Go to Home Page
Intro Mary Garden
FLOWERS OF OUR LADY AND MARY GARDENS SLIDE LECTURE
50 SLIDES AND NARRATION TEXT
SLIDES 31-40 AND TEXT
31.
Authorities tell us the flowers
growing in the fields and along the
roadways where Jesus taught, and to which
he referred in His Parables, were in all
probability Poppy-Flowered Anemones.
From this historical association, these
flowers are fittingly used in the Mary
Garden to remind us of Jesus' teaching
mission - first manifested to Mary and
Joseph when they found him sitting with
the teachers in the temple.
We are in awe when we consider that the
Flowers of the Holy Land today have come
from those on which Jesus and Mary gazed.
32.
In paintings of the Nativity daisies and
similar flowers were shown in the straw of
the manger or in the ground before it to
denote the innocence of the Christ Child.
Here, in this sixteenth Century Flemish
portrayal of the Arrest of Christ, the same
flowers are used with startling forcefulness
to show Christ's purity and innocence in
contrast to the evil of his apprehenders.
Other plant symbols applied primarily to
Jesus are Wheat and Grapes, emblems of the
Last Supper and the Mass, and the Vine,
depicting his teaching of the Mystical Body:
"I am the vine and you are the branches".
Most of Our Lady's flowers would be equally appropriate as symbols
of Christ, whose life she shared and whose virtues she reflected.
It would seem, however, that flowers have been used more generally
as symbols of Our Lady because of the Prophecy of Isaias, and
because we have Our Lord himself always with us in the Holy
Eucharist, in his priests and in our neighbor.
33.
The Passion Flower, a marvellous
providential flower "signature" discovered by
missionaries to the New World, embodies in its
multiple symbolism the lash of Christ's
Scourging, the Crown of Thorns, the Cross, the
3 Nails, Christ's 5 Wounds, Christ's Blood
Drops and the World Christ came to save. In
Germany it is known as Mother of God's Star.
For our meditation a number of flowers
symbolize aspects of Christ's passion
individually.
The Passion Flower is unique among symbolical
flowers in that the actual place and year of
its discovery are know: Mexico, 1610. Over
400 species of this genus have subsequently
been discovered.
34.
Our Lady's sorrows at the foot of the
Cross were called to mind by a number of
flowers known as Our Lady's Tears.
Virginia Spiderwort, shown here, was called
Our Lady's Tears because of the tear-like
fluid emitted from the spent blooms hanging
down beneath its blossom "eyes".
Our Lady's Tears recall the teaching of the
Church that Our Lady was our Co-Redemptrix
whose tears were joined with the Blood of
Christ, our Redeemer, in the accomplishment
of the work of our redemption.
Note: the original picture is missing, a substitute was
placed here 11/27/2007. JSS3.
35.
While the Easter Lily has been adopted
to proclaim the joys of Jesus' Resurrection,
the White Day Lily has been called
Assumption Lily from its bloom during the
season of the Feast of Our Lady's Assumption,
August 15.
36.
The traditional Marigold or Marygold
of England and northern Europe, shown here,
is the flower known today In the United
States as Scottish or pot marigolfd. Its
golden-yellow petals spreading out from its
center like rays of the sun evidently
suggested the glorious splendor of Mary,
the "Woman Clothed in the Sun", the "Queen
in Gilded Clothing", after her Assumption
and Coronation as Heaven's queens. It also
suggests the interior splendor divinely
wrought in Mary, the "House of Gold", on
earth to prepare her as the Chosen Mother
of the Onlybegotten.
In church architecture round stained glass windows with ray-like
divisions were sometimes termed marigold windows to distinguish
them from rose windows with rounded rose-petal-like divisions.
The plants commonly known as marigolds in American today are of
the genus, Tagetes, native to Mexico and Central America and
adopted into the pre-existing European marigold tradition after
their discovery by Spanish missionaries to the New World.
37.
The pansy, through its three colors in
its wild form: yellow, blue and white, was
adopted as a symbol of the Holy Trinity and
was named Trinity Flower. It was also named
our Lady's Delights suggesting Our Lady's
beholding of it.
(In the developed strains, where one color
is dominant - as yellow here - the other
two colors are always found at the center.)
The double symbolism reminds us that the
mystery of the Holy Trinity was first
revealed to Mary, at the Annunciation, and
that now she beholds and shares in the life of the three divine
persons in the beatific vision of heaven.
38.
From its resemblance to the large candles
kept lighted on Our Lady's altar in many English
churches Giant Mullein was named Our Lady's
Candle.
In Germany the following couplet describes its
Symbolism:
"The Virgin Mary flies all over the land,
With Heaven's Fire in her hand."
39.
While sharing in the life of the
Trinity, Mary also serves as our
divinely appointed heavenly mother
and protector in the continuing work
of the redemption - a role, symbolized
in art by her mantle spread out by her
over multitudes of the faithful, and
in the Mary Garden by the mantle-like
leaves of the plant still commonly
known today as Lady's Mantle.
Several sweet-smelling plants such as lemon balm and bee balm, both
called Sweet Mary, suggest Mary's motherly sweetness.
40.
Bleeding Heart, known in France
as Mary's Heart, and in Germany as
Our Lady's Heart, resembles the
emblem of Mary's Sorrowful Heart,
a heart pierced with a sword, used
in art to recall Simeon's prophesy
to Mary, "And a sword shall pierce thy
soul".
Also it lifts our thoughts to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, our
heavenly mediatrix, who mercifully
intercedes on our behalf with the Sacred Heart of Jesus - purifying
and embellishing our prayers and reparations as she presents them
to him.
(Slides 41-50)