If you’d told me a couple of years ago that I would one day have a statue of Mary in my garden, I would think you were crazy. Too Catholic!
How times change. Now that I have crossed the Tiber and have seen the beauty and truth of her role in redemption history, I am proud to “call her blessed,” and to give her a place of honor in our gardens.
Rachel found this lovely statue over at Young’s Farm and Statuary in Bay Minette, Alabama. They have a lot of beautiful statues, pots, plants and garden decor.
This statue of Our Lady took two of us to lift – it’s quite solid. The arch over her is one that used to be in the front yard, covered in thorny roses. A storm blew it over and broke it, but my son CJ fixed it and we added it to the herb garden. It turned out to be a perfect place to put the statue Rachel found for us. The cast-iron decorations on the trellis are also roses, which is a flower closely associated with Mary. You can see the rosary on her right side as well, which ties in.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
“As Eve was seduced by the word of an angel and so fled from God after disobeying his word, Mary in her turn was given the good news by the word of an angel, and bore God in obedience to his word. As Eve was seduced into disobedience to God, so Mary was persuaded into obedience to God; thus the Virgin Mary became the advocate of the virgin Eve.”
-St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, circa 180AD.
What a blessing.
9 comments
That’s beautiful sir! We are still looking for a good Mary statue for our garden. So many of them around here have these ugly flat noses like Voldemort. Not befitting of Mama Mary. Have you heard of the New Polity YT channel in Steubenville? I think you would enjoy their Good Soil podcast with Sean and Beth Doherty. All about the philosophy of homesteading from a Catholic perspective.
I just found the channel, thank you.
Yeah, I saw some statues that were not great. I love this one. Got it all the way over in Bay Minette, at Young’s Statuary.
Eve > Mary
Wrong. Eve disobeyed and helped bring evil into the world. Mary obeyed and brought the Son of God into the world to undo that evil.
David,
There is an excellent book called “A Garden for Mary”. My kids love for us to read it to them. May God Bless you and Our Lady keep you and your family.
The connections are brilliant! Mystical Rose, Our Lady of the Rosary. Here I am trying to figure out a fitting place for Our Lady, and it’s been right in front of me for years!
Our Lady the Good ❤️
David,
It’s Joe from Sanford/Melbourne. I congratualted you on your conversion some months ago.
It looks like your living in Pensacola now so I wanted to see if you’re aware of the SSPX Tridentine Mass in Miramar.
I’m not sure what your position is currently on the importance of the true Mass and issues of Vatican II but it’s a natural progression towards Catholic orthodoxy to want to pray as the saints did.
Half of the time it’s Fr Vernoy who comes to offer Mass from the priory in Sanford;
https://sspxflorida.com/en
He’s not only a great priest but a very educated gardener with lots of experience on several continents. He and I have built an impressive garden at the priory in Sanford. The vegetable garden produces a lot for the eight resident priests here.
They sevice mission throughout the state on weekends.
Here’s the link to the Mirimar Chapel.
https://sspxflorida.com/en/st-anthony-mary-claret-chapel-33628
If you’d like to discuss issues of Catholic tradition or whatever, contact me via an email to my company Tropic Greenery in Melbourne. I’d be happy to talk.
Joe Alf
I would be happy to talk. Send me your # at david@floridafoodforests.com. We attend a TLM in Pensacola. Miramar Beach is a long haul for us.