Mary Gardens and More . . .

John Stokes must have been at my shoulder, encouraging me on, as I surfed the web the other day looking for Mary Gardens! There must be more than we know of, I thought, as I clicked here and there. And sure enough, I found two (there may be more, yet to be discovered) as well as a Hospitallers’ garden and a saint’s garden.

First are the medieval gardens at the Church of St. Mary de Haura, Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex, England. They include the Mary Garden, planted for the 900th anniversary celebrations in May, 2003, and the Hospitallers’ Garden, established as part of the anniversary celebrations in June, 2003. The web site http://www.stmarydehaura.org.uk/gardens.html describes the Mary Garden:

In medieval times, a garden could have a symbolic and spiritual dimension. The hortus conclusus or 'enclosed garden' was a sacred area which might represent the Christian soul, enclosed in the body, or the Church, formed of the body of the faithful. It was also, in the late Middle Ages, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, identified with the bride in the Song of Songs in the Old Testament. In the 15th century, depictions of the Virgin in a Paradise Garden were frequent, in particular in Flemish and German painting. In these images, the flowers all have a symbolic meaning, representing Mary's virtues. By growing these flowers in a bed outside our own church dedicated to St Mary, we have created an area of colour and interest, and also linked ourselves with the medieval inhabitants of Shoreham, who would have understood very well the spiritual significance of these lovely plants.

The Hospitallers’ Garden offered treatment for the sick, the aged and the poor of the area, but, above all, it provided a caring environment for weary and under-nourished pilgrims and gave them the opportunity to recover their strength and to continue their journey. The use of herbal remedies was very important and the Hospitallers relied on the abundance of healing herbs growing in the garden. 

The saint’s garden is dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. It is in Boston, on the grounds of the historic Old North Church, also known as Christ Church, built in 1723. It is Boston’s oldest church building. On the steeple of the church, the tallest in Boston, Robert Newman used lanterns to signal the approach of the British regulars: “One if by land, and two, if by sea.” Paul Revere was one of the neighborhood bell ringers.

The Chapel of St. Francis at Christ Church was built in 1918 to meet the needs of Italian immigrants who belonged to the Waldensian Reform movement. When the small community moved on, the building found new use as the Old North Church Museum and Gift Shop. In the 1970’s the St. Francis of Assisi Garden was established, to remember the Waldensian presence and commemorate the links between the 1723 church and the 1918 chapel. 

The present garden began in 1995 as a volunteer project of the Old North Church Gardeners – members of the church’s congregation and their North End neighbors. The plants and shrubs are similar to the ones used in the late 18th century and are suitable for the partial shade and clay soil of the setting. 

Finally, my search took me to the web site for the Mary’s Garden of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in North Huntingdon, PA. The Christian Mothers and Ladies Guild began the planning for the Mary’s Garden in the fall of 1999. The new officers, looking for a project for the church and also a way to honor Mary, decided to pursue the idea of a Mary Garden after two of its members, who had attended a horticultural class, got the idea for the garden. The garden was dedicated on May 19, 2002. I know there are more Mary Gardens out there, and I urge you to send information about them to me – either as a comment at the end of this blog, or in an e-mail to vincenzina@krymow.com - so they may be included on the Mary’s Gardens web site.

Our Lady of the Rosary

The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was established by Pope St. Pius V to honor and thank Mary for the Christian victory over the Turks at Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The Pope and all Christians had prayed the Rosary for victory, a victory which saved Europe from being overrun by the forces of Islam. In her 1955 memoir, Around the Year with the Trapp Family, Maria Von Trapp wrote:

Two months in the year are especially dedicated to the Blessed Mother – the month of May and the month of October – October is the month dedicated to the Rosary, since the feast of the Most Holy Rosary is celebrated on October 7th. In these months the Blessed Mother’s statue or her picture in the living room are daily decorated with fresh flowers and candles. The family adds one or the other prayer, mornings and nights, such as the Salve Regina or the Memorare or the Magnificat. It is traditional throughout the Catholic world to sing hymns in honor of Mary the Mother of God…We love especially the round by Mozart. It is composed only on the two words with which the Angel greeted Our Lady the first time and which countless millions of lips have repeated since: Ave Maria.

The Rosary, or the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is considered one of the best prayers to Mary, the Mother of God. My Rosary is always at my bedside, and I go to sleep praying the Rosary. I like to alternate the language, in English, Italian and French; somehow it seems more meaningful to do that, and I have to concentrate more – I can’t just rattle off the words. “Ave Maria, piena di grazia…” and “Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grace…” As I say the words I focus on the meaning of each word and phrase. In The Garden Way of the Rosary, on the Mary’s Gardens web site, John Stokes explains that the name Rosary, meaning a garland or bouquet of roses, was given to the Psalter of Our Lady because of an early legend which connected this name with a story of Our Lady, who was seen taking rosebuds from the lips of a young monk when he was reciting Hail Marys, and to weave them into a garland which she placed upon her head. In October, 2002, Pope John Paul II introduced the Luminous Mysteries. In his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, he said,

Moving on from the infancy and the hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those mysteries which may be called in a special way ‘mysteries of light.’ Certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the ‘light of the world.’ Yet this truth emerges in a special way during the years of his public life, when he proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom.

The five Luminous Mysteries (the Mysteries of Light), are the Baptism in the Jordan, the Wedding at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration and the Institution of the Eucharist. In the foreword to her book, The Rosary of Jesus & Mary, published in 2003, Sister Jean Frisk writes:

The rosary is like a journey that begins and ends at home. To pray the Rosary means to look at Jesus through Mary’s eyes, through Mary’s heart, for none can be found who loved Him more faithfully. She journeys with him from the moment of his Conception, through his death, resurrection, and ascension until she one day joins him in that eternal home called heaven. When we take the Rosary in hand and let the beads slip through our fingers, we walk full circle with Mary as our loving mother, who will contemplate the face of her beloved and divine Son with us until our lives, too, like hers, will mirror Christ’s being and actions here on earth.

In the Midwest flowers to honor Mary at this time can include such traditional fall flowers as asters and chrysanthemums but other climates have their own favorites. An online search revealed the existence of Crassula rupestris, known as the Rosary vine, listed under cactus and succulents!