Mary's Garden is a Place of
Meditation and Celebration
By Lois M. Rogers Trenton Monitor
Monitor staff writer May 16, 2002
Mary Garden, Sacred Heart Parish, Riverton, NJ
It's been 70 years since Frances Crane Lillie took spade in hand
and planted the first known public Mary's Garden in the United
States at St. Joseph Church in Woods Hole, Mass.
Lillie composed the garden of more than 50 flower species
dedicated to, or symbolic of, the Mother of Jesus. Like the
European gardens it was patterned after, Mary's Garden at Woods
Hole became a place of prayer, rest and contemplation.
In the seven decades since, the concept of dedicating church
gardens to the Virgin Mary has been well publicized by Mary's
Gardens, an organization founded in 1951 in Philadelphia to
research the hundreds of flowers named for the Virgin.
The gardens have taken root and branched out to churches all over
the United States including Sacred Heart Parish, Riverton, and St.
Mary, New Monmouth.
A place of peace
In these gardens, countless parishioners find peace and respite
from the stress of the world.
Throughout Mary's Month of May, the gardens are at their sweetest,
offering a focal point for crownings and celebrations in honor of
the Blessed Mother.
"At Sacred Heart, the Mary's Garden is a tranquil and beautiful
place," said Pat Hutchinson, coordinator of the parish religious
education program. "It is a place of private prayer and communal
celebration."
"The May crowning, traditionally held on the first Sunday of May,
begins with a procession to Mary's Garden after the noon Mass,"
Mrs. Hutchinson said. "It is a time of joyous celebration."
It's a parish custom for the children to make a prayer chain of
links printed with their favorite title of Mary and a prayer.
The prayer chain is carried in the procession to the garden for
the May crowning and then hung in the Parish Center for the Year.
When it is taken down, it is burned and the ashes are buried in
Mary's Garden. Thus the prayers rise to heaven as the new flowers
bloom in the garden, Mrs. Hutchinson said.
The garden was started 19 years ago after an old and beautiful
statue of the Virgin Mary was discovered by Father Michael Vona in
the basement of the former convent.
Father James Coley, Sacred Heart's pastor at the time, wanted to
preserve this newly discovered piece of history and asked Father
Vona to fashion a garden where the statue would be erected.
In the garden, extended to Thomas Avenue in 1998 by Father John P.
Czahur, the current pastor, the statue of the Virgin Mary stands
surrounded by fragrant flowers and lush foliage. The scene awaits
parishioners who gather each night at 7:30 to pray the Rosary.
They approach the garden down a tile path designed and constructed
by parishioner Bob Collinsgru and inscribed with the Latin words
for the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries.
Lourdes Grotto and Mary Garden
At St. Mary, New Monmouth, there are two gardens.
"We have wonderful Mary's Gardens," said Father John M. Dobrosky,
the pastor. "One is a Grotto of Lourdes at the center of our
campus between the high school and the grammar school."
"The Grotto Garden has become a focal point for all who travel on
foot through the 65-acre campus," Father Dobrosky said. "With
people coming and going to worship at the Adoration Chapel nearby,
it has become a central location for prayer and meditation."
"The re-creation of the Lourdes grotto stands about 15 feet tall,
he said. "It's a beautiful area for prayer with a statue of Mary,
a waterfall and something blooming in all seasons."
The other garden, created to mark the parish centenary in 2001,
stands directly in front of the church. "Again, there is a
beautiful statue of Mary, a waterfall and benches," Father
Dobrosky said. "It is lit at night and the lighting attracts
people that pass by. It's quite visible from the road. It's a
place of refuge for people walking by. It is in plain view and it
causes people to stop and reflect."
Both gardens were designed and built by Bill Verderosa, a
parishioner who maintains the grounds on the St. Mary campus.
"They were Spirit led," said Verderosa, who has been landscaping
for more than a decade. "I had a rough draft and I just built
them. I always wanted to build a shrine. I hoped it would be a
witness for spirituality."
A place of dignity, joy and life
Of all the flowers planted in the gardens, roses, a primary floral
symbol of Mary, predominate. "The scent of the roses is said to
be there when the Blessed Virgin is present," Verderosa said.
"We tried to give people a sense of that."
Father Dobrosky said that the scent, sound and sight of the
gardens have enveloped the campus with peace. "Beautifying the
landscape in Mary's name brought a renewal. It gave people a very
positive feeling that this is a place of dignity, joy and life."
Mary's Gardens also bloom at home, in back and front yards, in
containers on patios and decks and even on window sills.
For information on creating all manner of Mary's Gardens, see the
Mary's Gardens home page at www.mgardens.org.
See also in The Monitor: Mary is a revolutionary who changed
history with her "yes".
Article and photo reprinted courtesy of The Trenton Monitor