Floral Titles Of Our Lady: Our Lady Of The Meadows; Our Lady’s Ear-Drops; The Passion Flower; Lady Bell; Lady’s Slipper; Lady’s Needlework; Lady’s Thimble; Lady's Mantle.

"Mater Dolorosa."

(Mother of Sorrows).

Artist: Carlo Dolci (1616–1686).

Date: Circa 1600.

Current location: National Museum of Western Art,

Tokyo, Japan.

Source/Photographer: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from THE MARIAN LIBRARY

The following is a list of Mediæval Flowers of Our Lady from surviving oral popular Religious Traditions of the U.K. Countryside.

The primary sources are Britten and Holland's Dictionary of English Plant Names (1886) and Grigson's “An Englishman's Flora” (1958,) both based on local Texts and oral Traditions. Britten and Holland's listing is alphabetical; Grigson's listing is by botanical family, with information of the County location(s) in which each name was found to be current.

An additional source is Dowling's “The Flowers of the Sacred Nativity” (1900), based on a survey of Religious and Folklore Texts for shrubs and trees associated with Religious Customs and Celebrations.

Dode Church,

near Gravesend, Kent, England.

The Dedication of this Mediæval Church

is "Our Lady of The Meadows".

Illustration: PICTURES OF OLD ENGLAND

Religiously-named flowers, introduced from other Countries, are not included here, except for a few, whose names have become current in The U.K., such as Ladies' Ear-Drops (Fuchsia) and The Passion Flower.

Special mention should be made of The National Collection of Passiflora, in Bristol, documented, with exquisite photographs, by John Vanderplank in Passion Flowers (Second Edition), MIT Press, 1996.

"Our Lady's Ear-Drops"

(Fuchsia).

Photo: April 2003.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ellen Levy 

 Elf

(Wikimedia Commons)

Other, Secondary Sources, are:

The Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition, 1985), which contains the notation under "Lady":

“In names of plants, Lady’s . . . is, in origin, a shortening of Our Lady’s, and became familiar through the 16th-Century herbalists. In more recent times, Ladies’ has, in some cases, been substituted, the change being perhaps assisted by the old spelling “Ladies” of the possessive singular. The designation is usually given to plants of a more-than-usual beauty or delicacy. (Cf. German: Marien-; Frauen-. French: De Notre Dame)”.

“The Mary Calendar”, by Judith Smith (1930), which is included because it is the source of the list of plants desired for the planting by Frances Crane Lillie of Our Lady's Garden at the Angelus Tower of Saint Joseph's Church in Woods Hole, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, in 1932 - The Mother Garden of the contemporary Mary Garden Restoration Movement. Smith's listing is by bloom time through the year.

"The Passion Flower"

(Passiflora Cærulea),

This File: 24 August 2006.

User: Tomascastelazo.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tomas Castelazo.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Also included is the list of the plants "associated by Tradition and legend with The Blessed Virgin Mary" planted in beds of The Cloister Garden of The Cathedral Church of The Blessed Virgin Mary, in Lincoln, by John Codrington, of The Lincoln Herb Society, in 1979.

This composite listing is made alphabetically by botanical name, and includes listings of multiple Religious Names for the same plant where they occur. Columns (B)ritten, (C)odrington, (D)owling, (G)rigson, (O)xford, and (S)mith indicate the sources in which they are found. Also given, is the primary source from which each listing has been obtained.

Many of the U.K. Religious Flower Names are paralleled by similar names in the oral Religious Traditions of other Countries, such as France, Germany, Ireland, Spain and the Latin American Mission Countries - which are, or will be, listed in other studies on this Web-Site.

"Lady Bell"

(Adenophora Confusa").

Illustration: WHITE FLOWER FARM

Contemporary Mary Gardens typically draw on plant materials from all these Traditions to provide for horticultural and theological comprehensiveness, not limited to the plants of any one Tradition.

A unique aspect of the Old Religious Flower Names from The U.K., as can be seen from the list, is that they preponderantly refer to Our Lady, and, in this, to her Motherhood at The Nativity and in her envisaged life at Nazareth - to her person, her garments and her household articles.

English: "Lady's Slipper"

(Anthyllis Vulneraria).

Nederlands: Deze foto toont de Alpen-wondklaver.

Photo: 14 August 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: TeunSpaans.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In this, there is a striking correspondence with Old Marian English Poetry, which is most sublime in its praises of Mary's Maidenly Spirituality and her Divine Maternity. No doubt, there are correspondences here to the calling of England "Our Lady's Dowry", and to The Spirituality of Walsingham.

As each of the Nations glorifies God and The Salvation of The World in a special way, England, as reflected in its Religious Flower symbolism, offers the World a special sense of The Nativity of Christ, of Mary's Divine Maternity, and of The Way to Jesus through Mary's Joyful Mysteries.

It is to other Traditions - those of France, Germany, Spain and Latin America - that we turn for additional Flower Symbols of The Passion and Resurrection of Christ, and of The Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of Our Lady.

"Lady's Needlework"

(Anthriscus Sylvestris).

Illustration: FLOWERS.LA.COOCAN.JP

The U.K. Flowers of Our Lady.

References:

BRITT - Britten and Holland, A Dictionary of English Plant Names, Trubner, London, England, l878.

CODRIGTON - Codrington, John, The Plants of the Cloister Gardens, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, England, 1979.

DOWLING - Dowling, Alfred E.P. Raymond; The Flora of the Sacred Nativity; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd, London, England, 1900.

"Lady's Thimble"

(Campanula Rotondifolia).

Photo: 17 July 2005.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tigerente.

(Wikimedia Commons)

GRIGSON - Grigson, Geoffrey, The Englishman's Flora, Phoenix House Ltd, London, England, 1958.

OXFORD - The Oxford Dictionary, Clarendon Press, Oxford, England, 2nd Edition, 1989.

SMITH - Smith, Judith, The Mary Calendar, St. Dominic's Press, Ditchling, England, 1930.

“Lady's Mantle”.

(Alchemilla Vulgaris).

Illustration: RESEARCHGATE.NET

(uploaded by Graeme Tobyn).

A Little Levity To Lighten Your Day . . .

Tie-Wig. Bob-Wig. Bag-Wig. Periwig. Queue. Chiving Lay. Solitaire. Macaroni. Sunday Buckle. Part Two.

A Gentleman’s Wig.

Text and Illustrations: GERI WALTON

Besides the Tie-Wig, the Bob-Wig (Minor and Major) also became popular in the 1700s. It arrived on the scene during King George II’s reign.

What made this Wig popular was it “was a direct imitation of the natural hair, and was used chiefly by the commonalty [Editor: The common folk].

“The ’prentice Minor Bob was close and short; the citizen’s Bob Major, or Sunday Buckle, had several rows of curls.”[4]

Lord Bolingbroke in a full Dress Wig.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Macaronis [Editor: A pejorative term used to describe a fashionable fellow of Mid-18th-Century England. Stereotypically, men in the macaroni subculture dressed, spoke, and behaved, in an unusually sentimental and androgynous manner] similarly introduced a toupee that was supposed to be natural.

It had a large “Queue”, which required the hair to be very long to be fashionable. The Wig, having been made to imitate natural hair, became, in its turn, the model, and the natural hair was [soon] arranged to imitate the Wig.”[5]

Philippe Coypel in a Bag Wig in 1732.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

In France, Bag Wigs were called “Peruqes à la Regencé”. They came into fashion when the Duke of Orléans was serving as Regent (1715-1723) to King Louis XV.

Bag Wigs came into vogue in England a little later, around 1730. When they first appeared, they were not as popular as other style of Wigs, because these Wigs were claimed to have originated with French servants, “who tied up their hair in a black leather bag as a speedy way of dressing it, and keep it out of the way, flowing curls being thought out of place for a man waiting at table.”[6]

Bag Wigs got their name because they were exactly that, a Bagged Wig. In England, the long hair at the back of the Wig was placed in a black silk bag. Then, the ribbons attached to the bag, were pulled to the front and tied in a bow, known as a “Solitaire.”

Those who wore Wigs also powdered them. In fact, at universities, there were rooms set aside to accomplish this powdering. Powdering was applied fresh each morning by a gentleman’s valet. Powder was initially created from beanmeal, cornflour, wheat flour, “starch, alabaster, or plaster of Paris.”[7]

Eventually, just starch was used. Powders came in a variety of colours, too, with coal dust being used to create black hair powder. Additionally, perfumers quickly became experts in colouring the hair, and, for a time, it was quite fashionable to shade the hair to match the degree of mourning a person was undergoing. To learn more about powdering, click here.

Scents were also added to the hair. For instance, pomade or pomatum was a greasy substance, or ointment, that was scented or perfumed and used to give hair a shiny, slick appearance, as well as keep the hairstyle in place, and even women like Marie Antoinette or the Princesse de Lamballe used this product.

PART THREE FOLLOWS.

Our Lady Of Ransom, Whose Feast Day Is, Today, 24 September.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Our Lady of Ransom.
   Feast Day 24 September.

Greater-Double.

White Vestments.

Our Blessed Lady of Mercy.
Illustration: TRANSALPINE REDEMPTORISTS
The Web-Site of The Mercedarian Friars is at
THE ORDER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY OF MERCY

The Blessed Virgin appeared in the 13th-Century to Saint Peter Nolasco (Feast Day 28 January), to Saint Raymund of Pennafort (Feast Day 23 January), and to James, King of Aragon, requesting them to found a Religious Institute with the object of delivering Christian captives from the barbarous Saracens (Collect), who then held a great part of Spain.

In consequence of this, on 10 August 1218, King James of Aragon established The Royal, Military and Religious Order of Our Lady of Ransom (Editor: The Mercedarian Friars), and granted to its Members the privilege of bearing on their breasts his own Coat-of-Arms.

Most of them were Knights, and while the Clerics recited The Divine Office in The Commanderies, they guarded the coasts and delivered prisoners. This pious work spread everywhere and produced heroes of Sanctity and men of incomparable Charity and Piety, who devoted themselves to the collection of Alms for The Ransom of Christians, and who often gave themselves up as prisoners to deliver captives.

This Feast, originally kept only by The Order, was extended to the whole Church by Pope Innocent XII in the 17th-Century.

Mass: Salve, Sancta Parens.
Creed.
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin Mary: "Et te in Festivitáte".

Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and The Redemption of Captives. Ordo Beatæ Mariæ de Mercede redemptionis captivorum.

English: Coat-of-Arms of The Mercedarians

Català: Escut de la Orde de la Mercè

Español: Escudo de la Orden de la Merced

Date: 6 April 2011.

Source: [1]

Author: Heralder

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

The Feast of Our Lady of Ransom is a Roman Catholic Liturgical Marian Feast on 24 September, a Double Major Ranking of Liturgical Days in The Roman Rite, commemorating The Foundation of The Mercedarians.

On 10 August 1223, The Mercedarian Order was legally constituted at Barcelona, Spain, by King James of Aragon, and was approved by Pope Gregory IX on 17 January 1235.

The Mercedarians Celebrated their Institution on the Sunday nearest to 1 August (on which date, in the year 1233, The Blessed Virgin was believed to have shown Saint Peter Nolasco The White Habit of The Order), and this custom was approved by The Congregation of Rites on 4 April 1615 (Anal. Juris Pont., VII, 136).

But The Calendar of The Spanish Mercedarians of 1644 has it on 1 August as a Double. The Proper Lessons were approved on 30 April 1616. The Feast was granted to Spain (The Sunday which was nearest to 1 August) on 15 February 1680; to France, 4 December 1690. On 22 February 1696, it was extended to the entire Latin Church, and the date changed to 24 September.

The Mercedarians keep this Feast as a Double of The First-Class, with a Vigil, Privileged Octave, and Proper Office, under the Title: “Solemnitas Descensionis B. Mariæ V. de Mercede”.

Our Lady of Ransom is The Principal Patron of Barcelona: The Proper Office was extended to Barcelona (1868) and to all Spain (Double of The Second-Class, 1883).

Sicily, which had suffered so much from the Saracens, took up the old date of The Feast (Sunday nearest to 1 August) by permission of The Congregation of Rites, since 31 August 1805 (Double Major), Apparition of Our Lady to Saint Peter Nolasco in The Choir of Barcelona, on The Sunday after 24 September.

In England, The Devotion to Our Lady of Ransom was revived in modern times to obtain the rescue of England as Our Lady’s Dowry.

Feast Day Of The Blessed Virgin, Styled “Of Ransom”. Taken From The Roman Breviary (Summer). 24 September.

 

Text from The Roman Breviary.

Translated out of Latin into English by
John, Marquess of Bute, K.T.
Volume II.
Summer.
1879.

Feast Day Of The Blessed Virgin, Styled “Of Ransom”.

24 September.

Greater-Double.

All as in The Common Office, (page 894), except the following.

Prayer throughout the Office.

O, God, Who didst use the glorious Mother of Thy Son as a mean to ransom Christ’s faithful people out of the hands of unbelievers, by enriching Thy Church with yet another family, grant, we beseech Thee, that we who reverently honour her as the Foundress of that great work, may for her sake and by her Prayers, be redeemed from all sin and all bondage unto the evil one.

Through the same Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of The Holy Ghost, one God, World without end.

Amen.

At First Vespers, a Commemoration is made of Saint Linus.

Mattins.

First Nocturn.

Lessons from Prov. viii., ix., as in The Common.

Second Nocturn.

Fourth Lesson.

In the early part of the 13th-Century of the era of Our Lord, the greatest and fairest part of Spain lay crushed under the yoke of the Saracens, and countless numbers of the Faithful were held in brutal slavery, with the most lively danger of being made to deny the Christian Faith and of losing everlasting salvation.

Amid such sorrows, The Most Blessed Queen of Heaven came mercifully to the rescue, and showed how the greatness of her motherly love was fain for their redemption.

Holy Peter Nolasco, in the full bloom of the treasures of Godliness as well as rich in Earthly wealth, was earnestly pondering with himself how he could succour so many suffering Christians dwelling in bondage to The Moors.

To him appeared with gracious visage The Most Blessed Virgin, and bade him know that it would be well-pleasing in her own sight, and in the sight of her Only-Begotten Son, that an Order of Religious men should be Founded in her honour, whose work it should be to redeem prisoners from Mohammedan slavery.

Strengthened by this Heavenly vision, the man of God began to burn with wonderful Charity, nursing in his heart the one desire that he himself and the Order which he should Found might exercise that love, greater than which hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John xv. 13.)

Fifth Lesson.

Upon the same night, the same Most Holy Virgin appeared to the Blessed Raymund de Peñafuerte, and to James, King of Aragon, charging them concerning the Founding of the Order, and desiring them to help in raising up so great a work.

Peter betook himself forthwith to the feet of Raymund, who was his Confessor, and laid the matter before him, whom he also found taught from Heaven, and to whose governance he right humbly submitted himself.

Then came King James, who appointed to carry out this revelation, which himself also had received from The Most Blessed Virgin.

The three took counsel together, and all with one consent entered upon the institution of an Order in honour of the said Virgin Mother, to be placed under the invocation of “Saint Mary of Ransom, for the redemption of captives.”

Sixth Lesson.

Upon the 10th of August, in the year of Our Lord1218, the above-named King James decreed the establishment of this Order, thus already conceived by these holy men.

The brethren take, [in addition to the vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience], a fourth vow, whereby they bind themselves to remain in pawn with the unbelievers, if need so require, for the liberation of Christians.

The King granted them the right to bear on their breasts his own Royal  blazon, and obtained from Pope Gregory IX the confirmation of this Institute and Order so nobly marked by brotherly Charity.

God, Himself, through The Virgin Mother, gave the increase, causing this Institute speedily  and prosperously to spread through all the World, and to blossom with holy men, great in love and Godliness, to spend in the redemption of their neighbours the alms which are committed to them by Christ’s faithful people, to that end, and some whiles to give themselves up for the ransom of many.

That due thanks might be rendered to God and to The Virgin Mother for the great Blessing of this Institute, the See Apostolic among other well-nigh countless favours bestowed upon it, permitted that this special Feast Day should be kept and this Office said.

Third Nocturn.

Lessons from Luke xi. 27, with the Homily of The Venerable Bede (page 899).

Ember Saturday In September.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Ember Saturday in September.

Station at Saint Peter’s.

Violet Vestments.

Iona Abbey,

Scotland.

Image: SHUTTERSTOCK

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the year, the Jews used to celebrate, at the conclusion of the harvest, The Feast of Tabernacles, and lived during eight days under tents, or huts made of foliage, in remembrance of the nomadic life of the Israelites in the desert (Second Lesson).

This Feast was preceded, on the tenth of the month, by the very solemn Day of Expiation, called Holy (First Lesson). On this day, the High Priest purified himself in the basin which stood before the Sanctuary *, then, taking the blood of the victims, he entered The Holy of Holies and Prayed near The Mercy-Seat (Epistle). [* The Holy Water Stoups in our Churches recall this basin, known as "The Brazen Sea".]

The Saturday in The September Ember Week, formerly the seventh month of the year, recalls this Feast, both of Penance and Joy.

The Prophets, Micheas, Zacharias, and Daniel, whose writings were read through during the night, or Vigil, preceding the Sunday *, speak in similar terms of the Salvation brought by God to those who atone for their sins and implore His protection amid the dangers that threaten them. [* Formerly, Mass was not said on Saturday morning; but, after a night passed in Prayer and reading the Scriptures, The Holy Sacrifice was offered at dawn. Hence the large number of Collects and Lessons which characterise The Mass of The Saturday in Ember Week.]

The Epistle shows the new alliance which Jesus Christ has established between our repentant Souls and God, by offering to Him, in the real Holy of Holies, which is Heaven, The Blood which He shed upon The Cross to atone for our sins.

In the same way that Jesus delivered the woman whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, and like the gardener mentioned in the Gospel, the Priests heal our Souls, and, by their Prayers and their untiring zeal, ward off from Souls the rigours of Divine Justice, making them produce the sweet fruits of Penance and good works; this Mass is, therefore, eminently suited for an Ordination.

After the Kyrie, The Tonsure is conferred; after The First Lesson are Ordained The Door-Keepers; after The Second Lesson are Ordained The Readers; after The Third Lesson are Ordained The Exorcists; after The Fourth Lesson are Ordained The Acolytes; after The Fifth Lesson are Ordained The Sub-Deacons; after the Epistle are Ordained The Deacons, and, before the last verse of The Tract, are Ordained The Priests.

Mass: Veníte, adorémus.

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Saint Thecla. Virgin And Martyr. Feast Day, Today, 23 September.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Thecla.
   Virgin and Martyr.
   Feast Day 23 September.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

Saint Thecla.

Virgin and Martyr.

Illustration: CATHOLIC HARBOR OF FAITH AND MORALS

"In Lycaonia," says The Roman Martyrology, "Saint Thecla, Virgin and Martyr, who, brought to The Faith by The Holy Apostle Paul, at Iconium (Asia Minor), victoriously underwent the torments of flames and wild beasts, under the Emperor Nero". Having recovered, she died in peace at Seleucia.

Mass: Loquébar.

English: Saint Thecla (Mar Takla) Monastery, Ma'loula, Syria.

Français: Vue du monastère de Sainte-Thècle

(Mar Takla), Maaloula, Syrie.

Photo: 1 April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Bernard Gagnon

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia.

Thecla, or Tecla (Ancient Greek: Θέκλα, Thékla), was a Saint of The Early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul The Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla.

The Acts of Paul and Thecla is a 1st- or 2nd-Century A.D. Text, which forms part of The Acts of Paul, but also circulated separately. According to the Text, Thecla was a young noble Virgin from Iconium, who listened to Paul's "discourse on Virginity", espoused the teachings and became estranged to her fiancé, Thamyris, and her mother. They became concerned Thecla would follow Paul's demand, "one must fear only one God and live in Chastity", and turned to the authorities to punish both Paul and Thecla.

Thecla was miraculously saved from burning at the stake by the onset of a storm and travelled with Paul to Antioch of Pisidia. There, a nobleman named Alexander desired Thecla and attempted to take her by force. Thecla fought him off, assaulting him in the process, and was put on trial for assaulting a nobleman. She was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts, but was again saved by a series of Miracles when the female beasts protected her against her male aggressors. While in the arena, she Baptised herself.

She rejoined Paul in Myra, and travelled to preach The Word of God and became an icon encouraging women to also live a life of Chastity and follow The Word of The Lord. She went to live in Seleucia, Cilicia. According to some versions of The Acts, she lived in a cave there for seventy-two years. Becoming a healer, the Hellenistic physicians in the City lost their livelihood and solicited young men to attack her. As they were about to take her, a new passage was opened in the cave and the stones closed behind her. She was able to go to Rome.

“The Mass Of The Foundation Of The Trinitarian Order”.

Artist: Juan Carreño de Miranda.

Illustration: LOUVRE

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

Available (in U.K.) from

CENACLE CATHOLIC BOOKS

Available (in U.S.A.) from

ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS

Available (in Ireland) from

SILVERSTREAM PRIORY