Pink Roses and the Virgin's Immaculate Heart

Today August 22 is the traditional Catholic feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Fish Eaters has an excellent page on the Immaculate Heart and also a page on the related Miraculous Medal devotion.

In keeping with the theme of this blog, this post is about why -- as I mentioned in an earlier post -- devotional pictures and statutes of the Immaculate Heart usually show the Blessed Mother's heart surrounded by a wreath of pink roses. Why pink?

I found the explanation in an article at EWTN on another topic. The answer is that pink is a mixture of red and white. In turn, red stands for love and sacrifice while white stands for purity. That is, Immaculate = white, Heart = red, Immaculate Heart = pink.

It's as simple as that -- and rather nice, I think.

Image:
19th century devotional picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.