i6 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



find no higher emblem for the Virgin than a 

 flower : 



' And thou that art the floure of Virgins all; ' 



while Dante, who, more than any other single 

 writer, has influenced sacred art, uses the same 

 imagery : 



' Here is the Rose 



Wherein the Word Divine was made incarnate. 

 And here the Ulies, by whose order known 

 The way of Ufe was followed.' 



The Churchmen of the day caught the spirit 

 of the Humanists, and there sprang up a school 

 of symboUsts who concerned themselves largely 

 with plants, fruits and flowers. The writings 

 of the early symbolists, Origen, Saint Mehtus, 

 Bishop of Sardes, Saint Jerome, Saint Ambrose, 

 Walafrid Strabo and Raban Maur, Archbishop 

 of Mayence, were re-studied and their allusions 

 to the plant world noted. Durandus, Bishop 

 of Mende, whose Rationale, published in 1295, 

 is still considered the supreme authority on the 

 spiritual significance of Church architecture 

 and Church ornament, held flowers in general 

 to be the emblems of goodness. 'They repre- 



