The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-07-01
FLOWERS AND THE BLESSED VIRGIN
MANY FLOWERS NAMED IN HER
HONOR AND DEDICATED
TO HER.

To the Franciscans OF the Middle
Ages, says writer in the Living
Church protestant Epscopal) we
owe some of the loveliest legends of
the flowers that gather about our Lord
and His Mother, for these followers of
the Saint of Assist were essentially
nature lovers. They thought with al
pure love of the glad revealing of Gods
redemptive love through all things
outdoors. With their love IF May,
whom Dante calls the terminus of
Creation, :" !, they dedicated many of
their flowers in her honor. All that
bear the name of Lady have in mind
her as our Lady. Such common names
as lady s-slipper," "lady's smock, =.
"lady's garter" are part Of our COM
mon parlance used generally without
thought of their origin. Our maiden's
hair fern really means "our Lady's
hair" Marigold, which the old Eng
lish poets used to call "golds," is
"Mary's gold" One of the German
names of the daisy is Mary's flower"
In Mexico the blue morning-glory is
called our Lady's mantle" In Italy
the common mint is known as "Mary's
herb" the wild clematis, the ''Vir-
gins bower" Then French call the
lily of the valley our Lady's tears"
in France, too, the foxglove is known
as the Virgins glove" or the glove
of our Lady" The resurrection plant
is often spoken Of as our Lady's
rose"
The little roadside flower Of "our
child, and this is the lovely story they
tell of it. When the different plants
were summoned to form a bed for the
Virgin and her Child in the stable at
Bethlehem. they all began to make
excuses. Some were too busy, some
were too proud, others felt themselves
too insignificant, or that it was too
early or too late for their appearing
At last a pretty little white star flower
offered herself for the bed, and as a
reward our Lady caused her flowers to
turn a golden yellow, their color to
this day.
The white lily has in the symbolism
of the Church been dedicated to the
Virgin because of it's purity. The lily
was used by the Angel of the Annun-
citation. There is legend that when
the Blessed Virgin was walking in the
garden of Zacharias, whittier she used
to go to mediate on the message of
the angel, she touched a flower that
hitherto had no fragrance. Thereafter,
it gave forth a sweet perfume 1t was
these Madonna lilies" that burst into
bloom at Easter dawn. After her as
sumption her tomb, according to pious
legend, was filled with lilies and roses
to allay the doubts of st. Thomas.
The reason why the lily always
droops her head dates from the time
of our Lords agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane. That night every other
flower in the Garden bent its head in
sympathy and sorrow as He passed by.
The lily, however, stood erect that He
might look upon her. AS He glanced
at her in the moonlight, she saw that
all the other flowers had bent before
Him, and, feeling His tender humility
so IN contrast to her own self-satisfac-
ton, she blushed with shame. That is
why one sees the red tongue in the lily
even now, and why she never holds
her head erect The next day as our
Saviour passed by, bearing His Cross
to Calvary, the lily with every other
flower shed tears for Him. And the
tears of the Imperial Lily are still to
be seen in it's hanging bell clear as a
drop of water, until God shall wipe it
away at the last day.
In the Middle Ages the rose, like the
lily, was the Virgins flower, still COM
memorated in the rosary. The violet,
too, belongs to her. The rosemary,
which, of course, is not rose, does
not take it's name from Mary, but from
it's Latin source ros marium, because
of it's fondness for the water. 1t is
supposed to have been one of the flow
ers which hid the Virgin and her
Child from Herods soldiers, a legend
also associated with the fig, the juni-
per- the sage brush, and the palm.
The broom and the chicken-pea by
their rustling and swapping nearly
disclosed the hiding place of the Vir-
gin and her Child, and so have been
plants of ill-favor. |
The story of the Christmas rose, the
helle- bore, every italian mother tells
her child. On the night when the
heavens were singing to the shepherds
of Bethlehem, little shepherdess fol
lowed her brothers, keepers of the
fiocks, over the frosty earth by the
cleaning light of star. Wien she
saw the wise men present their costly
gifts to the Holy Babe, she wept, for
she had not even flower to offer Him.
An angel, standing by, struck the froz-
en- ground where her tears had fallen.
Up there sprang pale green stalk,
bearing a pure white blossom with a
golden crown. AS she gave it to the
Christ Child, He turned from the gems
of the Magi, and with smile, accepted
from humble barefoot peasant child
the first Christmas rose.
All the legends of the flowers con-
nected with the birth of the Holy
Child are beautiful The chrysanthe-
mum is the flower which told the wise
men by it's starlight rays that they
had reached the place where He that
was born King of the Jews lay sleep
ing. The little plant, the star of Beth
lehem, is part of that wonderful light |