Mary's Gardens Developmental Correspondence
Letters from John Stokes to Bro Seán MacNamara, Ireland
1995-ff
This "book length" correspondence with Brother Sean MacNamara,
C.S.C. of Ireland, Mary's Gardens Associate since 1972, is from the
period following the opening of the Website in 1994, to 2005, and
includes print-out Cc's of general messages e-mailed to other
Associates, as well as original postal letters.
As such in represents continuity from the pre-Interet
develolpmental correspendecne with Brother Sean along with that
with that with Bonnie Roberson of Hagerman, Idaho; Jane McLaughlin
of Woods Hole; and Nanette Sears of Annapolis - documenting Mary's
Gardens' "in house", developmental activity from 1980 (following
that of Bonnie, who had carried it forward from 1968 until then)
through 1965, when the Internet website and general e-mail
correspondence were initiated.)
Because of the book length and unediting of the letters, a
listing of letter contents has been prepared .
John Stokes
March, 2005
LETTER TOPICS
March 12, 1996
- Website Operation and Potentials - Computer for Seàn?
May 8, 1996
- Article on Bonnie Posted - Irish Article on Website? - Knock?
May 13, 1996
- Garden of Remembrance, Oratory of the Resurrection, Artane, Dublin
July 13, 1996
- E-mail Arrangements Follow-up - St. Davids? - Computer?
July 14, 1996
- Intro for Artane Garden of Remembrance Pamphlet
August 22, 1996
- Bro. Seàn Moving to New Residence with Garden and Greenhouse
August 30, 1996
- Bonnie's Dish Mary Gardens - Green House Opportunity for Bro. Seàn
February 4, 1997
- Mention Garden of Remembrance on St. Davids' website?
February 6, 1997
- Internet Seed Buyers Guide Announced for Mary-Gardeners
February 12, 1997
- To Bring Plants from Our Lady's Shrines for Tullamore Garden
May 14, 1997
- Request for English Translations of Gaelic Flower Muire (Mary) Names
July 18, 1997
- Selfgrow Computer Services? - Tullamore Niche Mary Garden - Cyber Cafe?
July 29, 1997
- Correspondence with Selfgrow - Digital Camera Photos for E-mail
June 9, 1998
- R-mail response to Grotto Inquiry from Ireland
June 12, 1999
- Background re. U.S. National Shrine Mary Garden in Washington
December 9, 1999
- Review Copy of "Mary's Flowers..." - Annual Pilgrimagss to Fatimas
April 14, 2000
- Copy of E-mail Message to Knock Shrine Inquiring About Mary Garden
May 4, 2000
- Progress Report re. U.S. National Shrine Basilica Mary Garden
June 11, 2000
- Dedication and Blessing of U.S. National Shrine Basilica Mary Garden
May 26, 2001
- Update of Current Mary's Gardens Activities and Associates
July 9, 2001
- Pope John Paul II Cultural Center - Roberson Mary Garden Exhibit
March 18, 2002
- E-mail address in Letter Incorrect Format - Please Send Message
January 27 2004
- Lack of Correspondence from JS - New Co. Clare Address
January 28 2004
- Bro. Sean E-mail address? - Co. Clare Man of the Year - Knock?
(Postings in Process)
THE LETTERS
+
Boston, MA
March 12, 1996
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of November 14th and your Christmas
and St. Patrick's Day cards.
I will obtain a copy of Roy Vikery's "Dictionary of Plant Lore"
from the Oxford University Press for my library and will check the
references to Knock and your good self which you mentioned. I would
hope that your horticulturally superb planting at the Artane Oratory
will also receive the recognition it deserves. Can you get a
"professional" color photo, or several, this spring that I could put
up on the Internet. For the Knock posting I used some of the color
photos taken by Father Charest in 1986 - one of the grotto with
plant tubs, and one of a raised bed - but these were in April and
did not have mature blooms. I could use some better photos here,
too. Also, what about some color photos and a plant list of
Ballintubber Abbey? I'm still in need of photos of a good monastery
planting.
Most of my Mary Garden articles through the years have been
posted to our Internet web site now, and also a number of garden
photos and miniature photos of Flowers of Our Lady.
Individuals and organizations - such as myself and Mary's
Gardens - gain access to the Internet, and in particular to the
World Wide Web, by way of a "Server" computer. The server computer,
operated by a university or a server company, etc., with which you
sign up, is on the Internet all the time, with its own master web
site, and subscribing individuals and organizations get on by
connecting through the server via telephone, using a modem that
sends digital computer data over the phone line.
Our server computer keeps a log of all the servers through
which others access our web site, so it is possible, by accessing
these servers back (unless they are protected by "firewalls" for
security), to tell or find out in most instances from their web site
index page ("web page") where people are accessing our web site
from, as those from other countries are identifiable by an
abbreviation at the end of the server's ID, such as ".ie" for
Ireland, and then their web page usually mentions their city.
You can't tell who the individual or organization was who
accessed your site through the server, but by accessing the server
back you maybe can find out what city it is in, and the listed names
of some of its clients who have web pages with it, etc. I don't
usually take the time to do this much, enjoyable as it is, but did
call back one server just now from Dublin, as
I write, and was able to locate two individual clients with web
sites on it, giving their email addresses: Sean E_____ (I neglected
to note his full last name) and Caroline Brady, who seemed to be a
computer engineer, and a politician's daughter, respectively.
I sent each of them short email messages asking whether they
knew of any Christian Brothers Schools in Dublin who were server
clients, or had web pages, or whether they might get in touch with
you and access our Mary's Gardens Web page with you sitting at their
side.
Maybe we could get a computer for you, so you "get on" the Web
yourself. Vincenzina Krymow of Centerville, Ohio, whom I met with
Jane in Woods Hole last August, and who is writing a beautiful book
on Mary Gardens and flower legends, etc. is not on the web yet, but
we correspond by email, and we exchange documents, letter copies
etc. (I will send her a copy of this letter by email, and printed
copies to Jane and Nan). How wonderful it would be if I, you, Jane,
Nan, Vincenzina and new Associates could all correspond, and share
documents and photos, by email and the Web. You would be hearing
from me weekly, instead of once every six months or so, by regular
"snail mail".
Our web site has been accessed from all over the world, mostly
the English speaking countries, Europe, Latin America and Japan, and
also a few times from places like Thailand and Indonesia - but not
the Arab countries and China yet, that I've noticed in my quick
checks of server countries. Our email address
is given on our web page
, but very few who access the web page
(which is the index of the computer text and graphics files on the
site) email us.
However, we have been contacted by persons who are establishing
important Mary Gardens in the Philippines (Tropicals) and
Switzerland, and a horticulturally experienced woman in Ottawa,
Canada who has had a garden of Mary-named and other religious plants
for some years and didn't realize there were any others "out there".
She is a good prospect for joining us as a continuing Canadian
Associate; as is the woman in the Philippines, as a Philippines
Associate.
aI am exploring the possibility of setting up a "guest book" to
make it easier for people to communicate with us. The typical
Internet browser, or "surfer", likes to do things quickly, in a
matter of seconds, and I think we'll hear from a lot more of them
when we make it easy for them to just type a few words without
worrying about typing our address, etc..
In addition to knowing each server through whom access is made
to the Mary's Gardens web site, a log record is kept by our server ,
which is transferred to my computer each day, of the files browsed
or downloaded in each access - in the sequence accessed and with a
time record of each access. A number of accessors, for example,
have spent three or four hours at our site, downloading every file.
And in perusing the file access sequences I can follow the thinking
of the accessor in each instance as he or she made successive
decisions of which files to access, and to "save" on their computer
for printing out on paper ("hard copy"), since from the time
interval for which they stay accessed to each file it is possible
ascertain whether or not, after looking at it, they saved it. Also,
by doing an electronic computer "search" for the accessor from the
log I can determine how many times they came back - the same day, or
any time since the beginning of the log.
Also, I have a summary of how many accesses were made to each
file. Thus, I posted a miniature version of the Annunciation Lily
in blue oval that we used in the Artane Oratory Mary Garden
pamphlet, as "Spotless Lily' - illustrating a list of titles of Our
Lady adopted from the Old Testament by the Church Fathers; and one
day, for the exact reason I don't know - maybe from mention on a
national TV show, or national Catholic weekly newspaper - all of a
sudden 1,000 download accesses were made to that photo in that one
day, plus many more in subsequent day for several weeks. As a
result of this I posted a library of such miniature photos, to which
I add each month, and these are the most popular files. People also
like the photos of Bonnie's miniature indoor Dish Mary Gardens,
which I was able to post to our web site thanks to color slide
photos which she sent me.
To round out the meaning of the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary
Gardens I wrote two special articles for the web site: "Flower
Theology" and "The Garden Way of the Rosary". Also, for our 45th
Anniversary, on March 7th, I wrote, rather hurriedly, an long
overall article, "The Mary Garden Story".
There are a number of email discussion groups ("newsgroups",
"special interest groups") on another section of the Internet,
including a handful of Catholic groups, most of which I have joined,
and also an Anglican group. When you send an email message to the
group, everyone in the group (typically 200 to 600 people) receives
it, and you receive theirs. Each message is given a title by the
sender, so you can browse through them and just read the ones you
want to, or answer them - right then, or later. Our Lady comes up
quite frequently in these groups, and from our Mary's Gardens
experience I find that I am able to make significant contributions
to these - particularly in affirming Mary as Mediatrix of All
Graces. In this, 45 years of Mary's Gardens gives me a respected
"base" from which to speak with the authority of experience, as
distinct from just voicing an opinion as an independent individual.
All this has led to a number of people who want to know more
about the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens. As a consequence of
my "group" messages, they contact me, via the group, or privately
directly to my email address, requesting information on Mary's
Gardens. And this is easy to provide, since I can type them a brief
email message, then send with it as "attachments" any articles,
photos or plant lists, just by "calling them up" from my computer
memory, or from a computer disk - since I have them all in digital
electronic form now after preparing them for the web site. Then
interesting things happen, such as one woman who sent me an email
message telling that she had been married in the Woods Hole Garden
of Our Lady, and another from the Woods Hole area requesting
permission to print out all the photos posted of the Woods Hole
Garden (5 or 6) to present to St.Joseph's Pastor, Father Norton,
bound as a gift.
Well, this is a bit of a catch-up, Brother. It's wonderful
that you are able to visit Knock frequently, and also Lourdes and
Fatima almost yearly, and I deeply appreciate your prayers for
myself and family, and for the work of Mary's Gardens. I'm sure
your prayers, and also those of Frances Lillie, Ed, Bonnie and
others in heaven, have much to do with our being able to bring
Mary's Gardens into the computer age. Let us pray that this will
help us "renew the face of the earth" with Mary Gardens, that Mary
may be more petitioned as God's blessed Mediatrix of all the
sanctifying and actual graces so needed to overcome the evils and
secularism of our day, as we work to build God's Kingdom of Love,
Peace, Justice, well-being and a sufficiency of the necessities of
life for all.
With all prayerful best wishes for a holy balance of Lent and
for a joyous Easter, I remain, your friend,
Sincerely in Our Lady,
Copies: Jane, Nan,
Vincenzina (email)
+
Philadelphia, PA
May 8, 1996
Dear Brother Seàn,
I have been thinking a lot about Bonnie recently and have
written another article about her and her work, "Mary Gardener of
Love", which I have posted to the Internet Web Site as "NEW" for
May, per the enclosed copy.
Also, I have called attention under "SEASONAL" to the
article I featured as "NEW" last May, "Mary's Month of May", of
which I also enclose a copy. Each year I think about your love
for the month of May.
This presentation of Bonnie's love and work represents the
beginning of a qualitative filling out of the web site, now that
the basic idea has been rounded out with needed additional
articles, and the seed and plant source locators were posted
earlier this year. The past week I have been able to get to
another task: improving the library of flower photos by
standardizing pretty much on size (some were too small, others too
large) and replacing some inferior photos. Also, in March I put
up Fr. Thomas A. Stanley's "Garden Way of the Cross", which
complements my previous "Garden Way of the Rosary" in placing the
Marian flower symbolism in specific devotional contexts.
Following the posting of Bonnie's articles for May 1st, I
plan to post as the June "NEW" your "Muire or Mary Plants" from
the Knock booklet, with appropriate introductory comments as to
its significance. This in turn will have text "links" to your
other article and booklet on Knock and Artane, so that the many
persons who will access it as "NEW" will be led to your other
writings.
If you can send me any color photos of your Tullamore Mary
Garden - e.g just a corner with several blooms, etc - or a dish
Mary Garden in your greenhouse, etc. I can make good use of
theses. For the Muire article I will use a number of flower
photos with the Mhuire names of each.
I hope your new Mary Garden is coming along well, and look
forward to receiving from you a plant list and plan, and over-all
photos when it has matured, etc.
While we receive several thousand visits to the Internet web
site each week, we still continue to receive only 1 or 2 from
Ireland, and, interestingly, these Irish visitors only access
maybe 3 or 4 articles etc., instead of the typical visitor, who
may access 10 or so. It occurred to me that perhaps you could
write an article about the web site for one or more of the
Catholic weekly newspapers in Ireland. To this end I enclose a
copy of Vincenzina Krymow's article of a year ago, "Mary's Gardens
Grow on the Internet", which I may have sent you before. You
could mention the Knock and Artane articles and photos as being on
the web site, etc. The article should of course mention the
Internet Mary's Gardens web page address at:
www.mgardens.org
and the email address at:
marysgardens@mgardens.org
Have you had a chance to talk to Tom Neary about the
re-printing of your Knock Mary Garden booklet, towards which I
have offered to make a financial contribution to cover costs? I
recall that when he wrote me some years ago - it must be about 10
now - about the plan to reprint, he said that he would include
some new photos, etc., such as of the current statue in the
grotto.
Also, I've never heard from Anne, although I've written her
several times. Has the vast planting of flowers on the shrine
grounds been continued? Any new developments with the Mary
Garden? Is it well maintained, with plant replacements and
additions, etc.? Is there much appreciation of the Mary Garden at
the Shrine generally? Are the plant markers maintained? Are
there any general notices or directories at the Shrine which call
attention to the Mary Garden?
Another project I have in mind is to use a "voice" computer
to transcribe portions of some of Bonnie's letters and tapes - of
which I have 100 of each - in an attempt to further convey the
quality of her love for Our Lady and her flowers. While I have
mostly attempted to further our work with writing and photos, I
am ever mindful that she promoted it through her direct personal
contacts with others - which I hope can be "reported".
I hope this finds you well, Brother, and look forward to
hearing from you. Now that I have been able to round out the web
site somewhat - although I have plans to put up much more - I have
more time for correspondence.
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
May 13, 1996
Dear Brother Seàn,
Copy of e-mail to Judy W. Sparkle
Judy -
Noting your mention of the garden being dedicated to Judy by
the family - here is the introduction to the pamphlet written for
the Garden of Remembrance at the Oratory of the Resurrection,
Artane, Dublin:
Artane Garden of Remembrance
The Garden of Remembrance commemorates the souls of the
members of the Christian Brothers community and pupils, of beloved
memory, laid to rest here - the blooming plants conveying a sense
of their heavenly blossoming.
The plants likewise awaken remembrance of our own heavenly
destiny; and also of the earthly paradise we are called upon to
restore and the Peaceable Kingdom of love and justice we are to
build, as instruments of the Spirit, in the redeemed world - in
hopeful anticipation of their transformation into the New Heaven
and New Earth on the last day.
To this end we can look to the flowering plants as direct
creations of God, showing forth the divine beauty and splendor -
to be emulated everywhere in Creation and in human society as a
magnification of God's glory.
We can also call upon the rich flower and plant imagery and
symbolism from scripture, liturgy and pious tradition to quicken
remembrance of the revelation of the Trinity, and of the
redemptive life, death and resurrection of Jesus, with which we
are spiritually to unite ourselves.
In this we can behold the many flowers named in the
countrysides of Christendom as symbols of Mary's life and
mysteries, such as the "Muire" flowers of our own Gaelic rural
traditions - in remembrance and praise, and making tangible as it
were, for our emulation, Mary's fullness of divine grace, love,
sweetness, joys, sorrows and glories from her humble acceptance of
God's will and call for her immaculate human cooperation, as Holy
Mother of the Divine Word Incarnate, in the Redemption of world.
Through Mary we are to be with the Lord, who was with her.
Finally, we are called upon, ascetically, to empty ourselves
of this very remembrance of God through creatures and imagery,
that "the soul may live in perfect and pure hope in God, soaring
upward (when God grants us the favour) from images to the living
God, forgetting every creature and everything that belongs to
creatures . . . thinking of them and considering them only to the
degree necessary for the undertaking and performing of our
obligations" (St. John of the Cross).
Sincerely yours,
John Stokes
Mary's Gardens
www.mgardens.org
+
Boston, MA
July 13, 1996
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of May 22nd.
Actually, I have not heard from Darach. Was he going to
communicate with me by regular mail, or through email via the
Internet? E-mail facility is pretty widely available, and I would
expect that St. David's would have it before too long. In the
meantime perhaps there is someone else among your friends or
acquaintances who has email, who would be willing to let me send
messages and message copies to you via their mail box, which they
could then copy to a computer disk which you could read through a
Darach's or someone's computer. As I think I indicated in my
previous letter, we might be able to make some Mary's Gardens funds
available to you to buy a simple computer - perhaps second hand one,
which are available rather inexpensively these days. Darach could
advise you on this. What kind of computer equipment - of what
manufacture - does Darach have?
Thank you for the great new photographs. At an early
opportunity, I hope to add them to the web site file for the Artane
Oratory Mary Garden. I would hope Darach would include a copy of
this file (he has our permission to copy it), along with the other
files relative to St. David's, on the St. David's web site, or make
a "cross-link" to access it from our web site through St. David's.
This should give the garden the broader public announcement it
deserves, and also serve to make the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary
Gardens more widely known in Ireland..
I note your visit to Knock, and regret to hear the weather was
so adverse this year. Aside from the weather, is the garden
generally maintained with all its original care? Also, is the
general bedding of flowers throughout the shrine grounds considered
in a general sense an extension of the Mary Garden dedications of
the Flowers of Our Lady to Mary? I have presumed to say so in my
writing, and am convinced there is indeed a causal connection, but I
would appreciate knowing whether this is so in fact, or whether it
is considered more as "landscaping". Do you think the failure to
reprint the your booklet is due to lack of funds, other higher
editorial priorities, or a falling off of interest in the Mary
Garden following the passing of Msgr. Horan? I will write to Tom
Neary asking if a further contribution of funds would enable the
reprinting.
I have been giving a great deal of time and attention to the
Internet Mary's Gardens web site. It is interesting that the number
of "accesses" to the web site our first year will be of the same
order of magnitude as the total number of regular mail inquiries in
the preceding 44 years. I hope and pray all this interest will lead
to the planting of many Mary Gardens.
I enclose a photo copy of Vincenzina Krymow's article on the
web site which appeared in the Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph
diocesan weekly in May (also reproduced on the web site), as listed
under "Recent Articles" and also "Developmental Articles". A great
deal of my time is spent on correspondence messages to the principal
Internet Catholic "Newsgroup" discussion forums - Catholic,
Sister-L, Franciscan-L, Merton-L, Vatican2 - sharing with others
insights obtained through our Mary's Gardens work, and in general
endeavoring to further respect for Mary's Gardens amonng the general
Internet Catholic participants. I have received numerous
appreciative responses. Also, there are numerous email messages,
through our email address given on the web site "home Page", asking
specific questions about the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens.
As ever, sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston, MA
July 14, 1996
Dear Seàn,
INTRODUCTION OF PAMPHLET FOR THE MARY GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE AT
THE ORATORY OF THE RESURRECTION, ARTANE, DUBLIN
The Garden of Remembrance commemorates the souls of the
members of the Christian Brothers community and pupils, of beloved
memory, laid to rest here - the blooming plants conveying a sense
of their heavenly blossoming.
The plants likewise awaken remembrance of our own heavenly
destiny; and also of the earthly paradise we are called upon to
restore and the Peaceable Kingdom of love and justice we are to
build, as instruments of the Spirit, in the redeemed world - in
hopeful anticipation of their transformation into the New Heaven
and New Earth on the last day.
To this end we can look to the flowering plants as direct
creations of God, showing forth the divine beauty and splendor -
to be emulated everywhere in Creation and in human society as a
magnification of God's glory.
We can also call upon the rich flower and plant imagery and
symbolism from scripture, liturgy and pious tradition to quicken
remembrance of the revelation of the Trinity, and of the
redemptive life, death and resurrection of Jesus, with which we
are spiritually to unite ourselves.
In this we can behold, in remembrance and praise, the many
flowers named in the countrysides of Christendom as symbols of
Mary's life and mysteries, such as the "Muire" flowers of our own
Gaelic rural traditions. They make tangible as it were, for our
emulation, Mary's fullness of divine grace, love, sweetness, joys,
sorrows and glories from her humble acceptance of God's will and
call for her immaculate human cooperation, as Holy Mother of the
Divine Word Incarnate, in the Redemption of world.
Through Mary we are to be with the Lord, who was with her.
Finally, we are called upon, ascetically, to empty ourselves
of this very remembrance of God through creatures and imagery,
that "the soul may live in perfect and pure hope in God, soaring
upward (when God grants us the favour) from images to the living
God, forgetting every creature and everything that belongs to
creatures . . . thinking of them and considering them only to the
degree necessary for the undertaking and performing of our
obligations" (St. John of the Cross).
+
Boston, MA
August 22, 1996
Queenship of Our Lady
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of August 2nd which I picked up from
the Boston Post Office this week.
This letter is being addressed to your new address of after
August 15th:
Christian Brothers
"Iona"
Clomminch Road
Tullamore, Co. Offaly
Ireland
I note with interest that that you are moving to a bungalow
with a fairly large garden, a greenhouse and a fish pond, and that
you will be free of community duties - providing an opportunity for
both an outdoor Mary Garden with statue, and also the making of
indoor dish Mary Gardens. I'm sure Bonnie is smiling in heaven. I
join in your hope that someone there will have email and Internet
facility, in which you can participate
I note also that a layman will be caring for the Artane Oratory
Mary Garden of Remembrance, and that you will be able to visit
Dublin periodically to provide guidance. I recall observing how the
design and establishment of the Artane garden provided an
opportunity for you to do justice to all your Marian and Mary
Gardening dedication through the years. Now, your new residence
seems to provide even more of such an opportunity. I am reminded of
how Thomas Merton (Fr. Louis) was given an opportunity by his
superiors to live off to one side of the Our Lady of Gethsemany
Trappist community in a hermitage in order better to pursue his
writing. I hope this works out the same way for your Mary
Gardening.
With respect to the Artane Mary Garden, I hope that the St.
David's School Internet Web Site being set up by Darach, which
mentions various activities at St. Davids and Artane, will make
specific mention of the Mary Garden. The way the Internet works, it
is a frequent practice for the Web Page of one Web Site to set up
"links" to other Web Site Web Pages, or even specific computer files
at other Sites. Many accesses to our web site come this way - for
example about 20 accesses a day to Dan Foley's "Flowers For the
Fairest" article from the Boston Pilot in the 1950's. Thus, it
would be possible for Darach to make mention of the Artane Mary
Garden on his Web Page, with a link such that all anyone making
computer access to his web page would have to do is to "click" on an
indicated piece of activated text or a "button" to switch them
directly to the text and photos of the Garden of Remembrance leaflet
at our Mary's Gardens Web Site - and at the end of the leaflet I
could put another text button which would lead them to our Home
Page, if they desired, after viewing the leaflet, to learn more
about the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens. Would you like me
to follow this up with Darach? Could you give me his mail address,
since you mentioned that for some reason they don't have regular
email, even though they have a Web Site and Page? There are a few,
but increasing in number, accesses to the Mary's Garden website
from Dublin - all to files on the Knock or Artane Mary Gardens.
Also, since Vincenzina Krymow of Centerville, Ohio (near
Dayton) began research for her book on the Flowers of Our Lady and
Mary Gardens, with particular interest in the associated flower
legends, last year, she and her husband, Joe, have made two special
trips to visit Jane McLaughlin in Woods Hole (on the first of which,
last August, I was able to join them for a day) and also a trip to
visit Nan Sears and her parish Mary Garden group in Annapolis, and
two trips to visit Fr. Tom Stanley, S.M. and the Mary Garden he
established at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Portage, Michigan,
in the Kalamazoo Diocese - including, on the last trip this month a
visit with Eileen Guimond who headed up the establishment of the
Garden for Fr. Tom, and also the conceptualizing, commissioning and
production of a special focal statue for the Garden of "Mary, Model
of the Church". Thanks to Vincenzina's initiative and love this has
resulted in the birth of a Mary Garden community of interest and
friendship among us - much as you and Bonnie had in the 70's and
through the time of her death in 1983.
As of August 15th, however, Father Tom has been transferred to
semi-retiremement assistant duties at Nativity Parish in Hollywood,
Florida, with school, where his responsibilities will include that
of spiritual director and promoter of a recently erected shrine and
chapel dedicated to of "Our Lady of the Smile" - the miraculous
statue which St. Therese of Lisieux's father placed in the flower
garden of his home, and then, after his marriage, brought indoors
and eventually moved to Lisieux where he and his family took
residence there after the death of his wife, St. Therese's mother.
During St. Therese's illnesses in the convent the statue was brought
to her room, where, she heard the voice of the Blessed Mother just
before she died.
Father Stanley is one of the clergy who became dedicated to the
Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens during the early years of our
work, and in 1953-54 I corresponded extensively with him about the
Mary Garden he established at the Our Lady of Lourdes shrine and
grotto at Dayton, Ohio - the first Mary Garden of which we know at
an official diocesan shrine (although now much reduced in its
planting). This shrine is mentioned by Vincenzina in her "Mary
Gardens Grow on the Internet" article from the Cincinnati Catholic
Telegraph diocesan newspaper, of which I sent you a copy. I have
renewed correspondence with Father Tom, thanks to Vincenzina's
"discovery" of him at Saint Catherine's in Michigan, and I have sent
him a copy of our listing of 300 tropical flowers, shrubs and trees
of Our Lady (from Bonnie's Latin American research), together with a
recent book on tropical gardening published by the Miami, Florida,
botanical gardens in the hope that he.can introduce some Flowers of
Our Lady at the Our Lady of the Smiles shrine. At one time I listed
all the references to flowers in the Autobiography of St. Therese,
the "Little Flower".
Vincenzina, Eileen and I are able to communicate by email, and
Jane and Nan are taking steps which may enable them to join with us.
This makes it possible for us to copy one another in on matters of
general Mary Garden interest (as distinct from more private personal
communications), and I hope it is ok with you if I share with them
letters such as this one to you - to assist them in gaining a
broader sense of Mary Garden developments, and to indicate for them
where their prayers would be valued, as for your move to your new
location. Thus there emerges a kind of letter which is directed to
one member of our informal group, but is also written with the other
members in mind. I sent Nan, Vincenzina and Eileen copies of your
"Knock Mary Garden" booklet, so that they and Jane all have it. (I
wrote to Tom Neary at Knock on August 9th, as you suggested, about
the reprinting, with copy to you, which you will no doubt have
received by now.)
It must be a great joy to you and your community that your
founder, Bro. Rice, is to be beatified on October 2nd, the Feast of
the Angel Guardians, and that 120 of you will travel to Rome for the
ceremony. (Isn't this close to your birthday?)
I keep forgetting the power of computers. I have all my typed
letters to you on a computer disk, with a "search engine", and just
now, in literally a minute's time, I did a search for the word,
Birthday, and came up with the following:
Brother, I am mindful of the coming feast of St
Francis, and of your birthday, and send all
prayerful best wishes on this occasion.
Sincerely, your friend, in Jesus and Mary,
+
Philadelphia, PA
August 24, 1996
Dear Brother Sean,
Here is the copy of my emial "list" letter of August 24th in
response to one from Eoin O Rain of Ireland. There has been no
reply to date.
John
o O o
Dear Eoin -
Thank you for the information re the picture of the Presentation of
Our Lady in the Temple.
Our Irish Mary's Gardens Associate of some 25 years, Brother Sean
MacNamara of the Christian Brothers, will be among some 120 members
of the community travelling to Rome for the beatification.
I would be interested in references to texts regarding the
Presentation of Mary in the Temple, as this represents the
beginning, so to speak, of the development of her maidenly
spirituality, in preparation for the Annunciation. The lessons from
St. Augustin in the Liturgy of the Hours (U.S. version) for this
feast are most instructive, but I would be interested in more -
especially the reflections which would have lead to a founding of a
religious order based on this event.
Brother Sean, a past president of the Irish Garden Society, a judge
at flower shows, and supervisor of floral decorations for Pope John
Paul's visit to Ireland in the 70's, is now in retirement from
teaching and school administration and has recently been assigned to
a community "bungalow" in Tullamore, complete with large garden,
greenhouse and fish pond, and free of other community duties so that
he hopes to develop another Mary Garden there and, using the
greenhouse, to develop many indoor Dish Mary Gardens employing
Tropicals plants named as symbols of Our Lady (based on research and
design pioneered by our Mary's Gardens Associate and nationally
renowned herbalist, the late Bonnie Roberson of Hagerman, Idaho).
Brother is co-designer of the noted Mary Garden at the Knock Shrine
in Co. Mayo, instituted in 1983 by the late Shrine Director, Msgr.
Horan, consisting of seven raised beds around the Blessed Sacrament
Chapel and an especially erected adjacent grotto. Brother also
designed and personally dug and planted the horticulturally
marvellous Mary Garden of Remembrance at the burial plot of the
Oratory of the Resurrection in Artane, Dublin. now maintained by a
layman.
John Stokes
Mary's Gardens
http://www.mgardens.org
"Look to the flower, think of Mary"
--------------------------
On August 24 Eoin O Rain wrote in response to a message of Angela
Geremia, with Cc to Mary' Gardens:
o O o
Dear Angela,
I think the Picture you refer to is of the Presentation of Our Lady
in the Temple. The only Master who painted this scene was I think
Titian and it was a very large representation indeed.
I was schooled (and indeed tried the Life for a short time) with the
Presentation Brothers who are named after this event. The Pres
Brothers were founded in 1803 by Edmund Ignatius Rice using the
constitution of the Presentation Sisters. (These latter were founded
by Nano Nagle in the 18th Century).
In 1820 Bro. Ignatius and most of his brothers changed their rule to
one based on the De la Salle Brothers. The congregation became the
Irish Christian Brothers with Bro. Ignatius as Superior General.
(Snip)
Bro. Ignatius Rice is to be beatified in Rome on 6th October 1996 to
the joy and delight of the two congregations he founded.
+
Philadelphia, PA
August 30, 1996
Dear Brother Seàn,
Since writing you on August 22nd I have been thinking about
your new opportunity to compose Dish Mary Gardens, and about how
much Bonnie loved these gardens.
I have perhaps 50 color slide photos Bonnie sent me of her dish
gardens, but they are mostly from the 1960's when she was thinking
more of the miniature Plants of Our Lady in harmonious artistic
design, rather than in terms of also assembling plants which would
mirror the symbolism of the particular figurines of Our Lady around
which they were arranged. I have posted a number of these to the
Internet web site. This focus on design, rather than symbolism, was
also foremost in her dish gardens used as illustrations for (blind)
Merrill A. Maynard's article "Indoor Mary Gardens" in The Marian Era
X, 1971.
Then in the 1970's she began composing dish gardens in which
the plants were selected both for the composition and also for their
symbolical relations to the figurines. I don't have my copies of
the Catholic Idaho Register, her diocesan Sunday paper, at hand as I
write, but I believe the series of dish gardens photos and
descriptions of hers that were published in the Register over a
period of a year of so had this symbolical unity - relative to the
Nativity, the Flight Into Egypt, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of
Fatima, Our Lady of Knock, etc.. I assume she sent these to you
during that period when you and she were corresponding regularly and
I was away from Mary's Gardens correspondence for a period, so that
she didn't send me any color slides from this period. (Do you have
any?). I do have some photos of her Our Lady's Solar Greenhouse,
from 1982-83, with plants arranged around the two statues she had
there having to do with Our Lady's relation to the sun - Our Lady of
Guadalupe and Our Lady of Fatima. She had miniature pots of the
various plants which she could easily move around in composing
miniature gardens at will.
I hope you think well of incorporating symbolically related
plants with a devotional and meditative focus in each dish garden;
but regardless, I would hope we could add photos of your gardens
every month or so to the Dish Mary Garden section of our Mary's
Gardens Internet Web Site. Ideally, if you had a Macintosh computer
and modem set up for Internet email, and a camera that takes digital
(computer file) photos, you could take and email me photos of each
dish gardens as composed, which I could then put up on the web site.
This could be done also for the outdoor Mary Garden you hope to
establish at Tullamore, including photos of especially beautiful or
symbolically illuminative plants.
As mentioned before, I would be able to provide the equipment
if you find someone who can instruct and assist you in getting set
up. In the short term you could send me any color photos you may
take by airmail, which I could could then convert to digital
computer format with a "scanner" for posting to the web site - as I
have done with the other photos you sent me. The advantage of
taking digital photos yourself is that they can be sent to me
immediately as email graphic "attachments".
I enclose (from the dish garden photos at our web site) a print
of an Our Lady of Sorrows dish Mary Garden I made for display at the
1962 Liturgical Week Conference exhibit booth Ade Bethune and I had
in Cincinnati (and which I also took up, on request, to Dayton).
While you are somewhat in rural isolation in your new location,
as compared to Dublin, this would be a way of relating directly to
the whole world for Our Lady.
Let me know what you think.
As always, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Boston MA
October 31, 1996
Dear Brother Seàn,
Postal copy of e-mail exchange
Date: 10/31/97 8:55 PM EST
To: "Pat FitzGerald."
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: Re: Mary's Gardens
Dear Mr. FitzGerald -
Thank you for your extensive visit to our Mary's Gardens web site
and your message of October 27th.
We are especially pleased to hear from you because while there have
been numerous articles about the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary
Gardens in the Irish Catholic press since the 1950's, and the 8-bed
Mary Garden was established in 1983 at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel
of the Knock Shrine of Our Lady in Co. Mayo - thanks largely to the
work of our esteemed Irish Mary's Gardens Associate, Bro. Sean
MacNamara, of the Christian Brothers, since the 1970's - the
practice of growing Mary Gardens at homes, schools and parishes as a
prayerful religious work does not seem to have been adopted in
Ireland as it has in the United States.
This has suggested to us that the growing of the Flowers of Our Lady
in Mary Gardens as a prayerful, devotional, meditative work has not
taken root in Ireland because it is inconsistent with prevalent
Irish devotion to Mary.
Your sharing with us that:
> I tend towards practical work and find prayer outside of mass >
difficult . > > I wonder do Mary Gardens have real spiritual merit
on par with > verbal prayers.
may indeed pose the key question.
In the most general terms Mary-Gardening as a prayerful work can be
said to be an affirmation of what is termed "creation theology".
This is the view that God's purpose for Creation is to show forth
and share with human beings the divine goodness and action,
culminating in the building of God's Peaceable Kingdom "on earth as
it is in heaven" that all may be lifted up transfigured in the
eternal New Heaven and New Earth of our crucified and risen Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. In this, Christ's crucifixion and the Mass are
central as the means of redeeming the fallen world that it may "get
back on the track" towards Kingdom, but the renewing and building
work for Kingdom, for the greater glory of God, started in Eden, is
the primary purpose and work of Creation.
In this, gardening cares for God's creatures and contributes to the
restoration of the earthly paradise of Eden, for Kingdom; and, as we
"pray always", Mary-gardening through the Flowers of Our Lady
symbols of Our Lady's life and mysteries, quickens constant
reflection on and recourse to Mary as the Mediatrix of all the
actual graces and promptings of the Holy Spirit needed for our
inspiration, guidance and strength in our daily works, sacrifices
and prayers for Kingdom.
In this, there can be said to be two kinds of Mary-Gardeners: (1)
those who like our Associates, the late Bonnie Roberson (see our
article "Mary Gardener of Love") and Sean MacNamara of Ireland (see
"1972 Irish Initiatives") are devotees of Mary who garden; and (2)
those,like myself, who are devoted to Mary Mediatrix in the work for
Kingdom, and take up gardening to this end.
You write:
> Many of the flowers listed on your site are wildlowers in Ireland
> I would be grateful if you could put me in touch with anyone in >
Ireland who may be involved with your organisation
In case you have not found his address in our articles, our Irish
Associate, Br. Sean MacNamara of the Christian Brothers can be
contacted at
Br. Seán Mac Namara
Christian Brothers
"Iona". Clonminch Rd.
Tullamore, Co. Offaly
Our web site section on the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens in
Ireland lists Irish Mary and Mhuire Flowers from Br. Sean's reserch.
I appreciate very much your words about the importance of plants,
materially and spiritually, to society - especially as the article
on this you refer to was just written two weeks ago, and will be
announced tomorrow as our "November NEW"
You write further:
> Being a nurseryman when I thought about what you are doing I >
wondered if you had ever tried to promote the plants and gardens >
in a commercial manner or would it be against the ethos of your >
organisation . This obviously came to mind as it is an >
increasingly popular trend in gardening to have themed sections > of
gardens . I am sure you could support your work financially > around
the world in this manner .
From 1951 through 1965 we, in Philadelphia, provided seeds, bulbs
and plants at cost, to cover expenses, but then as our research
discovered more and more Flowers of Our Lady that were commercially
available, we switched to referring those who inquired to commercial
seedsmen and nurserymen - per the seed and nursery sources listed on
the website. Our Associate, Bonnie Roberson, of Hagerman Idaho had
a herb nursery, the "Garden of Memories", when she first joined us
in 1957 - undertaking the primary responsibility for our
correspondence and consultation from 1968 to 1983. She then listed
a number of Flowers of Our Lady in her catalog, and sold the plants
until she had to give up the nursery due to ill helth and diminished
strength.
If you should wish to list and sell plants from your nursery for
Mary Gardens, we are fully supportive - although, as set forth
above, the need in Ireland at present seems to be more for
motivation than for plants.
We will appreciate hearing from you further. If you find that Mary
Gardening turns out to be a support of prayer for you, you might be
able to be most helpful to others in making the same discovery.
Sincerely yours,
John Stokes for Mary's Gardens
"Look on the flower, think of Mary."
cc: Bro Seàn MacNamara
------------------
Your Message of 27 October
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 02:10:57 -0800
From: "Pat FitzGerald."
Organization: Ireland On-Line
To: marysgardens@mgardens.terranet.com
Subject: Marys Gardens
Dear Sir / Madam,
I have been on your website and I must say I am impressed with the
work that has gone into your organization through the years.
I have been involved in Horticulture all my life and started my own
nursery on our farm in 1990 . I am developing an interest in wild
flowers and am at present colonizing a neolithic Rath which has
become overgrown with wild flowers . Many of the flowers listed on
your site are wildflowers in Ireland I would be grateful if you could
put me in touch with anyone in Ireland who may be involved with your
organization.
I had a granduncle who was a Christian Brother in India he died
there several years ago he was a mad keen Botanist I wondered while
reading you site if he knew anything of Marys Gardens.I am going to
phone my other granduncle to-morrow he is a retired Christian
brother Br Enda O'Keeffe . We talk about plants anytime he visits he
never mentioned your organization I wonder is he aware.
This awareness has given me a fresh aspect to my work
while my wife is a prayerful person and visits Medagorge once a
year I must admit while being a practicing Catholic I am
undisciplined in prayer . I tend towards practical work and find
prayer outside of mass difficult . I wonder do Mary Gardens have
real spiritual merit on par with verbal prayers.
I do agree with one of the writers that plants and the use of them
have a powerful role to play in society to-day . I am infuriated and
feel helpless when I see the ignorance of our legislators and
government officials with regard to the role of plants . I once
attended a meeting representing Irish growers with our deputy
Agriculture Minister and was making a case for the use of plants in
our environment . In frustration at the cynical attitude I was
presented with I pointed out that in an extreme case plants are a
necessity . I was met with a wry smile of disbelief but when I
pointed out the role they play in the very oxygen we breathe my
point became clearer . I believe if every person on this earth or
even 51% of us cared about plants in an even minor way much of our
ills would in time be resolved . This may seem simplistic but I do
not know many keen plants people who are not also concerned with our
environment.
I wish you luck in the future and I feel your concepts should be put
to the widest audience possible . Gardening to-day has become much
more popular with a younger generation than heretofore , maybe the
pendulum is swinging back to a more civilized society, let us all
pray it is not too late.
Being a nurseryman when I thought about what you are doing I
wondered if you had ever tried to promote the plants and gardens in
a commercial manner or would it be against the ethos of your
organization . This obviously came to mind as it is an increasingly
popular trend in gardening to have themed sections of gardens . I am
sure you could support your work financially around the world in
this manner .
Yours Sincerely
Pat FitzGerald
Oldtown
Stoneyford
Co. Kilkenny
(FitzGerald file accesses fromlog 971027 sft.txt)
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+
Philadelphia, PA
February 4, 1997
Dear Brother Seàn,
Copy of e-mail message to Darach O. Braonain
Date: 2/4/97 7:29 PM To: "Darach O. Braonain"
From: marysgardens@mgardens.org (Mary's
Gardens) Subject: Re: Flowers of Our Lady Internet Seed Buyers'
Guide
Dear Darach -
This is a follow-up of our message to you of last summer exploring
the possibility of setting up the capability of our Irish Mary's
Gardens Associate Brother Sean MacNamara, of Artane, to receive
email through St. David's School, where we understand your father
teaches, and you set up the web site.
You or Brother Sean advised us that St. Davids did not have an
e-mail capability.
Brother Sean has since relocated in Tullamare, but it occurs to us
that you might want to make mention on the St. David's web site,
along with other items of interest mentioned, of the Memorial Mary
Garden planted by Brother Sean at the Oratory of the Resurrection
burial plot at Artane. That garden, is described, with photos,
under Representative Mary Gardens/Memorial Mary Garden at our web
site.
Cordially,
John Stokes
Mary's Gardens
+
Philadelphia, PA
February 6, 1997
Dear Brother Sean,
Here is a print-out of a message sent out to our Mary's
Gardens Associates.
Sincerely,
John
o O o
Date: Feb 6, 1977 EST To: "Mary's Gardens Associates"
From: marysgardens@mgardens.org
Subject: Flowers of Our Lady Internet Seed Buyers' Guide
Friends,
Here is an announcement being widely distributed to Catholic and
horticultural persons, organizations and publications.
- John
+
PRESS RELEASE
Mary's Gardens Box 30290 Philadelphia, PA 19103 February 6, 1997
marysgardens@mgardens.org http://www.mgardens.org
INTERNET SEED BUYERS' GUIDE ANNOUNCED FOR MARY-GARDENERS
Friends -
Mary's Gardens is pleased to announce the addition to its Internet
web site of a "Mary's Gardens Seed Buyers' Guide" for 275 flowers
of Our Lady listed by botanical, common and religious name - with
cross-references for each to the catalogs of 4 world-class
commercial mail order seed companies located in the United States,
Great Britain and France.
Supplementing and completing the introductory, research,
historical. instructional and inspirational materials posted to
the Mary's Gardens web site during its first year, the Seed
Buyers' Guide provides convenient means for both new and
experienced gardeners to procure seeds to begin or to enhance
their Mary Gardens. A companion mail order Plant Buyers' Guide
will be added in March.
The web site also includes detailed instructions for germinating
seeds - both easy and difficult - based on extensive seed starting
tests; together with Internet hot-links to the web sites of the
seed companies for e-mail access to their company
horticulturists for any questions regarding specific seeds.
Mary's Gardens was founded in 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
to research the hundreds of flowers named in medieval times as
symbols of the life, mysteries and privileges of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus - as recorded by botanists,
folklorists and lexicographers (with over 1,000 namings now
listed); and to assist in the planting of "Mary Gardens" of
"Flowers of Our Lady" today. The work of Mary's Gardens is
currently carried forward by a not-for-profit informal association
of dedicated persons in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts. Maryland,
Michigan, Ohio and Ireland.
Web Site descriptions and photographs of Public Mary Gardens of
note in the United States include those at St. Joseph's Church,
Woods Hole on Cape Cod Massachusetts, adjacent to the church
Angelus Tower - founded in 1932 and mother garden of the
present-day Mary Garden movement; at St. Mary's Church, Annapolis,
Maryland, adjacent to historic Carroll House; and at St. Catherine
of Siena Church in Portage, Michigan. All include original focal
garden figures of the Blessed Virgin especially commissioned for
them.
Many Flowers of Our Lady (identified by their botanical and
secular names) are to be found growing in the collection of
medieval plants in the gardens of The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park,
New York City; and are also portrayed in the famous Unicorn
Tapestries on exhibit there..
Noted Mary Gardens world-wide include those at Our Lady's Shrines
at Knock, Ireland and Akita, Japan; the burial plot at the Artane
Oratory of the Resurrection in Dublin; and the cloister of Lincoln
Cathedral, England.
The web site includes introductory Mary Gardening articles by
horticulturists Daniel J. Foley, former Editor of "Horticulture"
magazine, Harold N. Moldenke, co-author of "Plants of the Bible";
and herbarist, Bonnie Roberson, who displayed a miniature replica
of her Idaho Herb Mary Garden on invitation at the 1962 annual
meeting of the Herb Society of America in Washington, D.C.. Also,
articles by Mary's Gardens Associate, Brother Sean MacNamara,
student of Irish Marian history, botanical researcher, and former
Chairman of the National Garden Association of Ireland. An
exhibit Mary Garden, designed by horticulturist and Mary's
Gardens Associate, Martha Ludes Garra, was displayed at the 1968
Philadelphia Spring Flower Show, on invitation of the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, receiving a special award of merit from the
show judges.
In bringing the Flowers of Our Lady of medieval plant lore to
public attention, Mary's Gardens proposes their cultivation today
as a prayerful work - tending them as direct creations of God
showing forth and sharing the divine goodness and beauty; and
reflecting on their time-steeped luminous symbolism of the
Christian truths and virtues of salvation and the building of
God's earthly Kingdom: truths and virtues to be extended to all
work.
"Look on the flower, think of Mary."
+
Philadelphia, PA
February 12, 1997
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letters of October 31 and January 29, with
your accounts of your trips to Rome, Medagorge and Fatima, and
telling of your plan to bring some plants from Our Lady's shrines
- from "the radius of Our Lady's presence" (John Paul II) - for
planting in your Tullamore Mary Garden. Perhaps you can obtain
some plants from the Holy Land, as well. And, thanks for your
prayers at Our Lady's shrines, which I'm sure are bearing much
fruit in our work. Beautiful that you were able to bring Vicka at
Medagorge some yellow roses from the Artane Mary Garden.
The tiny fall-blooming cyclamens bloom in November here, with
and after the autumn crocuses. From the unusual way in which the
blooms always face upwards - even from the outer, drooping stems -
they were or are known in Germany, according to Marzell, as "Our
Lady's Little Ladles".
Speaking of blooms, after a January thaw, snowdrops,
Candlemas Bells, were in bloom in profusion here this year by
February 2nd - "the start of the Mary-Gardening year." A sort of
Mary's Gardens bell-weather.
I am happy for you that being closer to Knock in Tullamore
you will be able to visit there more frequently - and, I hope,
your beloved County Clare and the Burren. I have heard nothing
from Tom Neary in Knock since writing last summer, with copy to
you, regarding the reprinting of your Knock Mary Garden Booklet
and my offer to contribute towards this financially. Can you
follow up on this with him? Also, I have heard nothing from Anne
Hopkins Lavin since last writing her some years ago. Just what do
you judge is the status of the Mary Garden there? Does it
continue to be well maintained? Do they still have an extensive
planting of flowers throughout the Shrine grounds. Is there much
general interest in it, or is it just seen as landscaping"? Is
anyone in residence at Knock especially committed to it? With all
the history of Irish gardening saints and the Celtic love of
nature, I would hope for other committed Irish Mary-Gardeners.
Regarding the Mary's Gardens Internet web site, I note
occasional accesses from Ireland, but the number of files download
for each access is minimal. Do you have a sense that many Mary
Gardens are planted in Ireland? Darach O Braonain advises me
there is now an email box at St. Davids.
Internet interest in the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens
continues to grow, thank God, world-wide. We're receiving
accesses now at the rate of 100,000 per year. I am able to add
materials each month: for this month a Flowers of Our Lady Mail
Order Seed Buyers' Guide - listing some 275 species, with
cross-references, to four world-class seed companies - Chiltern,
Thompson & Morgan, Park and Burgee, three of which also have
Internet web sites, which I have cross-referenced with "hot links"
from our web site. T&M has a branch in France. I enclose a copy
of the announcement being sent out to Catholic and horticultural
magazines, organizations and individuals. I understand there is a
major German seed company. Do you know its name and address by
any chance? I would like to get a copy of their catalog and add
it as a 5th cross-referenced resource.
For March I plan to put up a companion Flowers of Our Lady
Plant Buyers' Guide, cross-referencing U.S. mail order plant
nurseries such as Wayside Gardens and White Flower Farms. Are
there one or more major plant nurseries in England or Ireland that
ship through the mails? If so, could you send me a catalog(s), or
give me the address so I can write? - so we can have a European
source. Germany? France?
As always, we are to hope for the emergence of committed
Mary-Gardeners. Let us pray that the extended outreach made
possible by the Internet will bring us many.
I will look forward to receiving photos of your new Mary
Garden at Tullamore when you get it established. May be you could
write a little about the setting, the concept, what Tullamore is,
etc. so we can add it to the web site. The idea of bringing
plants from Our Lady's Shrines would be deserving of mention. I
assume you will bring some from Knock also.
As ever, your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady
+
Philadelphia, PA
May 14, 1997
Dear Brother Seàn,
I have started formatting your "Muire or Mary Flowers" for
posting to the Mary's Gardens Internet web site, and see that I
would like to add the English translation for each Muire name.
You sent these to me some years ago in a letter, which I
don't have at hand, so could you add the translation in each case
by hand on the enclosed duplicate of this letter and return to me
as soon as possible, in the hope of having it in time for a June
1st posting?
The following is a list of wild plants, which have the
special Irish word "Muire" (Mary's) as part of their name.
Our only non-acrid yellow Buttercup, called Wood Goldilocks,
in Latin, Ranunculus auricomus, and in Irish, Gruaig Mhuire.
Cardamine pratensis, Cuckoo flower, Bitter Cress, Ladies
Smock, Leinc Mhuire.
Sisymbrium sophia or Descurainia sophia, Flixweed, Fineal
Mhuire.
Hypericum pulchrum, Elegant St. John's Wort, Allus Mhuire.
Anthyllis vulneraria, Kidney Vetch, Meoir Mhuire.
Alchemilla vulgaris, Common Lady's Mantle, Bratog Mhuire
This plant is also known as Fallaing Mhuire, Dcarna Mhuire
and Mionan Mhuire.
Saxifraga granulata, Meadow Saxifrage, Mionan Mhuire.
Scleranthus annus, Knawel, Cabhair Mhuire and also Mionan
Mhuire.
Drosera anglica, Great Sundew, Caibs Mhuire.
Angelica sylvestris, Wild Angelica, Cuinneog Mhuire.
Lysimachia nemorum, Yellow Pimpernel, Seamar Mhuire and also
Lus na MaigEdine Mhuire.
Centaurium erythraea, Common Centaury, Dreimire Mhuire
Verbascum thapsus, Common Mullein, Coinneall Mhuire.
Spiranthes spiralis, Autumn Lady's Tresses, Cuilin Mhuire.
Athyrium filix‹femina, Lady Fern, Raithneach Mhuire.
Veronica beccabunga, Brooklime, Biolar Mhuire.
Lamium amplexi-caule, Henbit, Neannt6g Mhuire.
Potentilla reptans, Creeping Cinquefoil, Cuig Mhear Mhuire.
Galium verum, Lady's Bedstraw, Ru Mhuire.
Rosa rubiginosa, Sweet Briar, Ros na Bainriona Mhuire.
Scleranthus annuas, Knawel, Cabhair Mhuire.
Allium ursinum, Ramsons, Gairleog Mhuire.
Ulex europaeus, Gorse, Aiteann Mhuire.
Lycopodium selago, Fir Clubmoss is also called Aitcann
Mhuire.
Eupatorium cannibinum, Hemp Agrimony, Scothog Mhuire.
Bidens Cernua, Nodding Bur Marigold, Sceachog Mhuire.
N.B.: Calendula offcinalis, Garden Marigold, Blath Mhuire, Or
Mhuire, is not regarded as wild in Ireland.
I of course know some of these, such as "Mary's Candle",
etc., but put them all in as a double-check. You will note that
in some instances there are several Muire names, to be translated
into English, for one plant.
(I haven't taken the time just now to check the above for
spelling errors, but will do so before the final posting.)
With thanks, and hurriedly,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Philadelphia, PA
July 18, 1997
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letter of June 24th and card of June 30th,
with enclosures, which I picked up at the Philadelphia post office
on July 16th.
I was pleased the see the space given your new Mary Garden in
the June 21st Tullamore tribune, and I thank you for sending
copies of the clipping.
I will send an email message to Mr.Bryan and Ms. Colgan of
Selfgrow Computer Services, Ltd. seeking some way in which you
might be able to view the Mary's Gardens Internet Web Site through
them periodically, and also receive and send email messages.
In many places, now, there are places called "Cyber Cafes"
where people who don't have computers, or don't have them
momentarily while traveling, etc., can purchase use time on a
computer set up for this purpose - to visit the Internet world
wide web, and to receive and send email messages. The way the
email would work is that we could rent an email "box" (reserved
space on a computer storage disk) for you with them, in which
messages, from us or others, would accumulate as received, just as
in a postal mail box. Then periodically, and this could be weekly
or monthly etc., at your convenience, you could visit them to
"pick up" your messages received during the previous period, and
also to send any, if you have facility with a typewriter or
someone could types messages for you - and also visit our web site
to read any articles or "NEW" monthly postings, and to view any
photographs.
(Since you first visited Selfgrow, for example, we put up our
July "NEW" on Niche Mary Gardens, featuring your Iona gardens, of
which I sent you a "hard copy" print-out by postal mail. Sent
email messages don't have to be typed while "on line"; they can be
typed in advance on a computer disk, and then later "sent" from
the disk while on line. And if you don't have typing facility,
the key strokes required to access an Internet web site are very
few and can be learned by anyone. Every web site, such as ours
for Mary's Gardens , has an Internet
"address", known as an "URL", which can be entered into a computer
as a "bookmark", which can then simple accessed with a computer
screen pointer and a "click". I'm sure they could give you
assistance with this until you feel comfortable with doing it
yourself. We could send them periodic advance payments to cover
the email box rental and to pay for your computer time on-line.
On second thought, Brother, I will email them a copy of the
above two paragraphs so you will know exactly what I am proposing
to them.
For August "NEW" I plan to put up on the web site a number of
materials on "Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens in the U.K.",
paralleling those put up for Ireland for June. In this I will put
up an extensive posting from Dowling's "Flora of the Sacred
Nativity" (1900), and will also give the address of our new Mary's
Gardens Associate in England, Sr.Lynn Marie, per the attached
clipping from the (London) "Catholic Herald" for May 16th of this
year.
You will note the Herald article gives Sr. Lynn Marie's
postal and email addresses (my communications with her have been
entirely by email, originated by her after she learned of Mary's
Gardens through the web site). Would it be appropriate to add
your postal address (and future email address) to the Ireland
posting? so people could contact you directly, and visit your
beautiful Iona Mary Garden?
On carefully re-reading Dowling's book - only discovered by
Bonnie in the mid 1970's, twenty-five years after we started our
work - I have been wondering why it never gave an impetus to
planting Mary Gardens in England. I conjecture the reason is that
while it lists a large number of Flowers of Our Lady, and even
proposes the concept of "Sacred Gardens", it did not present the
concept of an actual Mary Garden of plants planted around a statue
or grotto of Our Lady as a prayerful, devotional work.
Have you made any progress with Tom Neary regarding the
re-publication of your "Knock Mary Garden" booklet? I sent both
Tom and Anne copies of the announcement about the June "NEW"
Ireland web site posting, but have received no response from
either, or answers to my letters.
Brother, I trust you are having a spiritually fruitful
summer with visits to Co. Clare and Knock and hope this finds you
well.
As ever, I remain, sincerely your friend, in Our Lady,
+
Philadelphia, PA
July 29, 1997
Dear Brother Seàn,
Below are copies of further email correspondence with Philip
Finlay-Bryan" of SelfGrow ComputerServices.
I hope you will go ahead with this, especially with the idea of
getting set up with a computer digital camera. With such a camera
you take pictures the same way you do with a film camera, but
instead of developing the film transfer the photos through a
connecting cable to a computer - from which they can then be sent as
"attachments" to email messages.
In this way you could send me photos from time to time as the
seasons progress in your garden. Also, I have no photos of the
Knock Mary Garden other than those in your booklet and those taken
by Father Charest. I would dearly love to have some taken by you,
and with photos of Anne and Tom, etc..
I trust you will be visiting Knock in August for the Novena.
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
-------------------------
COPIES OF THE CORRESPONDENCE
Date: 7/18/97 7:48 AM EDT
To: Self Grow Computer Services
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: Internet Access for Bro.Sean MacNamara of Tullamore
Hello Mr. Bryan and Ms. Colgan -
We understand you were so kind several weeks ago as to access our
Mary's Gardens website for our Irish
Associate of 25 years, Brother Seán MacNamara, recently moved to
Tullamore.
Our work has been increasingly focussed on the Internet and we wish
to find means of including Bro. Seán in the loop.
We are desirous of assisting him in regularly accessing our website
and in receiving and, if he wishes, sending email, and have written
him accordingly per the following paragraph of a postal mail letter
being sent to him currently.
Is there something that could be worked out along the lines
suggested? We hope so. And if so, let us know how you would like
payments sent. Please let us hear from you.
Cordially,
John Stokes
Mary's Gardens
marysgardens@mgardens.org
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 13:58:12 +0100
From: "philip finlay-bryan"
To: marysgardens@mgardens.terranet.com
Subject: Re: Internet Access for Bro.Seán MacNamara of Tullamore
Hello
Yes of course - anything we can do
to assist Brothe Seán
A mailbox will cost £50 to set up and for the first year
and then £25 per year therafter
There is free email at www.hotmail.com which
can be accessed from anywhere in the world
Our rates for computer use are £6 per hour waged
and £4 per hour unwaged
We could certainly set up a monthly rate
just checking will be a short time.
anyway whatever you think
We will show Brother Seán the ropes
Philip
Date: 7/20/97 12:18 AM EDT
To: "philip finlay-bryan"
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: Re: Internet Access for Bro.Sean MacNamara of Tullamore
Hi Philip
Thanks for your message advising that you are able to assist us, per
the way of proceding suggested in my message of July 18th.
By way of a postal airmail copy of your reply and of this message I
will let Brother Seán know this, and will await his pleasure.
He has written that he will be away from Tullamore some of the time
in July and August, so it may take a bit of time to get going. On
the other hand, if he drops by before he receives my airmail letters
you could show him this and my previous message, for reply.
For starters we could send you the cost of a mailbox for the first
year plus an advance for, say, 10 hours, in an airmailed Irish £
money order, and then see how it goes.
(I'm not familiar with the distinction between "waged" and "unwaged"
hourly charges.)
I would also hope that Brother could have access to a digital
camera, so he could send us photos of flowers and gardens as email
.jpeg or .gif file attachments, which our software can receive in
binary mode without hex/ASCII conversion (Eudora Pro on a
Macintosh). In this way he could keep us advised pictorially of the
progress of his garden, and of others, such as the one at Knock
(which we would so much like to see), which he may visit from time
to time. We could also help with the cost of a digital camera.
John Stokes
Airmail copy to Brother Seán
Date: 7/20/97 8:17 PM EDT
To: "philip finlay-bryan"
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: Re: Internet Access for Bro.Sean MacNamara of Tullamore
Hello Philip,
Further on this.
Can you take close-up photos with your camera, as in photographing
individual flowers? We prefer the Apple QuickTake 200 which has
three distance settings: landsape, portrait and flower (3-1/2
inches). Also a liquid crystal display which enables you to see
your photos on the camera - retaining each one as you take it for 15
seconds, and providing for access to any photos in memory; in
addition to serving as a viewfinder for each picture you take. We
use it with a Mac, but I believe it can also be used with Windows.
Do you have any Macs? If so, we would prefer that Brother use one
of these, but whatever you have is of course OK, and much
appreciated.
In any case, if Brother decides to go ahead with the proposed
program, we would like to arrange for a one-day rental of your
camera for photos of his Tullamore garden from various perspectives.
Regards,
John Stokes
Airmail copy to Brother Seán
+
Philadelphia, PA
June 9, 1998
Dear Brother Sean,
(Postal copy of e-mail response to Grotto Inquiry from Ireland)
Date: 6/9/98 7:48 PM
To: Madeleine Brereton
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: renovation of the lady's well grotto and well
Dear Madeleine Brereton,
Thank you for the most interesting Information about the planned
renovation of the Lady's Well Grotto in Cork.
The possibility of a Mary Garden at the shrine is a joyful prospect
for us, as an early important article on our work, "Mary's Gardens"
in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record for February, 1953 was written by
a student at the University of Cork, Robert Ostermann. (See "50
Developmental Articles"-1953 under "Inspiration and Outreach" on our
Mary's Garden Internet Home Page)
Mary Gardens are of much interest to shrine visitors, and to this
end plant name markers (religious and common names) are customarily
installed in the ground by a clump of each plant species, and also a
supply of "take one" leaflets, showing a plan of the garden with
plant locations, is kept in a sheltered place by the garden.
This is the arrangement at the U.S. mother Mary Garden at St.
Joseph's Church, Woods Hole, Massachusetts (See "Representative Mary
Gardens")
Various arrangements are made for the maintenance of such gardens,
once established, through the months and years, a summary of which
we have prepared - see "Parish Mary Garden Establishment", also
under "50 Developmental Articles"-1997. We have found the most
satisfactory arrangement is to have basic landscaping work, cutting
grass, trimming hedges, raking leaves, etc. taken care by shrine
groundskeepers, and the garden itself taken care of by a voluntary
guild devotionally interested in the shrine and Flowers of Our Lady.
You have no doubt visited the section of our web site on Mary
Gardening in Ireland (2nd item under "Research" on Home Page). We
are air mailing a print copy of this exchange of messages to our
Irish Mary's Gardens Associate, Bro. Sean MacNamara, at The CBS
Monastery, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, who will be most interested in
your project.
If we can be of further assistance from here, please email us.
Prayerful best wishes,
John Stokes
Mary's Gardens
www.mgardens.org
"Look on the Flower, think of Mary."
cc (postal) Bro. Sean MacNamara
---------------------
Your Message of 9 Jun 1998:
From: "Madeleine Brereton"
To:
Subject: renovation of the lady's well grotto and well
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 15:53:27 +0100
From The Lady's Well Park Project Committee. Chairperson, Madeleine
Brereton.
Email mbrereton@tinet.ie
Information about the Lady's Well Grotto in Cork City, Republic of
Ireland.
This shrine, said to be several hundred years old, is built near an
ancient well, on the edge of what was derelict land in the inner
city, but is now being developed as a public park. For practical
reasons the renovation of the shrine is a necessary part of the park
development. This provides an opportunity to restore a more natural,
garden-like and quiet setting to the shrine, a character which had
been lost in recent years. Renovation is an exciting project but has
presented some difficulties. For example no one wished to move the
shrine from its present location, and fortunately this has not been
found necessary after all. However, one problem remains, and that is
that we would like to be able to persuade some who are very attached
to the traditional style of plaster statue, to consider having an
artist create a new one in a more durable material.
The information on your pages about plants associated with Mary's
gardens is fascinating to some of us and also to a local authority
horticulturist who has taken copies of several lists.
Sincerely,
Madeleine Brereton
+
Philadelphia, PA
June 12, 1999
Dear Brother Seàn,
Postal copy of anouncement of US National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception Basilica Nary Garden
Date: 6/12/99 7:14 PM EDT
To: Mary's Gardens Associates
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: NCCW Mary's Garden at US National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception
Friends,
Here is a copy of Editors' Information sent Tuesday to editors of 87
Catholic Weeklies, with copies to the Shrine Director and NCCW.
I have exchanged 3 or 4 letters with Joann Hillebrand, NCCW
President and Annette Kane, Executive Director, and have sent them a
number of appropriate printed materials which they have shared with
the Landscape Architect planning the Garden, who they tell me has
accessed our website.
I have had no indication of how historically authentic the garden
will be, or what kind of sculpture is planned. The hope is that
they will act on the sense that the Garden has behind it a venerable
tradition.
Annette Kane mentioned that they would publicize the groundbreaking
ceremony on the 12th on their web page at
http://www.nccw.org/garden.htm
and in a membership mailing, but the web page does not mention the
date and time, and they didn't send me a copy of a mailing.
From the National Shrine web page, early May, at:
www.nationalshrine.com under "Upcoming Events":
but in checking just before sending the Editors' message, where I
had intended to reference it, I found it was no longer there.
Strange.
- John Stokes
Postal Copies
Fr. Tom Stanley, S.M.
Br. Seân MacNamara, C.S.C.
Jane McLaughlin
Nan Sears
o O o
EDITORS' BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR
U.S. SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
MARY GARDEN
Available from the Mary's Gardens Internet Website at:
www.mgardens.org
Background information for the three-quarter-acre Mary's Garden
being contributed to the U.S. National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception by the National Council of Catholic Women.
- NCCW Announcement, Feast of the Immaculate Conception,
Dec 8,1998
- Press Article on Fund Raising, March 26, 1999
- Groundbreaking Ceremony, Feast of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, June 12, 1999 3:30 PM
- Dedication and Blessing, Spring, 2000
GENERAL
- Introductory Information - Flowers of Our Lady and Mary
Gardens
- First U.S. Public Mary Garden - Woods, Hole, MA 1932
- Home Mary Garden
- Parish Mary Garden (Annapolis)
- School Mary Garden (Philadelpha)
- Convent Mary Garden (Cincinnati)
- National Shrine Mary Garden (Knock, Ireland)
- Flower Show Mary Garden (Phiadelphia)
- The Cloisters, Botanical Garden of Reference (New York)
- "The Blessing of Mary Gardens as Holy Places"
- "Garden Devotion to Mary"
+
Philadelphia PA
December 9, 1999
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thanks for your letter of November 24th, picked up at the
post office today.
Yes, I requested that the publisher, Saint Anthony Messenger
Press, send you the review copy of Vincenzina Krymow's "Mary's
Flowers" and I will look forward to your review when published. I
recall what came of your 1982 review of Jane McLaughlin's "History
of St. Joseph's Church" - Msgr. Horan's planting of the Knock
Shrine Mary Garden - and hope something equally great will come of
your new review. I also sent a copy to Tom Neary at the Knock
Shrine, in the hope they will sell the book in their gift shop,
where they sold 5,000 copies of your "Knock Shrine Mary Garden".
Next time you visit Knock, check to see if they have it for sale.
Maybe this will spur them to reprint your booklet.
While at the post office I sent you a copy of the extensive
review of "Mary's Flowers" I wrote for the Mary's Gardens Internet
website in November - and also a copy of my December article,
"Flower Symbols of Mary on Earth and in Heaven", which pulls
together and refines a number of Marion concepts I have been
attempting to express in various articles over the past four
years.
With this accomplished, I hope at long last to get back to
printing out additional copies of the Artane and Introductory
pamphlets I promised to send you so long ago.
I am pleased you are able to continue your annual pilgrimages
to Fatima and to "represent" and pray for Mary's Gardens there.
As you can see, I conclude "Flower Symbols of Mary..." with Our
Lady's request at Fatima for the consecration of the whole world
through her Immaculate Heart to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for
Peace - as the now central religious focus for the coming of God's
Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. There come those certain
moments of a balance of power in the unfolding of secular
dialectics where an infusion of grace is able to be accepted,
seemingly miraculously - as in the end of the Cold War and the end
of Apartheid. We seem close to such moments currently in Ireland
and the Holy Land. Let us hope and pray for them in this season
of Advent.
I am sending cc's of this letter to our blessedly enlarged
group of Mary's Gardens Colleagues/Associates so they will know of
your Fatima visits and prayers for our work. It's heartening to
know that a million people were in attendance at the open-air Mass
on October 13th.
With every best wish and blessing,
cc : Jane McLaughlin
Nan Sears
+
Philaelphia, PA
April 14, 2000
Dear Brother Seàn,
(Copy of E-mail Message to Knock Shrine Inquiring About Mary Garden)
o O o
Date: April 14, 2000 12:25 AM EDT
To: "Knock Shrine Information" info@knock-shrine.ie
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: Mary Garden at Knock Blessed Sacrament Chapel
Dear Knock Shrine Information,
This is an inquiry as to details of the present status of the
8-bed Mary Garden and focal grotto planted at the Blessed
Sacrament Chapel in 1983 by Shrine Horticulturalist, Anne Hopkins
Lavin, under the direction of then Shrine Director, Msgr. Horan,
and described in the 40 p. "Knock Shrine Mary Garden" booklet by
Brother Sean MacNamara published by the Shrine - in a first
printing, I believe, of 5,000 copies. An article on the Mary
Garden by myself was published in in the 1985 "Knock Shrine
Journal"
At the written request of Msgr. Horan, basic information on plants
for the Mary Garden was provided by Fr. Dalzell, then Pastor, of
St. Joseph's Church, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, site of the
"mother" Mary Garden planted there in 1932, and by St. Joseph's
parishioner and Mary's Gardens Associate, Jane A. McLaughlin.
Further information and consultation was provided by Brother Sean,
Irish Mary's Gardens Associate, whose 1982 review in the
Catholic`Herald Standard of the St. Joseph's Centennial History,
mentioning the Woods Hole Garden, occasioned Msgr. Horan's
initiative in planting the Knock Shrine Mary Garden.
In the late '80s, on request, I exchanged some letters with Tom
Neary, Head Shrine Custodian, with suggested revisions of the
texts originated by me, for a second printing of Bro. Sean's
booklet. At that time I offered to make an underwriting
contribution to help cover the cost of the printing, but this
project then appeared to have been dropped. Then in 1990 Anne
Lavin and her horticultural co-workers undertook a massive
planting of Flowers of Our Lady throughout the entire Shrine
grounds, as described in "Magic Carpet of Colour" in "The Knock
Shrine Annual" for 1991. (Are Tom Neary and Anne Lavin still
there?)
However, I find no mention of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel Mary
Garden on the Shrine website, and a recent visitor from the U.S.
informed me there was no information on the Mary Garden in the
bookstore or gift shop (now that Bro. Sean's booklet has been sold
out without reprinting); that she had difficulty in finding anyone
who knew anything about about it; and that when she visited it the
variety of plants seemed diminished and the markers giving the old
symbolic Mary-names were not maintained - so that there was
nothing to indicate that the planting was anything more than
conventional landscaping around a chapel and grotto.
Fortunately we have descriptions and photos of the original Knock
Mary Garden on our Mary's Gardens web site, established in 1995,
and also reprints of portions from Bro..Sean's booklet, to
continue through this means the inspiration that was originally
provided by actual Shrine visits back in the 80's and early 90's.
The Shrine garden was an outstanding world-class Mary Garden in
its prime - inspiring the planting of Mary Gardens in the U.S.,
and as far away as St. Mary's Parish in Wangaretta, Australia. A
one-acre Mary Garden, with pool and fountain, is being planted
this spring at the Basilica of the U.S. National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in Washington DC (see details on our
website) as a contribution of the National Council of Catholic
Women (NCCW), with budget of over $100,000.
It is our hope that someone will regain Msgr. Horan 's founding
vision of the Shrine Mary Garden, and will thus be inspired to
restore it according to the original plan designed by Anne Lavin,
with augmentations described in Bro. Sean's booklet based on
discussions with Msgr. Horan - with restoration also of the plant
religious name markers, and republication of Bro, Sean's booklet,
with appropriate revisions and updated photos. Brother Sean's
envisaged augmentations included procurement of two plant species
from each of the Irish counties, to make the garden a truly
National Irish Mary Garden.
Any information you can provide, by return e-mail, will be much
appreciated.
Sincerely,
John Stokes
Mary's Gardens
www.mgardens.org
"Look on the flower, think of Mary."
(postal bcc: Brother Sean MacNamara, Ireland
Jane A. McLaughlin, Woods Hole
Nanette Sears, Annapolis)
(file note: No Reply)
+
Philadelphia, PA
May 4, 2000
Dear Brother Seàn,
(Copy of e-mail Progress Report sent to Mary's Gardens Associates
and selected correspondents re. U.S. National Shrine Basilica Mary
Garden)
--------------------------
Esteemed Mary's Gardens Associates and Friends,
The following has been posted to the Mary's Gardens website for May.
U.S. NATIONAL SHRINE MARY'S GARDEN - PROGRESS REPORT AND PERSPECTIVE
The Kane Group, LLC, landscape architects for the new U.S. National
Shrine Mary's Garden in Washington, advises us that despite setbacks
due to inclement weather (over 5" of rainfall in the Washington area
in April) the Garden site construction and planting are expected to
be completed for the dedication on the feast of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, June 10th.
We are now in receipt of drafts of the Garden Site Plan and
Narrative, from which the following description is taken. For June,
we hope to be able to post to the website final versions of these
and photo(s), or hyperlinks to the same on the National Shrine
and/or NCCW websites.
The Shrine Mary's Garden is circular, some 80 ft.in diameter, and is
located to the North of the Basilica. It is reached by an entrance
walk leading from a welcome kiosk at the Basilica informing of the
Garden and inviting pilgrims to visit it.
The walk leads to an entry court, with pier-mounted urns of seasonal
flowers (which can be reflective of the liturgical seasons), from
which one views the Central Fountain and circular pool and Prayer
Terrace, around which are located a band of four 30 ft. by 10 ft.
garden beds following the circular contour, with a sculpture of Mary
and the Child Jesus and a Sculpture Reflecting Pool as the terminal
focus across the fountain, terrace and beds from the entry court
On the Prayer Terrace there are two stone benches before each of the
four garden beds, on which visitors can rest and pray. Visitors can
also sit on the raised garden bed walls. Or the garden beds may be
viewed from an outer perimeter walk with additional stone benches
and four prayer niches - accessible from the entry court, or by four
radial paths from the Prayer Terrace.
The circular garden form is in the venerable medieval monastic
tradition of circular "O" cloister central garden pools, symbolizing
the Advent O antiphon, "O Rod of Jesse, come" - recalling Isaiah's
prophecy of the virgin birth of the Messiah under the symbol of a
miraculously blooming rod (Isaiah 11:1), and which was intoned in
choir on the day of the antiphon (now December 19th) by the
gardening monk. The flower bearing rod (or root, stem or shoot,
depending on the translation) of Jesse, emerging from the root, was
understood to be a miraculous reference in that the flower bearing
shoots of the grape vine normally emerge from the points of pruning,
not from the roots. In medieval times this symbolism was extended
to the rose, as in St. Bernard's "Behold the rose wherein the
divine word was made incarnate", in the rose windows of the
cathedrals, and in the Christmas Carol, "Lo How A Rose 'ere
Blooming."
This circular garden symbolism of the O Antiphon, recalling Isaiah's
Rod of Jesse prophecy, was seen by the Church Fathers as the
revealed source for the application of all flowers to the Blessed
Virgin - "the Flower of flowers" as she was praised by Chaucer - as
her symbols or signatures. This symbolism thus was sought out in
the texts of the Wisdom Books, such as "Rose of Sharon" ("Flower of
the Field") and "Lily of the Valley" (Canticles 2:1); and was the
basis for old Marian titles of the Fathers such as "Spotless Lily",
for Mary's flower symbols in the liturgy, for the Marian flower
symbols of St. Bernard - "Violet of Humility," "Rose of Charity,"
"Lily of Chastity" and "Golden Flower of Heaven" - eventually
attaining popular expression in the hundreds of symbolic Flowers of
Our Lady of the medieval countrysides and of Mary Gardens.
In Mary's Garden, Medieval tradition is also followed in the display
of stone-engraved scriptural passages referring to Mary - at the
central fountain and the prayer niches - reminiscent of the old
capitol in the ancient Abbey of Cluny on which is engraved,
surrounding an aureole figure of the Blessed Virgin, the gracious
Latin hexameter:
"Ver primos flores adducit honores."
("Springtime's first flowers give thee honors.").
The elements of this magnificent setting - the overall circular
form, the focal Marian sculpture, the fountain waters of grace, the
engraved Marian texts, and the prayer benches and niches - join
together to create to an atmosphere conducive to the inspiration and
quickening to Marian meditation and prayer by the essence of the
Garden, its medieval Flowers of Our Lady of symbolism.
In view of the large size of the Garden, the color symbolism of Our
Lady's Flowers has been selected as primary, and in particular that
of white flowers symbolizing Mary's immaculate purity - especially
suited to Mary's Garden of the Basilica of the U. S. National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception
Here again the designers of the Garden draw on ancient tradition.
One of the earliest recorded symbolic associations of distinct parts
of plants with Mary's attributes was that of St. Bede, the
Venerable, in the 8th century, who saw the translucent petals of the
white lily to be a likeness of her pure body as she was assumed into
heaven, (and also its golden anthers, as a likeness of the glorious
resplendence of her soul).
According to the Garden Narrative, supplementary plantings of
"colored perennials and groundcovers (presumably red and purple)
occur at intervals connoting passion and suffering also part of
Mary's life", and "all flowering plants have been chosen for their
connotations of Mary" (presumably including - in keeping with the
primacy of color symbolism - golden flowers symbolizing Mary's
glories).
In accordance with the need at all Mary Gardens to inform visitors
of the "connotative" Marian flower symbolism "on location" at the
garden beds - so there will be immediate illuminative quickening to
reflection, meditation and prayer by the perceived symbolic colors
and forms of the flowers - it is to be hoped that pilgrims visiting
the Shrine Mary's Garden will be so informed by bronze plaques at
the garden beds with identifying inscriptions of the symbolic colors
and names of the flowers included in the plantings. These are found
to more suitable than plant name markers, which are more difficult
to see, and subject to obscuring, displacement or loss over time.
Such information as to the flower symbolism, and also as to the
overall symbolic design of the Garden, can be provided in "take one"
narrative leaflets available at Garden or at the Shrine pamphlet
racks; but there is a certain permanence of such information and
also an immediacy of recognition and of and time-unctioned prayerful
quickening when it is available inscribed directly at the garden
beds where one actually beholds the symbolic flowers.
Narrative leaflets are, however, necessary supplementations of the
essential information permanently displayed at the Garden - for
pilgrims who wish to retain photos and descriptions of Mary's
Garden, and for reference by those inspired to plant smaller Mary
Gardens at their homes, parishes and schools on return to their own
communities. Such leaflets can also inform that more extensive
information is available as to the fullness of flowers'
time-unctioned symbolism of Mary's privileges, virtues, excellences,
mysteries and divinely bestowed prerogatives - in books (on display
at the Shrine book store and gift shop), and on the Internet.
The challenge of the National Shrine Mary's Garden is thus how -
through its Marian sculpture, its design and flower symbolism, its
enduring informative and inspirational stone and bronze plaque
inscriptions on location, and its "take-one" leaflets - best to
inspire pilgrims, in the short time of their visits, to meditative
veneration of Mary and to prayerful recourse to her divinely
bestowed co-redemptive, merciful, motherly and queenly prerogatives
of nurturing, help, guidance, advocacy, intercession and the
mediation of grace, for the spiritual perfection of souls, the
healing of bodies, and the building of God's Peaceable Kingdom of
truth, justice, love an freedom, on earth as it is in heaven.
"Look upon the flower, think of Mary."
+
Philadelphia PA
June 11, 2000
Dear Brother Sean,
Print Copy of e-mail Message sent to Mary' Gardens Associates and
Friends re. dediction and blessing of U.S. National Shrine of the
Immaculte Conception Basilica Mary Garden
o O o
Date: June 11, 2000 3:18 PM EDT
To: Mary's Gardens Colleagues & Friends
From: marysgardens@mgardens.org
Subject: National Shrine Mary's Garden Dedication & "Mary's Flowers"
Book Signing
Dear Friends,
This a forward of a first-hand report from our Associate, Lisa
Creamer, on the Mary's Garden dedication and on the "Mary's Flowers"
book signing by our Associate, Vincenzina Krymow - at the U.
S.National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Basilica in
Washington yesterday, Saturday, June 10th.
(To Brian Kane: Congratulations on a beautiful Garden design, and on
the construction and planting in time for the dedication despite
obstacles).
A full report, with photos, will be posted to the Mary's Gardens'
website in a few days.
John Stokes Mary's Gardens
---------------------------------------------
From: Lisa Creamer Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 20:12:27
EDT Subject: Shrine Mary Garden Dedication To: John Stokes
Dear John,
What a wonderful day! I just got back about an hour ago and wanted
to fill you in on everything!!
I met Vincenzina and Jo at 11:00. We had a wonderful time getting
to know each other!! We shared many of our Mary Garden experiences
as we watched the Shrine staff prepare for Vincenzina's book
signing. While Vincenzina and Jo had lunch, I went outside to see
how far the garden had come along. Fortunately, things were much
further along than they were on Wednesday. Apparently, most of the
work was done on Friday, and even all day today - up until the 4:00
Dedication!!! I took lots of pictures and 2 hours of video of the
day including: the garden before the ceremony, Vincenzina's book
signing, the Mass at 3:00 and the Dedication at 4:00.
Vincenzina was very happy with the book signing. The Shrine was
quite crowded all day, as there was an ordination ceremony at 12:00,
tours all day for pilgrims and NCCW members, and the Mary Garden
Mass and Dedication. I took lots of pictures of her signing her
book - with people lined up, books in hand!! Of course, I got my
own as well as several gift copies signed too!!
The Mass took place in the Crypt and was full to overflowing. Lots
of additional chairs were brought in. During the Mass, a priest
said there were twice as many people present as were expected!!
Booklets were handed out and I will send you a copy.
The garden dedication was complete with music, readings, thank yous
to the NCCW members and a blessing from afar of the garden. (All on
video) It was quite hot, but chairs were set up in the shade, up
the hill from the garden.
The garden itself contained the statue, two pools, one in front of
the statue, and another in the center of the garden, with a
fountain. The pools were filled this morning about 11:30!! Some of
the sidewalk areas were not complete, and walking around the garden
was a bit risky if you weren't careful. The garden beds were
planted, with the most flowers present around the statue. There
were white shrub roses mostly. I did get still photos of the
plants, close up. I also got pictures of the NCCW plaques and the
engraved stones around the garden.
There is an explanation in the NCCW booklet regarding the completion
of the garden. Delays were caused by the rain, building permits, and
40,000 pounds of concrete under the garden area that wasn't
discovered until the digging began....
It is a beautiful garden, and will be more so when everything is
complete. There was no explanation of the flowers and their Mary
names, only a statement that most of the flowers were chosen because
of the Mary connotations.
I was not able to get anywhere near the key people of the day. You
will see from the video and pictures that thousands were present!
All in all a very successful day for Mary Gardens!!! Obviously
many, many people are interested in the gardens, and many more will
learn of them from the Shrine Garden. Now that most of the
inputting work is done, I am sure that NCCW leaders will be able to
focus in more on the meanings and importance of particular
flowers... I'll pray for that.
Lisa
-------------------------
+
Philadelphia, PA
May 26, 2001
Dear Brother Seàn,
Thank you for your letters and St. Patrick's Day greeting.
I apologize for the lapse, again, of correspondence.
I enclose a copy of my letter of May 21 to Jane McLaughlin,
bringing her up-to-date with things, of which I sent a copy to Nan
Sears of Annapolis, and also e-mail copies to some 10 people who
are now working with the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens - as
described in my latter to Jane, and listed at the top of the copy,
also enclosed, of a 50 year jubilee update I sent out in January.
Your suggestion that we communicate through one or both of
the persons who have offered to do this is excellent.
Let me know which one you would prefer that I use, and how he
would like me to address the messages which are for your
attention. E-mail messages that you send to me can be addressed
to:
"John Stokes"
You could have your reply to this letter e-mailed to this
address
Messages from me for you could be sent to "Sean MacNamara"
at the person's < > basic e-mail address.
My messages to you will come from:
You will note that in my letter to Jane, I described the
Knock Mary Garden status as I see it. Can you provide an update
as you see it?
Prayerful best wishes.
Your friend,
---------------------------
Enclosed Copy of Update Letter to Jane McLaughlin
Philadelphia, PA
May 23, 2001
Dear Jane,
We haven't exchanged letters for some time, and I hope you're
still getting around ok.
I have a tremendous e-mail correspondence from the website, of
which I copy occasional messages of general interest to the
wonderful group of people who are carrying the work of Mary's
Gardens forward now; but regret I don't get to the print copies
such as I used to send you from the correspondence with Bonnie,
Bro. Sean and Nan Sears of the previous era. I also post some
incoming messages to the new website Chat and Photo section, but
have gotten behind on this.
Michael Holden of Boca Raton, Florida has done painstaking
proof-reading corrections for the entire website, but I'll have to
wait until the slow Fall period to post them. Also, he's doing
important missionary work in getting Mary Gardens going at
parishes in that wonderful South Florida climate. A great find of
Fr. Tom Stanley S.M., who is in Hollywood, Florida now, retired
from St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Michigan where he
established a fine parish Mary Garden, is the name "Trinitaria"
for that most widely planted Florida shrub, Bougainvillea - from
its white flowers clusters of three, in each red flower-like leaf
cluster - sort of like Poinsettia.
The two major documents of the past year are the article on the
Mary's Garden at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in Washington, and the 50th Jubilee Message.
I think I sent you the first, but not the second; and am enclosing
copies of both.
I'm able to put in about 40 hours a week on Mary's Gardens: an
hour first thing each day with the website access review and
statistics, and the rest e-mail and, currently, a culminative
article (now getting to be book length) I've been trying to write
for a couple of months. For May the number of people accessing
the website has been approaching 1,000 a day - about twice last
year. About half of these come from people making Internet
"searches" for topics which lead them to the website. There's a
lot of general interest out there, for which we have specific
answers. A major change has been a good number of accesses each
day from further non-English-speaking countries - France, Germany,
Italy and Spain. We continue to get huge accesses from Japan -
frequently accessing 100 files a session, etc. Little e-mail from
all these, except one important one from Italy. Hopefully these
will bear some fruit.
Bro. Sean writes me every few months and a letter to him from me
is long, long overdue. I'll send him a cc of this. He is now at
Br. Seàn MacNamara
Roscommon Town
Co. Roscommon
IRELAND
Regrettably, the garden at Knock has apparently been pretty much
been reduced to landscaping. Bro Sean visits there a couple of
times a year, but tells me they're not replacing many plant
varieties, and the bed markers are gone. Knock has a website,
which mentions the many aspects of the Shrine but makes no mention
of the Mary Garden. They were getting ready to reprint Bro.
Sean's booklet some 10 years ago, after the 5,000 of the first
printing were exhausted, and asked me for article updates, but
then there was a change of Directors and I haven't heard from them
since - although I've written various people there about 10 times.
The bright spot is that they planted the entire site with some 10
varieties of Our Lady's Flowers and it's become an Eden - which is
a tremendous plus, and we do have the record and photos of what
started it all - thanks to your initial input, and Bro. Sean's
follow up per his booklet (which regrettably never was acted on,
although developed with the previous Director, with whom you
worked.)
On the other hand, another major Mary Garden which you got
started, Annapolis, seems to be in great shape - from feedback I
receive from various people who have visited. I haven't heard
from Nan Sears for a couple of years. You will recall she's
several years older than we are, and told me she couldn't write
because of her arthritic hands. She visited Knock with her son in
the Fall of 1998 or 1999, but wasn't able to connect with Br.
Sean. She sent me a note after the visit and said she would write
at length about the Garden situation, but never got to it.
Apparently others are carrying on with the Annapolis Garden, but I
don 't have a contact person to communicate with.
Elizabeth Matatics, of Scranton, PA,who has been writing articles
on Mary Gardens, wants to have a professional photographer take
some photos of the Woods Hole Garden. I know the Garden was in
bad shape two summers ago due the the drought and the inability to
use the automatic watering set-up. Also, I am of course aware of
the difficulty you were having finding someone to keep up your
great Jubilee restoration currently, when you were ill. And, you
mentioned to me the falling off of Parish interest after Fr.
Dalzell was transferred away a few years back. Will the Garden be
photographable this summer? I recall that mid-June used to be a
good time for photos, and then July when the Madonna Lilies
bloomed. Let me know and I'll let Elizabeth know.
In writing the above, I am struck by how important the 3 gardens -
the Woods Hole restoration, Knock and Annapolis - of the 80's
were. The hours of thought and work we put into them - Bonnie,
you, Brother Sean, Nan and myself - really laid the foundation for
the present Internet phase of the work. I've always wondered at
the paradox that many things we work at don't turn out, or maybe
don't endure, the way we hope, but other wonderful things happen
and the spread of Mary-Gardening goes on. As Bonnie observed,
from our input there's always output, but providentially, in some
unexpected place. As Ed McTague used to say, Mary's Gardens is an
act of faith.
The Mary Garden at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception is a landmark. A special aspect of the
planting is a preponderance of white flowers as symbol of Mary's
Immaculate Conception, although I wish they had installed markers
giving the religious names of the plants, The garden beds are
established in the permanence of its stone pool, terraces and
walks - much as Woods Hole has the permanence of the stone Angelus
Tower. I have confidence that as visitors ask questions about
where are the flowers, and the general movement grows, there will
eventually be a fuller planting of Flowers of Our Lady, perhaps in
the central bed surrounding the statue.
Another important development is a Mary Garden exhibit at the
recently opened Pope John Paul II cultural center in Washington,
near the Catholic University and National Shrine. They asked me for
a large copy of the photo of Bonnie in her Garden, which I sent, but
I'm not sure just how they are using it. I think you push a button
and and a big enlargement of the photo lights up.
Vincenzina's book continues to go well, and should become a
Catholic classic. 10 people or so access the review of it on the
website each day. We're hoping for a paperback reprinting.
Vincenzina, living in Dayton, works closely with Father Johann G.
Roten, S.M. and Schoenstatt Sister M. Jean Frisk of the Marian
Library, which will be the ultimate repository for our archives.
They have posted a number of Mary Garden articles to the Library
"Mary Page" website, including Vincenzina's illustrated tour of
the Woods Hole Garden. You will recall that Sister Jean wrote the
meditations for the 30 flowers illustrated in Vincenzina's book.
Paula Mucha of Ashland, MA is developing a Mary's Gardens Shoppe
website of flower holy cards, calendars and artifacts, etc. which
should be functioning by this summer. She has given her all to
the ups and downs of a parish grotto restored as a Mary Garden
some 10 years ago, and has visited Woods Hole a number of times.
Another important development is "Mary's Gardens for Children", a
Project Guide for Home and School Use, by Lisa Creamer, of Olney,
MD. which has been in trial for a year at a number of schools and
is just now being self-published by her. She has designed the
Mary Garden for her parish, and has done a lot of work with patio
container Mary Gardens.
Julianne G Jackson, of Mobile, AL.has taken up a dish Mary Garden
project, "Petals of Grace", and with a partner has created over
100 of these,
Lauretta Santarossa of Novalis Press in Toronto, co-publishers of
Vincenzina's book, has a lovely home Mary Garden, which has been
written up in several Catholic weeklies, and recently taped for a
TV special, and has given several Mary Garden workshops.
All of these colleagues have made great insightful contributions
to the development of our work, to which this quick summary
doesn't begin to do justice. I am sending them e-mail cc's of
this letter to give them a little better perspective of your
pivotal contribution to Mary's Gardens. I believe I have sent
them all copies of your definitive Woods Hole historic monograph
from the Historical Society.
This is a sort of quick 2-year update, Jane. I'll try to keep in
more frequent touch. As you know, I haven't been to Woods Hole
since 1995 when you, Vincenzina and I met there. Again, I hope to
make it - this summer. There are so many archives stored there
that I need now in a big way, as I am trying to round things out.
Give my regards to Fred Lux. I hope he is well.
Affectionately,
+
July 9, 2001
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Brother Seàn,
(Copy, below, of messages re. opening of the Pope John Paul II
Cultural Center, with Roberson Mary Garden Exhibit)
Thanks for your letter.
Could you send me the e-mail address of your friend?
On receipt, I'll start sending you copies to his address of
my messages of general Mary's Gardens interest.
Below is a copy of the last such message I sent to our
current list od Associates.
Prayerful best wishes,
o O o
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 18:48:50
To: "Mary's Gardens" Associates and Friends"
marysgardens@mgardens.org
From: Mary's Gardens marysgardens@mgardens.org
Subject: Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. Roberson Mary Garden
Exhibit
Friends,
Message copies FYI:
Date: 3/23/01 7:03 PM
To: FrancescaZammarano
From: Mary's Gardens
Subject: Pope John Paul II Cultural Center - Roberson Mary Garden
Exhibit
Dear Francesca,
I note that the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center was formally
opened Thursday, March 22, and am writing to inquire whether Edwin
Schlossberg Inc. went ahead with the exhibit under consideration
of Bonnie Roberson, Mary Gardener for which I forwarded requested
materials last summer (for returning which I thank you) - or, if
you were unable to use my photo, were you able to use other
materials on the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens?
I have checked out the Center website at
http://www.jpiiculturalcenter.com/
but note the Exhibits and Tour pages are still under construction.
If an exhibit in our subject area was designed and installed, I'd
appreciate receiving a brief description and an e-mail site photo,
as I will be personally unable to visit Washington..
I appreciate and thank you for your personal interest and
enthusiasm for this project.
With thanks and all best wishes,
John Stokes
Mary's Gardens www.mgardens.org
o O o
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 11:09:33 -0500
To: Mary's Gardens marysgardens@mgardens.org
From: Francesca Zammarano FrancescaZammarano@esinter.com
Subject: Re: Pope John Paul II Cultural Center - Roberson Mary
Garden Exhibit
Dear John,
Hello, it is nice to hear from you again. Yes, the exhibit opened
to the public on Thursday. I hope you have a chance to go one day
as it is really very impressive.
We did use the image you sent us along with the signed release on
June 15th. Unfortunately, I do not have an image of that
particular section of the exhibit however, I am appending a
summary of the Faith and Creativity Exhibit script for your
records.
Thank you for your contribution to this important and highly
visible project.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Francesca
------------------------
Appended:
SUMMARY
Overview
A series of graphics panels use images and text to illuminate the
work of artists in many different fields of endeavor. All of the
stories in some way demonstrate the association between creativity
and the artist's Catholic faith.
Script
"Creativity typically begins with a moment of inspiration, or as
it's sometimes called, a "divine spark" of imagination. Many
artists freely acknowledge this inspiration as a gift from God.
In turn, artists through the ages have demonstrated their love and
gratitude to God through creativity. The Creativity & Faith
panels scattered throughout this gallery illustrate some of the
wonderfully imaginative ways people have expressed their faith.
As you look at the Creativity & Faith panels, try to think of ways
you can use your own creativity to express your faith."
Panel 15
With Image: Bonnie Roberson in her Mary Garden
Title: Mary's Gardener
Text:
An ardent gardener, Bonnie Roberson created and tended an Herb
Mary Garden at her home in Hagerman, Idaho. Roberson's love of
cooking first prompted her to plant herbs. As she researched the
history of various plants, she was struck by how the names and
legends of many herbs related to the Holy Family. After hearing
about gardens devoted to Mary that were springing up around the
country, Roberson planted a Mary Garden of her own filled with
herbs and flowers associated with Mary. Because she found working
with these plants an uplifting, spiritual endeavor, Roberson
happily shared her gardening expertise to help others start their
own Mary Gardens, until her death in 1983.
+
Philadelphia, PA
March 18, 2002
Dear Brother Seàn,
St. Patrick's Day greetings and blessings.
Apologies for the lapse of correspondence.
I was unable to contact the e-mail address you gave for the
friend you mentioned who is willing to receive and send e-mail
messages for you. Computers are "unforgiving" and addresses have to
be exact. I think the thing to do is to ask him to send me a message
at:
marysgardens@mgardens.org
This message will automatically contain his exact return e-mail
address in the header, to which I can then send messages to you, and
also copies of the messages of general interest which I send out
from time to time to the ten or so colleagues who are working with
me regularly now
Also, when you are sitting at your friend's computer, he can
access the Mary's Gardens website at
www.mgardens.org
so you can read recent exchanges in the Chat & Photos section, which
is where the main website action has been since it was set up in the
fall of 2000.
A major current development is that one of our colleagues,
Elizabeth Matatics, an author, working with an author-editor and a
professional photographer, is gathering information and photos for a
book on the human interest side of Mary's Gardens, which she will
start writing later this year.
Your major contributions since you first contacted me in 1973 -
your prayers, pilgrimages, writing, correspondence, Knock,
Ballentraube, Artane and your Niche Mary Garden, etc. - have been a
central contribution to the contemporary restoration of Mary
Gardening, and should be prominently included in the book.
Would you be able write a little personal history of all this,
and maybe provide some photos, and send them to me for Elizabeth to
draw from? As I indicated, she is especially interested in the
human interest side of the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens -
what they have have meant to people in their personal spiritual
lives, and what others have said in learning about the flowers and
on visiting Mary Gardens, etc.
The book will of course contain sections on Woods Hole,
Annapolis and Portage and then a number of the more recent home,
parish, shrine, monastery and convent Mary Gardens.
Incidentally, I saw a clip on Ballentraube on TV recently - of
a a renewal of marriage vows of a prominent Irish couple, with
massive flower decorations. . This reminded me that you never sent
me the details or any photos of the Mary Garden planting there you
wrote me about which, as I recall, had a bed plan in the shape of a
map of Ireland, with Mary Flowers planted in bed locations
corresponding to the counties of Ireland in which they are found
growing wild.
So, Brother, ask your friend with the computer to send me an
e-mail message, so I can get his exact address; and let me know if
you can pull together a personal Mary Gardening history for use by
Elizabeth.
As ever, I remain your friend,
Sincerely, in Our Lady,
+
Jane A. McLaughlin
Woods Hole, A
January 27 2004
Dear John:
Our Mary Garden colleague Brother Sean of Ireland has sent me a
letter wondering if you are ok because he wrote you a few times last
year but has had no response.
He also has given me his new address in Ennis where he moved last
August to be near family. This new address is:
Christian Brothers
Ennis,
County Clare
Ireland.
I am planning to write him indicating the enormous volume of
communiques that you are dealing with regarding Mary Gardens.
I hope this finds you well, and with regards to Marian,
Yours,
P.S. Our new St. Joeph's pastor,Fr. Mauritzen has a special devotion
to the Blessed Mother, is supportive of the Mary Garden/Bell Tower.
He is the Falmouth Hospital chaplin as well as the pastor here. A
good man.
As to the St. Joseph's Web site, I do not know if he is aware of it
yet. A number of Cape church sites were developed by "fuzzylu"
several years ago during Fr. Norton's tenure. (Fr. Norton has not
been here since 1997.) I have been trying to promote a replacement
site for some time now but Fr. Norton's successor, Fr. Kelly,
arranged for a non-parishioner-volunteer to do it and I do not know
who that is, although I inquire about the status via the person who
is the go between and have passed along the information about how to
eliminate the "fuzzylu" site etc.
More on that as I gather it.
+
Philadelphia, PA
January 28 2004
(to Jane McLaughlin)
Hi Jane,
Good to hear from you.
Brother Sean gave me a friend's e-mail address where he said I could
send him messages, but it didn't work; so I asked him to send me an
e-mail message via the friend, so I could get the correct "from"
address. And then two years went by. Ask him if the friend can
send such a message.
E-mail is so easy, but even then I'm never caught up. I have a
mental block in printing out a letter etc., and then two years go
by.
Brother sent me a clipping showing he was elected "Man of the Year"
for his county - 2002 I think.
He never answers my questions about Knock, Someone who visited
wrote that the plant markers and most of the plant varieties were
gone. When they first asked about the Mary Garden, no one seemed to
know about it.
I hope you are well.
Happy New Year,