220 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



sent merely the flora of Heaven with the general 

 significance of celestial bhss. In the early mosaics, 

 too, both in Ravenna and Rome, the lilies are deco- 

 rative and the virgins carry crowns of victory. 



But as early as the ninth century the lily 

 is used pictorially as the indication of virginity 

 in the famous Beneditional of Saint Ethelwold 

 of Winchester." The Saxon queen. Saint Ethel- 

 reda (Saint Audry), who leads the choir of virgin 

 saints, wears the Benedictine habit, is crowned, 

 and holds in one hand the gospel and in the 

 other a lily. She founded Ely Cathedral and, at 

 least after her second marriage, lived as a nun. 

 The miniature was executed in 980. 



In the Church of S. Chiara in Naples there 

 is a picture executed in mosaic of the early 

 Christian martyr. Saint Reparata. The mosaic, 

 which is of the thirteenth century, is attributed 

 to Cavallini, and the saint has a lily by her side. 



But after the thirteenth century the lily is 

 given almost exclusively to saints of the monastic 

 orders, the higher distinction of the palm being 

 awarded to the martyrs. ' For,' says Durandus, 

 ' the Martyrdom taketh precedence of the 



' In Collection of the Duke of Devonshire. 



