THE ROSE 73 



But the Church, always wise in matters 

 aesthetic, did not insist upon the tragic signifi- 

 cance of the rose. It was allowed to be still the 

 symbol of love, but of divine love, and it is as 

 the symbol of the love of God that it now 

 decorates our churches in carvings of wood or 

 stone, in the silver work of church ornaments and 

 on embroidered vestments and altar front als. 



The rose has never been especially associated 

 with the person of Christ. Origen, who held 

 that the text which we render, ' I am the rose 

 of Sharon,' was a self-description of our Lord, 

 read the verse, ' I am the flower of the field,' 

 so giving the Church no clear image. When 

 in art an emblem was required to represent our 

 Lord, the ancient catacomb devices of the 

 lamb and the vine were employed. Any re- 

 ference to Him under the metaphor of a flower 

 was rare and usually vague, as the charming 

 ' gold flower ' of the Blickhng HomiUes. ' Then 

 the Queen of all the maidens gave birth to the 

 true Creator and Consoler of mankind, when the 

 gold-flower came unto this world and received 

 a human body from S. Mary, the spotless 

 Virgin.' 



