^ Violets, ^Primroses and Wallflowers $£ 

 I love Henry Vaughan's lines about violets : 



* As harmless violets, which give 



Their virtues here 

 For salves and syrups while they live, 

 Do after calmly disappear, 

 And neither grieve, repine, nor fear : 



So dye his servants ; and as sure 



Shall they revive. 

 Then let not dust your eyes obscure, 

 But lift them up, where still alive, 

 Though fled from you, their spirits hive.' 



The violet is the symbol of humility. Over thirteen 

 centuries ago the bishop-poet Fortunatus sent to Queen 

 Radegonde of saintly fame violets and other scented 

 flowers, and with his gift he wrote, * He who offers 

 violets must in love be held to offer roses. Of all the 

 fragrant herbs I send none can compare in nobleness 

 with the purple violet. They shine in royal purple : per- 

 fume and beauty unite in their petals. May you show 

 forth in your life what they represent.' In Giovanni di 

 Paolo's paradise the redeemed wander in meadows 

 blossoming with the violets of humility and the lilies of 

 purity. In the Adorations by the great masters, notably 

 Botticelli, the violet symbolizes above all the humility 

 of the Son of God, Who came to this earth as a little 

 Child. In like manner the jasmine flowers tell us of 

 the starry Heavens He left, and roses of the Divine 

 love which sent Him to this earth. In an altar-piece 

 by Lochner the Holy Child seated on His Mother's lap 

 stretches up to take a violet held by her. In Signorelli's 

 Madonna, in the Cathedral of Perugia, transparent vases 



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