go Tall Bearded Iris 



To hide with direr guilt 

 Past ill and future, lo! the Flower-de-luce 

 Enters Alagna; in his Vicar Christ 

 Himself a captive, and his mockery 

 Acted again. 



Dante: Purgatory. 



SYMBOL. IN GENERAL. — In ancient times, 

 among different peoples (as, Assyrians, Egyptians, 

 Greeks, Persians, Romans) tlie Fleur-de-lis was a 

 symbol of various significations (as, Eloquence, Fe- 

 cundity, Power, Success, Wisdom). 



RELIGIOUS SYMBOL.— The Fleur-de-lis was 

 early used in art as a symbol of Divine Majesty (as, 

 by placing crowns decorated with the Fleur-de-lis 

 upon the heads of God the Father, of God the Son, 

 and also on the head of the Virgin Mary). Thus in 

 a stained glass window in the cathedral (dating from 

 the 13th century) at Troyes, France, God the Father 

 holding the crucifix wears a tiara of five tiers, each 

 decorated with the Fleur-de-lis. 



In olden days in Catholic countries the Fleur-de-lis 

 was held peculiarly sacred to the Virgin Mary. It 

 was constantly repeated in the religious pictures of 

 the early masters (as, the Adorations, the Annuncia- 

 tions, the Immaculate Conceptions), sometimes used 

 as the symbol of spotless purity of the Maid of Naz- 

 areth, but more frequently as the attribute of the 

 Queen of Heaven. 



There is a story which is related in Rev. H. Fruend's 

 "Flowers and Flower Lore": 



