Tuesday, July 8, 2025

St. Thomas More's Flowers

 

July 9 is the traditional feast day of St. Thomas More.  It would be interesting to try to identify the flowers in the above image and reproduce them in his honor on his feast day.

The arrangement depicted above is from a famous painting of the family of St. Thomas More (1478-1535).  Most readers likely know that Thomas More was the lawyer, scholar, and statesman ho was martyred by Henry VIII because he refused to accept Henry as the head of the church in England or the legitimacy of Henry's marriage to Anne Boylen.



An original drawing for a painting of the family was done by the artist Hans Holbein the Younger around 1527.  Holbein also painted the famous portrait of More in his attire as Lord Chancellor of England that is now in the Frick Collection in New York.

Holbein did complete the family painting but it was destroyed.  Rowland Lockey painted the version just above based on Holbein's drawing.  The sketch by Holbein showed a vase of flowers and Lockey elaborated on them.

It seems likely that the flowers were grown right there in More's gardens at his estate at Chelsea.  According to one of More's biographers, Peter Ackroyd:
"[T]he gardens were filled with a variety of trees and herbs and flowering shrubs.  In particular there was a mulberry tree, because its name is morus, as well as rosemary and lilies, gillyflowers and sweet cabbage roses.  There was an orchard with its apple trees and pear trees, plums and apricots and spreading vines.  The house was approached by a path, with a few steps leading up to a front porch decorated with jasmine and honeysuckle." 
(Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More, Doubleday, 1998, p. 252.)
Interestingly, although the manor house is long gone, the mulberry tree is still standing and pilgrims often visit it.  There is a commemorative plaque at the foot of the tree.  According to the plaque, More, his family and friends liked to gather there to talk and enjoy the company of one another.  You can read more about the tree at More's Mulberry blog.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

The Rose and the Precious Blood of Christ


In the traditional calendar, today, July 1, is the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of us will pray the Litany of the Precious Blood daily throughout the month of July and will honor this aspect of Our Divine Savior in some special way in the sacred spaces in our homes.

While many Catholics are aware of the symbolism of the rose in relation to the Virgin Mary, fewer may be aware that Our Lord's Precious Blood is also symbolized by the rose:
"Albert Magnus . . wrote of 'the rose made red by the blood of Christ in his passion' and described Christ as the rose of Jericho blossoming in the resurrection,' A popular guide to rosary devotion similarly alluded to the rosary as crimson 'because the Precious Blood of Our Lord has fallen upon it.' In medieval texts, 'Christ is the rosebush,' 'each drop of his precious blood is like one of its blossoms,' his blood is 'rose colored,' and his wounds correspond to the rose's petals' . The rose represents Christ's wounded sacred heart, the cup that collects his spilled blood and the resurrection as a blood-red blossoming out of death."
A relationship between Christ's blood and the rose is also found in the title and first line of Joseph Mary Plunkett's poem, I See His Blood Upon the Rose.

The blog Holy Cards for Your Inspiration has a lovely Precious Blood holy card entitled Chalice of Love.

Source:
The quoted material is from Graziano, Frank; Wounds of Love (Oxford University Press U.S., New York, 2004); p. 72. (Please note that this book on the whole is NOT recommended as it presents a distorted view of St. Rose of Lima.)

Image:
Rose bush from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.

Friday, June 27, 2025

Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

 


Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ graciously hear us

God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, have mercy on us.

(Repeat "Have mercy on us" after each phrase below)
Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost, 
Heart of Jesus, united substantially with the word of God, 
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High, 
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven, 
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity, 
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love, 
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love, 
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise, 
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts, 
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, 
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity, 
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased, 
Heart of Jesus,  we have all received, 
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills, 

Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy, 
Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee, 
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness, 
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins, 
Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings,
Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities, 
Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death, 
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, 
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, 
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection,
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, 
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee, 
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee, 
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints,


Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, oh Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, Christ graciously spare us.
Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

V. Jesus, meek and humble of Heart. R. Make our hearts like unto Thine.

Let us pray -  Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end.