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                                              Intro Mary Garden

Church Plant Symbolism of the Blessed Virgin Mary
.
     In the prevailing culture of Greece
and Rome at the time of Christ, and of
the beginning Church, flowers and all
nature were seen as inhabited by
polytheistic false gods and goddeses: 
Jupiter, Venus, Diana, Pan, Daphne,
Adonis, etc.  As one writer put it, "All
the gods had their temples in nature,
except the one true God."

     These deities were venerated and
petitioned through offerings presented
before their images at public and also
household altars, as found, for example,
in the homes excavated at Pompeii.  The 
Roman Martyrs, including two patron
saints of gardeners, Saint Dorothy, who
sent flowers to earth from the heavenly paradise, and St. Phocas,
who dug his own grave with his gardening spade on the eve of his
execution in hope of the resurrection, were put to death for their
refusal to pay homage to the pagan gods.

    Only in the religion of the Chosen People of Israel was nature
celebrated, as in the Psalms, as showing forth the goodness,
attributes and handiwork of one God, Creator of Heaven and Earth;
and, as in the "Song of Songs", providing poetic imagery of the
soul's mystical love for God.

    In the fullness of time, through the fiat of the Blessed
Virgin's assent to be the Mother of the Divine Word Incarnate, and
through Christ's expiating sacrifice on the Cross, flowers, along
with the rest of the world and nature, were freed of their
associations with the false pagan deities imposed upon them.  Thus
liberated, flowers, in their created purity, beauty and varied forms
from the hand of God, were then given true Christian associations
through the renewing poetic imagery of faith, hope and love.

     In this they referred to Jesus, Mary and the Saints, but
especially to Mary, "our fallen nature's solitary boast", as ready
symbolic reminders of her immaculate purity and of her prerogatives,
as our divinely blessed model and mediatrix, in intimate cooperative
union with Christ, of the graces for our spiritual perfection, for
our works of love and mercy for neighbor, and for our building of
the earthly Kingdom of peace and justice, for presentation by Christ
to the Heavenly Father.

     Accordingly, flower imagery from the scriptures and nature was
applied to Mary in the writings of the Church Fathers and in the
liturgy, providing the foundation in Tradition for the subsequent
naming of hundreds of flowers for Mary's life, mysteries, virtues,
excellences and divine prerogatives in the popular religious folk
traditions of the medieval countrysides - as recorded by botanists,
folklorists and lexicographers.


From Queen of the Missions, April, 1955:

I. THE FATHERS' PRAISE OF MARY, Orate Fratres, Collegeville Minnesota
May 1951 pp 268-271 (abstracted):

The following list of titles of Mary drawn exclusively from the
patristic writing compiled by Sister Marie Stephen O.P. of Rosary
College from "The Blessed Virgin in the Fathers of the First Six
Centuries", by Fr. Thomas Linius, C.SS.R., published by Burns and
Oates in 1893.

     Most holy paradise of Eden.  Tree of good foliage.  Tree of
Life.  Earth unsown.  Cloud raining upon the earth.  Burning bush
unconsumed.  Open Meadow.  Blossoming rod of Aaron.  Fruitful olive
tree.  Tree of the Father.  Flower of the field.  Lily of the
valley. Spotless lily that brought forth Christ the unfading rose.
Garden enclosed.  Garden fertile though untilled. Vine fruitful with
grapes. Vine bringing forth a pleasant odor.  Rod that blossomed
forth Christ as the flower.  Mead of sweet savor.  Unleavened meal
banishing from food the bitterness of death.  Root of the loveliest
Flower that blooms.  Flower unfading. Garden of the Father.  Root of
all good things. Vine bearing beautiful grapes.


II. OUR LADY'S TITLES IN THE BREVIARY, Worship, Collegeville
Minnesota May 1952 pp 319-322 (abstracted):

     Sister Marie Stephen, O.P.... has now compiled a second list
of Our Lady's titles from the divine office of the Roman rite:

     Royal virgin of David's rose.  Fruit to the barren.  Paradise
where blossoms the Tree of Life.  Verdant tree of life-giving joy.
Flourishing vine.  Bush burning and unconsumed.  Apple tree among
the trees of the woods.  Keeper in the vineyard.  Garden enclosed.
Unploughed field.  Cedar of Libanus.  Cypress of Mount Sion.  Bud of
promise.  Slender branch carrying the Fruit of the whole human race.
Priestly rod blossoming without root.  Lily among the thorns.
Flowering rod of Aaron.  Rod of Jesse bearing Christ.  Fruit from
which came the sweet Jesus.  First rose of martyrs.  Choice of
firstfruits.  Light cloud releasing heavenly rain.  Rose soothing the
afflicted.  Rose giving back to all the destiny of salvation.  Rose
white by virginity.  Rose ruddy by love.  Rose white in seeking
virtue.  Rose ruddy in trampling vices.  Rose white in purifying the
affections.  Rose ruddy in mortifying the flesh.  Rose white in
loving God.  Rose ruddy in pitying her neighbor.  Bridal Flower.
Garden of delight.  Mountain of God, fertile and shady.  Flowers of
the roses in springtime.  Lily at the edge of the stream.  Flower of
the field. Palm tree in Cades.  Roseplant in Jerusalem.  Rosebush in
Jerico. Fair olive tree in the plains.


Reprinted with permission.

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