Ill 



THE LILY 



GiOACCHiNO Di FiORE, the mystical theologian 

 who founded the community of ' The Flower,' 

 and who is held by some to be the spiritual 

 father of Saint Francis, writing in the last decade 

 of the twelfth century, divided the life of human- 

 ity into three periods. In the first, during the 

 reign of the Father, men lived under the rule of 

 the law; in the second, reigned over by the 

 Son, men live beneath the rule of grace; in 

 the third the Spirit shall reign and men shall 

 live in the plenitude of love. The first saw 

 the shining of the stars; the second sees the 

 whitening of the dawn; the third will behold the 

 glory of the day. The first produced nettles; 

 the second gives roses; the third will be the 

 age of lilies. 



Thus as daylight to dawn or starlight, and as 

 love to grace and fear, were lilies to every other 



flower or weed, and since the twelfth century, in 



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