Skip to main content

Maundy Thursday Altar Flowers

For the altar of repose this Maundy Thursday I made two arrangments of white anenomes, yellow ranunculus and freesia.  
On this sunny Wednesday of Holy Week, my "essential outing" was to get flowers for the church.  In the car, I listened to Joseph Pearce speak on the topic of subsidiarity and creating a strong local economy. 
The bulb farm that generously donated all of the beautiful flowers for the ordination reception was quite a different landscape today than it was just four weeks ago.  
The friendly young man who helped me with the reception flowers, informed me today (from behind a face mask) that over fifty percent of their workers had been laid-off leaving greenhouses full of dying flowers-- all this during what is usually their busiest season. 
He came out of the refrigerator with arms full of blooms to donate.  I insisted on paying full price for the flowers and after leaving a reception thank-you card and gift for him and his assistant, I said goodbye.  
On the way home I made a personal mandatum for the future -- to buy local flowers and support local business.

Comments

  1. Marie-JacquelineApril 9, 2020 at 11:07 AM

    Lovely flowers. I totally agree with going local whenever possible. Isn't it interesting how Catholic logic always makes sense?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ the King: Altar Flowers

Altar flowers for the feast of  Christ the King! The challenge with these arrangements was to incorporate the traditional colors of white, gold and red with the request from a dear friend to provide flowers for the church upon the celebration of her son's nuptial Mass.   The bride selected autumn colors for her bridal bouquet: burnt orange, dark red and rose.  I thought it would be best to select flowers that could be used for both the wedding (on the feast of St. Raphael Archangel) and the feast of Christ the King.  Let me know what you think!  Entry table arrangement Side altar arrangement Another entry table arrangement Main altar arrangement Roses and lilies with acacia, eucalyptus and blueberry greens. Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat!
2 comments
Read more

Hydrangeas, Roses & Holly: Altar Flowers for Christmas

                      Unfortunately, this is the best picture I could get of the arrangements for the Latin Mass on Christmas Day.   However, it may serve as inspiration for what can be done in the most unlikely of spaces.   The architecture of the church is typical postmodern, with no vestiges of the past.  The crucifix was added and the tabernacle put in its rightful place only within the last d ecade.  Who would have thought that the Latin Mass would be making its debut here in our isolated, rural community when there are a handful of beautiful, century-old churches perfectly designed for the purpose not far away! The proliferation of fake poinsettias already present in the church set me in motion to find other examples of possibilities for the traditional altar.  My search led me to the liturgy guy's post Does this 1944 Christmas Eve Mass Look Anything Like Yours?   I was inspired by the Solemn High Mass featured in the movie Christmas Holiday and later horrified a
7 comments
Read more

Altar Flowers for Marian Feasts

For the feast of the Annunciation, we will have no Traditional Latin Mass.  Much the same as last year, yet different.  At the large brass doors of the church I left two small flower offerings for our good curé to place on the altar for his private Mass.  His Roman vestments were trimmed in sky blue.  Looking round the garden, forget-me-nots seemed appropos.  One year later, the forget-me-nots are back, but now the private Latin Masses are being canceled in the Vatican. Supernatural hope prevails.  Our Lady breaks through the spiritual darkness and the Lenten flower fast with her  fiat  at the Annunciation. For altar flowers, perfectly white roses would be my ideal choice.  Where white roses aren't available, alstroemeria, carnations and liles are good substitutes.  Daffodils, or "Mary's Star", would also add a beautiful touch of gold. For information on flowers traditionally associated with Our Lady, check out  Fleurs de Marie-Jacqueline's blog. Here are some arr
3 comments
Read more