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, Saint 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 . . .

Vocations To The Priesthood.

Illustration: 

INSTITUTE OF CHRIST THE KING SOVEREIGN PRIEST

and

NEWSLETTER

Vocations To The Priesthood.

Tonsure.

Porter.

Lector.

Exorcist.

Acolyte.

Sub-Deacon.

Deacon.

Priest.

Our Lady Of Ransom. Feast Day 24 September.

“Madonna of Mercy”.

“Maria de Mercede”.

Artist: Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494).

Date: Circa 1472.

Collection: Ognissanti Church, Florence.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text is from
“The Liturgical Year”.
   By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
      Volume 14.
      Time After Pentecost.
      Book V.

The Office of the time gives us, at the close of September, the Books of Judith and Esther. These heroic women were figures of Mary, whose birthday is the honour of this month, and who comes at once to bring assistance to the World.

“Adonai, Lord God, great and admirable, Who has wrought salvation by the hand of a woman:” [Editor: Magnificat Antiphon. First Vespers. Fourth Sunday of September] The Church thus introduces the history of the heroine, who delivered Bethulia by the sword, whereas Mardochai’s niece rescued her people from death by her winsomeness and her intercession.

The Queen of Heaven, in her peerless perfection, outshines them both, in gentleness, in valour, and in beauty. Today’s Feast is a memorial of the strength she puts forth for the deliverance of her people.

Finding their power crushed in Spain, and in The East checked by the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Saracens, in the 12th-Century, became wholesale pirates, and scoured the seas to obtain slaves for the African markets.

We shudder to think of the numberless victims, of every age, sex, and condition, suddenly carried off from the coasts of Christian lands, or captured on the High Seas, and condemned to the disgrace of the Harem, or the miseries of the Bagnio [Editor: Brothel].

Here, nevertheless, in many an obscure prison, were enacted scenes of heroism worthy to compare with those witnessed in the early persecutions; here was a new field for Christian Charity; new horizons opened out for heroic self-devotion. Is not the spiritual good thence arising a sufficient reason for the permission of temporal ills ? Without this permission, Heaven would have for ever lacked a portion of its beauty.

When, in 1696, Pope Innocent XII extended this Feast to the whole Church, he afforded the World an opportunity of expressing its gratitude by a testimony as universal as the benefit received.

Differing from the Order of Holy Trinity, which had been already twenty years in existence, the Order of Mercy was Founded as it were in the very face of the Moors; and, hence, it originally numbered more Knights than Clerks among its Members.

It was called the Royal, Military, and Religious Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the ransom of captives.

The Clerics were charged with the Celebration of the Divine Office in the Commanderies; the Knights guarded the coasts, and undertook the perilous enterprise of ransoming Christian captives.

Saint Peter Nolasco was the first Commander, or Grand Master, of the Order; when his Relics were discovered, he was found armed with Sword and Cuirass.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia, unless stated otherwise.

A Feast Day was instituted and observed on 24 September, first in the Religious Order,[1] then in Spain and France. 

The Calendar of the Spanish Mercedarians of 1644 has it on 1 August, as a Double.

Proper Lessons were approved on 30 April 1616. The Feast was granted to Spain (on the Sunday nearest to 1 August) on 15 February 1680, and to France, on 4 December 1690. 

On 22 February 1696, it was extended to the entire Latin Church, and the date changed to 24 September.[5]

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”.[5]

In August 1805, Sicily, which had suffered so much from the Saracens, was given permission by the Congregation of Rites to observe the Commemoration of the “Apparition of Our Lady to Saint Peter Nolasco in the Choir of Barcelona” on the old date of the Feast (the Sunday nearest to 1 August). 

In England, the Devotion to Our Lady of Ransom was revived in modern times in recognition of England’s historic title as “Our Lady’s Dowry”.[6]

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).

Cardinal Burke’s Reflection On The Novena To Our Lady Of Guadalupe.

Cardinal Burke’ Reflection On 

The Novena To Our Lady Of Guadalupe.

Available on YouTube

HERE