CHAPTER XV 



OUR lady's flowers 



" Mystic Rose ! that precious name, 

 Mary from the Church doth claim; 

 In the lily's silver bells, 

 The purity of Mary dwells. 

 In the myrtle's fadeless green, 

 Mary's constancy is seen." 



In the olden days, before men had been brought 

 under the influence of the Reformation, we find 

 that there were certain flowers and plants, that had 

 been held sacred to the heathen deities of classical 

 mythology. 



The first two days of the week were set apart to 

 the sun and moon god, Tuesday was named after 

 Tuisco, Wednesday after Woden, Thursday after 

 Thor, the god of War and Thunder, and Friday 

 after Freyja. 



To Freyja, as to Venus, many plants were dedi- 

 cated, and all these were quite naturally transferred 

 to the patronage of Our Lady. The ladybird was 

 once Freyja's own insect, and Orion's Belt, which 

 in Sweden is still called Freyja's spindle, belongs 

 to Mary. 



The Holy Virgin is our Rose of Sharon and 



Lily of the Valley; and the poetry, no less than the 



piety of Europe, has inscribed to her the whole 



bloom and colouring of the fields and hedges. 



The choicest flowers were wrested from the classic 



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