Church Flowers for Corpus Christi

This Thursday, June 4, is the Feast of Corpus Christi. Orange or golden flowers seem particularly suitable.   The color of the vestments and altar frontals is white.  A church flower book by Katherine Morrison McClinton (an Anglican/ Episcopalian) says that "yellow and white or white and gold are the appropriate flowers" for Corpus Christi. She suggests using Shasta daisies, calla lilies, or white and yellow roses. See the post Orange Flowers for Church Decoration for more information. (It includes golden flowers as well as orange).

Also, please see Gemma's altar flowers for Corpus Christi.

Source for text:
McClinton, Katherine Morrison, Flower Arrangement in the Church (Morehouse-Gorham Co., New York, 1958), p. 97.

Image:
A yellow rose, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved (Click for license.)

Trinity Sunday Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy

 

Today is Trinity Sunday. This beloved hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy", was composed for Trinity Sunday in 1826 by an Anglican clergyman, Reginald Heber:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

Image: Jean Fouquet's Enthronement of the Virgin also known as Trinity in Its Glory

This artwork is a 15th century illuminated miniature for the manuscript Hours of Etienne Chevalier.  It is particularly appropriate today since it is both Trinity Sunday and the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, although Trinity Sunday has precedence.

Trinity Sunday Art Series: Knight's Shield Illustration

 

This depiction of the Trinity is a manuscript illustration.  It shows a knight with a Trinity shield going forth to fight against the Seven Deadly Sins.  Here is a closeup of the shield:

The manuscript it illustrates is the 13th century Summa Vitiorum (Treatise on the Vices) by William Peraldus.  The artist is unknown.  The manuscript is located in the British Library (not the same as the British Museum).

Here is a view showing the Seven Deadly Sins:

The Seven Deadly Sins are shown as demons.  In the traditional order presented top to bottom on the illustration they are:  Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed/ covetousness, Gluttony, and Lust/self-indulgence.