The floral symbolism of the great masters - The Knowledge Den

28 FLORAL SYMBOLISM
which from being the flower indicative of
heavenly bhss became the especial flower of
the Virgin, typifying her purity. Also the rose,
the flower of martyrdom, became the symbol
of divine love, and the palm tree and the acan-
thus dropped out of devotional representations
altogether.
In the main, after the twelfth century,
symbolists were agreed. There were certain
fruits and flowers about which there never had
been any doubt. The vine had been the emblem
of Jesus Christ from the beginning of Christian
theology. The white lily, as a symbol of chastity,
came perhaps from the Hebrews, but all Christian
writers were agreed as to its fitness as a symbol
of purity and as an emblem or attribute of the
Virgin Mary. The violet was the symbol of
humility, and therefore, say Petrus of Capua
and Saint Mectilda, the emblem of Christ when
on earth. Saint Mectilda and Bishop Durandus,
for the same reason, consider it the emblem of
confessors.
The rose was long in disgrace as the flower
of Venus. But even saints could not exclude
it from their lives, and gradually it crept into