic Herald ",
London (posted to the website, and linked at the end of the
"Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens in the U.K." article in the
website U.K. section), and also in "The Scottish Catholic
Observer", directing interested persons to e-mail her personally,
or to write to "Mary's Gardens" at the Monastery address, for
information.
This was a source of much joy as we ever hope for persons to take
on the support of Mary-Gardening in other countries, such as Bro.
Sean MacNamara has taken it on in Ireland since 1973 - writing
articles, consulting in the starting of gardens, and, especially,
giving local sources for seeds and plants.
I then entered into correspondence with Sister Lynn Marie, giving
an extensive account of our own U.K. experience; making
suggestions; and offering to be of assistance. She replied with
all sorts of interesting information, such as that her Bishop was
interested in the prospect of starting a Mary Garden at Walsingham.
She mentioned that before entering the Carmelites she had been a
missionary for a number of years in Taiwan.
However, that Fall she changed her discipline at the monastery,
entering into a hermitage on the grounds (a la Thomas Merton) -
saying that she was discontinuing her e-mail address. I replied by
postal mail at the monastery, but the letter was returned
"refused". Several subsequent letters addressed to "Mary's
Gardens" there were likewise refused.
In view of her public announcement, with addresses, and the
enthusiasm of her messages, I can only conclude that her superiors
must have put a stop to her Mary Garden promotion when she entered
the hermitage - which she obediently accepted.
However, since the English Mary's Gardens mail address at the
monastery was widely publicized by her in the English Catholic
press, we have kept it in the website in the hope that she or some
of the other community members will take it up supplying
information again as the inquiries keep coming in.
I asked an English correspondent to check, and he said, as of about
a year ago, she was still alive and well at the monastery, but he
was unable to contact her or to find anyone else there interested
in Mary Gardens
As I write this, I am prompted to put her and my basic
correspondence in the website Chat section as
"(Archival) U.K Mary's Gardens Center Established - Briefly"
indexed under 17 May 1997, and the U.K., where you can read it, and
where it may prompt others in England to see a Mary's Gardens
center can be established.
Any suggestions?
Peace,