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Intro Mary Garden
MARY GARDENS HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
(Adapted from "An Historical Note" pamphlet written for the
Annapolis Mary Garden in 1991).
Mary Gardens of the Flowers of
Our Lady named for the Blessed
Virgin Mary dating back to medieval
times bring a wealth of meanings
distilled from flower imagery
applied to Mary from Scripture by the
Church Fathers and early liturgies;
and also from "relics" and legends of
Our Lady brought back to Europe from
Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem by
returning Crusaders and pilgrims;
and from many other associations with
Mary perceived by the eyes of faith.
Cultivated together in contemporary
Mary Gardens, the Flowers of Our Lady
provide a floral mosaic of Mary's life,
mysteries, virtues, excellences and
prerogatives which gently lifts our
hearts and minds, in love, prayer,
praise, thanksgiving and meditation, to the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, and to union with the divine work of creation, salvation
and kingdom - "through Mary, through her flowers."
The few detailed records of medieval gardens are almost all
of monastic vegetable and herb gardens. The name, "Mary Garden"
has its recorded origins in medieval religious art and
illustration, in which prints, and then paintings, of the Virgin
and Child in enclosed gardens of symbolical flowers were entitled
"Mary Gardens", and presumably were inspired by actual small
gardens of the period.
St. Benedict is known to have had a monastic rose garden, or
"Rosary", in the 4th Century, but the first reference to an actual
garden dedicated to Mary of which we know is from the life of St.
Fiacre, Irish patron saint of gardening, who planted and tended a
garden around the oratory to Our Lady he built at his famous
hospice for the poor and infirm in France in the 7th Century.
The association of specific flowers with Mary perhaps begins
with the old legend from patristic days that after her Assumption,
soul and body into heaven blooming roses and lilies were found in
her tomb. One of the earliest recorded symbolic associations of
distinct parts of plants with Mary's attributes was that of St.
Bede in the 8th century, who saw the translucent white petals of
the lily to be a likeness of her pure body as she was assumed
into heaven, and its golden anthers, of the glorious resplendance
of her soul.
There are old lists of the flowers, herbs and grains included
in the "Assumption bundles" of plants which, dating back to the
9th Century, came to be associated with Mary through their
blessing at the altar on the Feast of the Assumption - according
to the liturgy preserved in the Roman Rite - and then reserved at
home or workplace as religious objects, as we reserve palms blest
on Palm Sunday today.
St. Bernard's words in praise of Mary in the 12th century as
"The rose of charity, the lily of chastity, the violet of
humility. . . and the golden gillyflower of heaven" are
illustrative of the medieval discernment of particular flowers as
representing specific virtues and excellences of Mary.
The first record we have found of a flower actually named for
Mary is that of "seint mary gouldes" (St. Mary's Gold or Marygold)
for the Pot Marigold or Calendula, in a 1373 English recipe for a
potion to ward off the plague. The first reference in a
horticultural work is to "Our Lady's Slipper" in the herbal of
Vitus Auslasser published in Germany in 1479.
The first mention known to us of an actual Mary Garden by
name is in a fifteenth century monastic accounting record of
the purchase of plants "for S. Mary's garden" by the sacristan of
Norwich Priory, in England.
Some flowers, such as the Madonna Lily - which is still found
growing wild in remote places in the Holy Land - are commonly
known today by religious names clearly reflecting their
association with Mary. Others including the Marigold, Ladies'
Mantle, and Ladyslipper are held to be named for Mary according to
authorities such as the Oxford English Dictionary, which states
that the names, "Lady," "Lady's," and "Ladies," in the older
English plant names are almost always foreshortenings of "Our
Lady". Similarly, "Virgin," and "Mary's" are considered in most
cases as referring to the Virgin Mary, with parallels in other
European languages. Frequently namings of "Mary's" and "Our
Lady's" will be found in different localities for the same plant.
Hundreds of such associations are still found extant in
living oral religious traditions of the countrysides.
Interestingly, these have mostly been recorded not in religious
annals but by botanists, in the "floras" of the various countries,
that future botanists may find them in their natural locations
through inquiry by names known to local residents.
In some instances plants were given scientific botanical
names derived from their prior popular religious names, as with
the Milk Thistle, or Silybum marianum, named from the widespread
imaginative legend that the white spots on its leaves (and those
of other plants) originated when drops of the Nursing Madonna's
milk fell on them.
Other plants, such as those collected from Asia by botanists,
horticulturalists and travellers, were given Mary names after
being brought back to Europe for cultivation. An example is that
of the Assumption Lily, native to China and Japan, and named in
Europe for its bloom at Assumptiontide in mid-August.
Contemporary Mary Gardens assemble together suitable flowers
so named for Mary from various countries in a single garden where
they can be used together devotionally according to their old
names and symbolism.
The present-day Mary Garden movement has its origins in the
Garden of Our Lady planted in 1932 around a figure of Our Lady of
the Annunciation beside the Angelus Tower of St. Joseph's Church
in Woods Hole, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts by Frances Crane Lillie,
a summer resident of Woods Hole and a benefactor of St. Joseph's.
This garden, maintained by a trust fund, was restored to its
original planting plan for its golden jubilee in 1982.
The notable Annapolis Mary Garden - initially laid out
through the expertise of horticulturalist Tony Dove, who at that
time was Curator of the London Tower Public Gardens in Edgewater,
Maryland - was dedicated in a special blessing ceremony on the
Vigil of the Assumption, 1988, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and her Divine Son, and as a tribute to the deep faith in Mary of
John Carroll, first Bishop of the United States, and to his
constant recourse to Mary for the protection and blessing of his
undertakings for the development of the early United States
Church.
The pink Vermont granite focal statue of Mary and the
boy Jesus, "Mary of Nazareth" - especially designed for the
Annapolis Mary Garden by renowned sculptor, Leo Irrera, in
residence at the Pius VI Religious Art Center in Washington, D.C.
and designer and coordinator of the Navy Memorial in D.C. - was
installed in 1991, with blessing on the feast of the Birth of
Mary.
The Flowers of Our Lady include many flowers uniquely native
to the Americas which were adopted and named as symbols of their
faith by early Christian explorers, missionaries, converts and
settlers. Notable among these are three which have become known
and cultivated throughout the world: the Marigold (recalling the
European Marigold), Passion Flower and Fuchsia (Our Lady's
Eardrops).
Other widely cultivated American plants commonly known by
religious names locally or regionally - as recorded, like those of
Europe, by botanists, folklorist and lexicographers - include the
Poinsettia ("Christmas Flower"), Zinnia ("Little Mary"), Blue
Morning Glory ("Our Lady's Mantle"), Ageratum ( "St. John's
Flower"), Celosia ("Jesus Plant"), Cosmos ("St. Michael"), Caladium
( "Heart of Jesus"), Calceolaria ("Our Lady's Slipper"), Gloxinia
("Canterbury Bells"), Tiger Flower, ("Christ's Knee"), Dahlia,
("Church Flower"), Sunflower, ("Marigold of Peru") and Yucca ("Tower
of Ivory").
Also included among the Flowers of Our Lady are numerous
centuries-old flower symbols of the Nazareth household articles:
of Mary's needlework, lace, pincushion, mirror, brushes, comb,
duster, drying plant, ladle, candle, knives and forks, etc. Also
of Mary's features: her eyes, hair, hand, fingers; of her
garments: her mantle, smock, veil, shawl, slippers; and of her
food: bread, cheeses, flavoring.
Reflection on these symbols brings us to meditate on the
daily life of the Holy Family, in Nazareth, as Mary and Joseph
nurtured the boy Jesus in his growth "in age, wisdom and grace
before God and man".
The flower symbols of Mary's spiritual life and mysteries
include: the white "Madonna Lily" of her immaculate purity,
"Mary's Rose" of spiritual love, the pansy of "Our Lady's Delight"
in the Trinity, first revealed to Mary, the "Lily-of-the-Valley"
of her humility, the violet of "Our Lady's Modesty", "Mary's
Tulip" of spiritual openness, the strawberry - "Fruitful Virgin" -
of her virginal motherhood (in flower and fruit at the same time),
"Our Lady's Bedstraw" of the manger, "Christmas Rose", "Star of
Bethlehem", several "Mary's Milkdrops" plants, and the "Mother
Love" Impatiens, named from its constancy of bloom.
Also, "Lent Lily", "Penitent's Rose", "Passion Flower",
"Crown of Thorns", "Christ's Back", "Christ's Knee", "Christ's
Blood Drops", "Tree of the Cross", the tiny pendant flowers of
numerous "Our Lady's Tears" plants for Mary's weeping at the foot
of the Cross, "Mary's Sword of Sorrow."
And, "Pentecost Rose" of the descending flames of the Holy
Spirit, white "Assumption Lily", "Mary's Gold" of her heavenly
glory and the glory of her appearances on earth, "Mary's Crown",
"Christ's Eye", "Sweet Mary" of her heavenly sweetness, the wild
orchid of "Mary's Hand of Pity", "Mary's Balm" and other fragrant
healing herbs of her spiritual comfort, "Our Lady's Keys" of her
mediational access to the storehouses of heavenly grace, "Ladder
to Heaven", "Heavenly Way", and so many others.
Since many graces and spiritual illuminations have been
received through the years as hearts have been raised to prayer
while beholding the symbolical Flowers of Our Lady, and since Mary
is immediately present by her action as Mediatrix of All Grace,
wherever grace is distributed, the gift of a sense of her presence
has been experienced by many in garden and countryside. As a
consequence, many flowers resembling the human form have come to be
named as symbols of Mary's presence: "Mary", "The Virgin", "Mary's
Face", "Our Lady by-the-Gate", "Our Lady in the Corn", "Our Lady
of the Meadow", "Our Lady of the Lake", "Beautiful Lady"; along
with indirect symbols of her presence such as the leaves of "Our
Lady's Thumb" (prints), "Our Lady's Bite" (marks), etc.
Liturgically blest through a ritual of the Roman Rite, Mary
Garden focal statues and their surrounding Flowers of Our Lady
become holy objects which are vehicles, especially to those so
disposed, of actual graces from the merits of Christ and the
Church, opening minds and elevating thoughts in religious
reflection.
Inspired by a 1946 article in Perpetual Help magazine by Rev.
James J. Galvin, C.SS.R. about the St. Joseph's Mary Garden in
Woods Hole, the late Edward A. G. McTague and the writer founded
Mary's Gardens of Philadelphia in 1951 as a spare-time,
avocational, religious project which undertook world-wide research
into the Flowers of Our Lady; made available seeds and plant
source information for starting Mary Gardens; and initiated a
series of inspirational articles in religious publications.
From 1968 through 1982 the work was carried forward by a
third co-worker, the late Bonnie Roberson of Hagerman, Idaho -
who initiated the research into the Latin American Flowers of Our
Lady; developed indoor dish Mary Gardens and Mary Gardens for the
blind; and undertook extensive personal correspondence with those
inquiring both nationally and from Europe and Japan.
In 1973 we were joined by Brother Sean MacNamara, of the
Christian Brothers in Dublin, Director and past President of the
Irish Garden Society, who became our Irish associate; conducted
extensive research into the traditional Irish Flowers of Our Lady,
including those named "Mhuire" for Mary in Gaelic; wrote numerous
articles; and assisted many in starting outdoor and dish Mary
Gardens.
Since 1982 a primary source for Mary Gardens information has
been Jane A. McLaughlin, parish historian and head of the Mary
Garden Society of St. Joseph's Church, who, with Brother Sean,
provided information for the starting of the National Irish Mary
Garden at Our Lady's Shrine at Knock in County Mayo, by Monsignor
James Horan, late Shrine Director, and also assistance for the
planting of the Annapolis Mary Garden. Over 30,000 inquiries
about the Flowers of Our Lady and Mary Gardens have been answered.
Among horticulturalists a special initiative in spreading the
practice of starting Mary Gardens was undertaken by Daniel J.
Foley, Editor of Horticulture magazine, whose definitive article,
"Mary Gardens", was published in the 1953 issue of The Herbarist,
of the Herb Society of America. It was a member of the Herb
Society who introduced Mary-Gardening to St. Mary's parishioner,
Nanette Sears, prime-mover of the Annapolis Mary Garden, who
planted her own first small Mary Garden at her home in 1957.
Other Mary Gardens of special note through the years include
a series of gardens planted at the Notre Dame high schools of
Mindanao, in the Philippines, in a competition for the Bishop
Mongeau 1953 Marian Year trophy; and several with which we were
not directly involved: a monastery planting of Mary Flowers in
the Holy Land of which we have learned from our correspondents;
the collection of Flowers of the Virgin at Lincoln Cathedral in
England; and the four acre Mary Garden at the Akita Shrine of Our
Lady in Japan, established by Bishop John P. Ito of Akita. Like
the Annapolis Mary Garden, each of these gardens gives special
emphasis to native plant materials of Our Lady: the flowers of
the Holy Land, the "Mhuire" flowers of Ireland, the flowers of
the English countryside at Lincoln, and sculptured tree and shrub
landscape tableaux of Gospel scenes at Akita.
John S. Stokes Jr. Co-Founder, Mary's Gardens U.S.A.
Copyright 1991, 1995