Lily of Purity

“AND THE stately lilies stand, Fair in the silvery light, Like saintly vestals, pale in prayer; Their pure breath sanctifies the air, As its fragrance fills the night.” So wrote American author Julia Caroline Dorr in a poem called Saint Anthony and Lilies which captures the majesty, delicacy, beauty, and fragrance of these flowers. The verse implies, too, the linking of lilies with virginal (vestal) saints, a notion that extends far back in Christian history. The reader can almost picture silent saints, clothed in pure white robes, with their hands raised to heaven, praying in the moonlight.

Lilies are the fourth most popular flower worldwide, outranked only by roses, chrysanthemums, and tulips. Cultivated for over 3,000 years, lilies grow in the wild and in gardens, in various climates and soils. Six broad categories of lilies include assorted colors, shapes, and varieties, such as the variegated Orinpet Lily, which can grow up to seven feet tall, and the black and orange Tiger Lily which Sir James Matthew Barrie used as the name of the Indian Princess in his children’s story Peter Pan.

Not every flower called a lily is one! True lilies grow from bulbs or corms which store food over the winter or during the dry season. These bulbs are fleshy scales without a protective outer covering. Never really dormant, lilies form their flowers in spherical clusters. Many lilies are fragrant. All are beautiful. The corms and/or blooms of certain lilies are nutritious or medicinal. Because ancient people believed that lilies symbolized fertility and a pure life, they offered these exotic flowers to the gods.

 

Lilies in the Bible

 

Lilies are so popular among the flowers grown in the Holy Land that Israelis sometimes refer to Israel as a lily among the flowers of nations. In the Jewish Temple, the sea of water which rested on the back of twelve oxen, and which was used by the priests for ritual washing, was shaped like a lily’s calyx, the bowl that holds the petals. The sea was able to hold 2,000 measures (1 Kings 7.26). The prophet Hosea promised prosperity to Israel when he relayed the words of God, “I will be like the dew for Israel; he will blossom like a lily” (Hosea 14:5). Jesus used lilies to teach about God’s providence. “Consider the lilies of the field. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these” (Mt. 7.28-29).

Of all the books in the Bible, the Song of Songs has the most references to lilies. Chapter Two begins with a dialogue between the Bridegroom and Bride, now seen as symbols for Christ and the Church. The Bridegroom begins, “I am a flower of Sharon, a lily of the valley. As a lily among thorns so is my beloved among women” (Song of Songs 2.1-2). The Bride agrees as she welcomes her husband’s love. “My lover belongs to me and I to him; he browses among the lilies” (2.16). The Bridegroom replies, “Your breasts are like twin fawns, the young of a gazelle that browse among the lilies” (4.5). The Bride responds, “My lover belongs to me and I to him; he browses among the lilies,” (6.4) to which the Bridegroom replies, “Your body is a heap of wheat encircled with lilies.” It is evident from these passages that lilies represent purity, fragility, delicacy, and beauty.

 

Madonna Lily

 

When people hear of lilies, they most frequently picture the white Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum and its variant eximium) which is native to the Ryukyu Islands (Japan). This fragrant lily has been extensively cultivated for cut flowers, and its variant can be forced to bloom at certain times such as Easter.

Saint Anthony likely never saw an Easter lily. The lily familiar to him would have been the similar pure white Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum or White lily) which is native to Portugal and Italy as well as many other locations in temperate Europe and the Middle East. Possibly the oldest cultivated lily, the Madonna Lily is endangered in the Holy Land where Israeli horticulturalists are cultivating it to preserve the species.

In medieval paintings of the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel extends a Madonna Lily toward the Blessed Mother as a token of her purity, innocence, and goodness. Following the symbolism, artists frequently adorn virginal saints with white lilies. Saint Anthony is commonly shown holding the Child Jesus, who is often standing on a Bible, with one or more Madonna Lilies somewhere in the picture. The dual symbolism of both the Christ Child and the lily emphasizes Anthony’s purity and trustworthiness. The Infant Lord entrusted himself to Anthony as he entrusted himself to his pure, trustworthy Mother Mary. In both their arms, the Christ Child was safe, secure, and loved.

 

Gentle saint

 

The skeptic may wonder why St. Anthony is shown so frequently with lilies when originally these delicate flowers were associated with female virgins. Certainly lilies attest to Anthony’s purity, integrity, and virginity while complimenting his gentleness. While Anthony could never be dubbed effeminate as evident by his bold, strong words against sin, he was certainly gentle, compassionate, and motherly to the repentant sinner. Consider the thoughtful way in which he restored a broken crystal goblet which a poor woman used to give him a drink of wine or the extreme courtesy which he showed to prostitutes who, weeping, confessed to him their humiliating mortal sins.

Anthony was familiar with lilies, having seen these regal flowers in his extensive travel on foot. Using the lily as a symbol of the virginal Blessed Mother, Anthony frequently mentioned lilies in his sermon notes. The following passage is typical, and addresses the core of the popular mindset linking lilies to the Mother of God. “Lilies, the colour of milk, represent the shining white virginity of the blessed Virgin Mary. Her womb was ‘set about,’ fortified with humility as with a wall, ‘with lilies’ of inward and outward virginity” (Sermons for Sundays and Festivals; Messaggero di Sant’Antonio Editrice, Vol.I, p. 174).

 

Symbolic flower

 

According to art historians, the first images of St. Anthony with lilies date back to the end of the 14th century. Enzo Pace, an Italian sociologist, writes, “The lily has been a symbol of rebirth from death and of never-ending spiritual love since ancient times. Soon after St. Anthony’s death this flower was associated to his charismatic power and to the miracles brought about through his intercession.”

Eventually, when Donatello made the magnificent bronze statue of St. Anthony on the Main Altar of the Basilica in Padua in 1453, the link between St. Anthony and the lily was permanently established in iconographic tradition.

 

Blessing of lilies

 

Anthony died on 13 June 1231, when blooming lilies are abundant in Italy. It takes little imagination to envision mourners adorning the Saint’s bier with these blossoms.

On 13 June 1680, in a church somewhere in Austria, so a story goes, a devotee of the Saint placed a fresh-cut lily in the hand of his statue. For an entire year the flower remained as fresh and white as it was on the day it was put there. The next year the same stem bore two lilies, which filled the whole church with their fragrance. This fact was authenticated officially, and was looked upon as a heavenly testimony to the purity of the Saint.

However, the blessing of the lilies, in memory of Anthony’s purity, dates back to another miracle, this one on the island of Corsica during the French Revolution. Many priests and religious had been murdered, and churches, monasteries, and convents destroyed. Nevertheless, on the Feast of St. Anthony, in a chapel abandoned by its Franciscan friars, the faithful congregated despite the prohibition from the authorities. They erected a temporary altar to the Paduan Saint, festooned with lilies and other flowers, and prayed devoutly. After everyone had left, the sacristan failed to remove St. Anthony’s statue and all the decorations. Returning to the chapel several months later, he found the lilies still there, “fresh and white, whereas the other flowers were withered and died.”

Because of the beauty and enduring popularity of the association between St. Anthony and lilies, at the end of the 19th century Pope Leo XIII gave permission for lilies to be blessed in honor of the Paduan Saint, and this ceremony continues to this day. Many favors have been granted through blessed lilies, including help for the sick touched by their petals.