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.