The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-04-11
Legends Of the Rose.


A certain youth was accustomed to
make a wreath of roses or other flow
ers every day and to place it upon
the head of Our Lady's statue. He
became a monk, and in the cloister ms
occupations no longer permitted him to
continue the pious practice. Being
much distressed, he asked counsel of an
aged priest, who advised him to say
his AYES every evening, which would
be accepted by Our Lady in lieu of the
garland. This advice the young monk
faithfully followed, until one day, while
on a journey, he had to pass through
lonely wood, where robbers were lying
in wait. Quite unaware Of their pres
ence he remembered that his AYES
were not yet said. and forthwith
stopped to say them. Suddenly the
robbers saw, to their great surprise,
beauteous Lady stand before him, and
take one after another from the lips
of the kneeling monk fifty beautiful
roses, which she WOve into a garland
and placed upon her head. The rob-
bers, conscience stricken at the vision,
were all converted to a better life.
The word ROsenkranz (rose wreath),
the German name for Rosary, suggests
the thought that originally Christian
worshipers may have counted their
prayers with roses. At any rate, it is
certain that for a long time the larger
beads were called roses. GaTlands of
these beautiful flowers are often seen |
in pictures and tablets of the fifteenth |
century. At that period it was not |
unusual for men and women TO wear |
wreaths Of flowers, and also to place |
them as a mark of respect or reverence |
upon the heads of persons and statues. |
In Germany the Madonna is frequent
ly called Marienroschen: and if a rose
bush ceases to bloom, it is said that
the Blessed Virgin has dried her veil
upon it. The white rose is associated
particularly with the Madonna, being
chiefly chosen for her fete days. Ac-
cording to a German adage, a rose
bush pruned on St. Johns day will
bloom again in the autumn.
in the lines:
Men saw the thorns on Jesus brow,
But angels saw the roses,
one Of our well known American poet
esses alludes to the legend which re- ;
lates that the thorn-crown of Christ |
was made from the rose brier. and that
the drops Of blood drawn forth by its | :
thorns from the sacred brow fell to the |
ground and blossomed into roses.
In ancient times the rose was used
as a symbol of silence, secrecy and /
stratagem. An Arabian legend relates
that garden of mystical roses once /
planted by King Shaddad is now lost :
and buried in their desert The Per-
slams believe that on d certain day of
the year the rose has a heart OF gold.
The Rose of Jericho, from its ability q
10 revive after being blown about like {
q dry leaf by the winds of the desert. :,
became the natural emblem Of the y
resurrection. When it happens to be Il
blown into water. the withered -
branches expand again, and the pods ;,
pen and let out the seeds. The flower a
nus called is small and white. and =
oes not belong to the rose family: al
hough IL has been called the Rosa -
larie, or the Rose of the Virgin: prob ~
biy because the pilgrims to the holy y
epulchre reported that it marked 81
very spot where Mary and Joseph -
ested on their fight into Egypt. This o,
lant certainly has q remarkable now a
Of resuscitation, one brought by the II
emplars from the east having =,
loomed again after seven hundred f.
ears. !! ~
Thus we see that the symbolism of -
le rose has a curiously wide range -,
ne same flower which signified silence h,
nd secrecy to the ancients is for Us a 81
iVorite poetic image of innocence and =,
Irity. and more than any other flower al
nblematic Of divine love and beauty. in
Ave Maria. a. a.