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Intro Mary Garden
Flowers of Our Lady
John S. Stokes Jr. The Benedictine Review
July, 1952
Editor's Note
(Combining the botanist's knowledge with the flower symbolism of
the Middle Ages, the author of "Flowers of Our Lady" evokes a
veritable litany in honor of Our Lady. Mr. Stokes, and his friend
Mr. Edward A. G. McTague, inaugurated this spring in Philadelphia a
project called "Mary's Gardens." They see in the garden a fertile
Christian apostolate and a special means of honoring the Blessed
Mother, Patroness of the United States.)
SOME months ago in the pages of this Review, Sister Ethelburg
Leuschen, O.S.B., in an article on "Benedictine Gardens" January,
1951, exhorted the religious community to reacquire the
practical habits of the arts and crafts of gardening, which for
centuries have been one of the cornerstones of the Benedictine
life which recently have been losing ground before the modern
techniques of specialized mass production and distribution in the
fields of horticulture and agriculture
More recently Dom Rembert Sorg, O.S.B., in his book, Towards a
Benedictine Theology of Manual Labor, has pointed out the true
dignity which manual labor in general possesses, as a foundation
of stable and harmonious community living. He exhorted religious
communities in modern industrial America to restore manual labor
to its proper place, as a matter of principle, before this
restoration is externally and painfully forced by circumstantial
necessity, as it has been in war-dislocated Europe.
While it is always a possibility that modern society may suffer so
complete a collapse that monastic organization will once again be
called to carry on the light of religion and culture to a new
dawning, it is to be hoped that a restoration of the social order
to true principles can be made short of such a violent upheaval.
But if a popular social restoration is to be made, it is essential
that it, too, include in its foundation a correct understanding
and utilization of manual labor. . . .
Hindered circumstantially from growing his own food, weaving his
own cloth, gathering his own fuel or building his own shelter, the
average modern city dweller has difficulty in finding just where
to begin such a restoration. Yet there is a work which can be
undertaken on a very small scale and which possesses as much
dignity as the largest self-supporting community, namely,
gardening; and any little place, even one flower pot or a tomato
plant will do for a garden. By sowing and tending just one plant
one may learn the lessons contained in God's ordering of nature;
and by dedicating his work to God, man may give his labor the
highest possible purpose and dignity.
On paper - and especially to the established horticulturalist -
such a suggestion may sound rather naive, but in reality it is
not. Great numbers of "cinder-lot kids" from the cities are
seriously confused when confronted with the sowing and tending of
seeds. Three urban Christian scholars, who were recently
approached on this subject, remarked: "Well, I've understood that
there were people who were interested in the garden, but I never
met one before." "Seeds! I wouldn't know what to do with them."
"Now, don't bother me about flowers."
One type of gardening, which can teach the lessons of seeding and
also has a special devotional appeal, is the sowing and tending of
"Our Lady's Garden." A Mary-Garden is comprised of flowers bearing
names referring to Our Lady, and given them in the religious days
of pre-Reformation England. Among the several hundred Flowers of
Our Lady there are a number of "easy" annuals, suitable for pot or
window box culture:
Former Religious Name Present Familiar Name Botanical Name
Our Lady's Mantle Morning Glory (bush) Convolvulus minor
Our Lady's Earrings Balsam Impatiens balsaminum
Our Lady's Pincushion Scabiosa Scabiosa atropurp.
Our Lady's Tresses Quaking Grass Briza maxima
Mary's Bud Scottish Marigold Calendula officin.
Mary's Gold Marigold, dwarf Tagetes patula
Our Lady's Thistle Blessed Thistle Silybum marianum
Other Flowers of Our Lady are commonly cultivated in plots or
gardens because of their size or longer period of germination, or
because they are biennial or perennial varieties which do not
bloom until the year after sowing:
Our Lady's Mantle Morning Glory (vine) Convolvulus major
O.L Looking Glass Venus' Looking Glass Specularia speculum
Blue-Eyed Mary Collinsea Collinsea bicolor
Our Lady's Delight Pansy Viola tricolor
Eyes of Mary Forget-me-not Myosotis alpestris
St. Joseph's Staff Hollyhock Althea rosea
Our Lady's Glove Foxglove Digitalis purpurea
Mary's Candle Mullein Verbascum thapsus
O. L. Birthday Flower Italian Aster Aster amellus
Our Lady-by-the-Gate Soapwort Saponaria officin.
Our Lady's Cushion Thrift Armeria maritima
Our Lady's Fingers Honeysuckle Lonicera caprifolium
Our Lady's Keys Cowslip Primula veris
Our Lady's Laurel February Daphne Daphne mezereum
Our Lady's Rue Meadow Rue Thalictrum diptero.
Our Lady's Shoes Columbine Aquilegia vulgaris
Our Lady's Thimble Harebell Campanula rotundif.
Mary's Hand Cinquefoil Potentilla nepal.
Mary's Pink Pink Campion Lynchis viscaria
Mary's Slipper Monkshood Aconitum napellus
Our Lady's Tears Lily-of-the-Valley Convallaria majelis
Madonna Lily Madonna Lily Lilium candidum
Candlemas Bells Snow Drop Galanthus nivalus
The iris, the royal lily, is the emblem of Our Lady's ancestry of
the royal house of David. Carnations and lilies have for centuries
been closely associated with Our Lady. Roses, especially, are
symbolic of Mary in religious art, and in prayer.
Even though the "postulant" gardener receives instruction and joy
from the sowing and tending of Our Lady's annuals flowers, his
real testing lies in the "novitiate" of Our Lady's perennials.
Anyone can obtain quick and easy results and a pleasing, colorful
appearance by growing bulbs, or annuals from seeds available at
the corner store, but perennials ask for more: their slower
sprouting and growth require the care of the good and faithful
steward who is willing to acquire knowledge and the practical
habits of the arts and crafts of horticulture. Perennials are not
for the slothful gardener who wants the biggest display with the
least work. Yet their tending is not difficult, their principal
need being a loving and virtuous caretaker who assumes his or her
stewardship thoughtfully, for the love of God and His creatures.
True happiness, peace, and joy in the garden do not come from
"hundreds of blossoms," "gigantic blooms," or "riotous color."
Neither do they come from scratching up some dirt and throwing in
a few easy seeds. Rather, they come from the devoted tending of
the good and faithful steward, who undertakes his work
prayerfully, realizing his dependence on God's providence, and who
sees in its fruits God's artistry and his riches.
May the undertaking of stewardship for Our Lady's Garden bring you
the unspeakable joy which comes of contemplating her flowers and
of thinking back upon the deep love which centuries ago moved
Christian men and women to dedicate them to her.
Reprinted with permission