Hilbert College's Mary Garden: A Guidebook

Hilbert College's Mary Garden: A Guidebook RS 202: Religion and Social Justice Fall 2020

Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: On Ecological Citizenship Ecological Perspectives in the Bible Saint Francis and Ecology Catholic Social Teaching Laudato si’ Saint Kateri Conservation Center Mary Gardens

2 3 5 7 9 11 15 20

Acknowledgements The students in Religion and Social Justice have compiled this Guidebook to give community

members and visitors some context for the Mary Garden outside of the West Herr Atrium.

Because they know that their project could not have been completed by themselves, they would like to thank those who have helped them in their work.

We would like to thank the following people and organizations for their kind assistance: Rachel Wozniak, the Director of Service Learning and Community Engagement, for encouraging the class to embark upon the project, for scouting the campus to find the perfect location for the garden, and for logistical help; Dr. Habib Bakht, for helping the Landscaping Group conduct a pH analysis of the soil; Gary Dillsworth and the entire Maintenance staff, for providing us with the tools to prepare the soil for planting, moving the statue of Mary to the garden, and coordinating the purchase of seeds; the Library Staff, for helping the Research Groups find information on the topics found in this Guidebook; Kathleen Christy, for providing assistance to our Fundraising Group; Matt Heidt, for helping with the publication of the Guidebook; and the Saint Kateri Conservation Center, the inspiration for the project and an invaluable resource for advice and support.

Pace e bene.

2

Introduction: On Ecological Citizenship “Mary is a garden of delights into which are sown all kinds of flowers and spice plants of the virtues.”

St. Jerome

All of the world’s religions agree that the earth and its inhabitants should be treated with respect.

In Catholic Social Teaching, this is expressed in a commitment to care for the created order.

Catholicism calls upon its members to live in harmony with the natural world through responsible, ethical stewardship and a sense of ecological connectivity. This principle is grounded both in scripture and church tradition: • • • • •

The earth and everything found within it belong to God. (Psalm 24:1) Humans are called upon to exercise stewardship of the animal and plant world. (Genesis 1:26, 28-29) God appoints humanity to be caretakers of the earth. (Genesis 2:15) “We human beings are not only the beneficiaries but also the stewards of other creatures.” (Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel no. 215) “If we approach nature and the environment without [an] openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.” (Pope Francis, Laudato si’ no.

11)

The last statement by Pope Francis was made with Francis of Assisi in mind. A thirteenthcentury Catholic saint, Francis made care for the created world a central component of his ministry: he wrote the Canticle of the Sun, a hymn of praise for creation, and legends report that he preached to the birds and persuaded a wolf to stop terrorizing a village. Francis’ reputation for a deep sensitivity to nature led Pope John Paul II to proclaim him the patron saint of ecologists in 1979 (Apostolic Letter Inter Sanctos 1509).

Through its affiliation with the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Joseph, Hilbert draws inspiration from its Catholic, Franciscan heritage by highlighting the importance of treating the environment, God’s creation, with respect, and envisions this call as integrally connected to the formation of a just society. The Mary Garden project, begun in Fall 2020 by the students in Religion and Social Justice, is a visible and durable demonstration of our community’s commitment to the natural world and social justice.

In the pages that follow, our students will lead you on an informative journey that puts our garden in historical and theological context. Specifically, you will learn about biblical and Catholic perspectives on ecology, the work of the Saint Kateri Conservation Center, which sponsors the creation of these gardens throughout the world, and the history and symbolism of 3

the Mary Garden in the Catholic tradition. After reading the students’ work, we invite you to go outside to appreciate the visual and fragrant beauty of our garden, perhaps even taking a moment to consider the words of St. Francis, whose Canticle praises God for “our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.”

4

Ecological Perspectives in the Bible Bless the Lord, O my soul.

O Lord my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with honor and majesty, 2 wrapped in light as with a garment.

You stretch out the heavens like a tent, 3 you set the beams of your[a] chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind, 4 you make the winds your[c] messengers, fire and flame your[d] ministers.

5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.

6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. ...

10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, 11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.

12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.

13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth, 15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart. ...

24O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

1

Psalm 104:1-6, 10-15, 24

Ecology is the scientific study of complex interactions between organisms and their environment.

From a theological perspective, ecology is valuable because it can reveal insights about the beauty and wonders of God’s creation. Since the Bible focuses on spiritual matters, one might not expect it to have much to say about ecology. However, the scriptures are full of thoughtful observations that reflect principle ideas about God’s creation and ecological stewardship, as the Psalm cited above demonstrates.

5

In the first chapter of Genesis, readers learn of God’s actions to create and populate the world.

After each creative act, God declares his creation “good.” The culminating moment in this story is the creation of humans, who are charged with exhibiting responsibility for the created world (Genesis 1:26, 28-29). In the next chapter, a second creation story focuses on human beings: God “formed man from the dust on the ground,” planted a garden, and commissioned humanity to “till it and keep it” (Genesis 2:8-8, 15). God wanted his people to be cautious, avoid greed, plan for the future, and take care of the world around them, and designed an ecosystem to fulfill the needs of a vast array of organisms. It should therefore not be surprising to learn that God condemns those who “destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18).

The Bible also explores the relationship between human bodies and the earth. The chemical ingredients that make up the human body mix into the soil after decomposition. The soil, however, is not necessarily their final resting place. Some of these elements move in cycles between the atmosphere, biosphere and earth’s surface; the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles include paths for each of these chemicals to be absorbed by a plant, and perhaps be consumed by an animal (or a series of animals) before returning to the ground. The process of decay recycles nutrients for future generations. This fact is foundational for understanding how organisms grow and interact with their environment. It also helps us appreciate God’s master plan, his ability to order even the “messy” and unpleasant parts of his creation.

Below are some observations that show the similarities between the Bible and ecology.

• • • • • •

Both ecology and the Bible view the world in a long-range time frame.

Both ecology and the Bible see the natural world as one interconnected whole.

Both ecology and the Bible focus on the significance of land.

Both ecology and the Bible present us with an awareness of limits.

Both ecology and the Bible see the natural order as subject to decay.

Both ecology and the Bible show that all behavior has consequences.

Dig Deeper Zerbe, Gordon. “Ecology According to the New Testament.” Direction 21(1992): 15-26. https://directionjournal.org/21/2/ecologyaccording-to-new-testament.html Ecology and the Bible. 7 December, 2020, https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/is-the-bible-true/how-do-weknow-the-bible-is-true/ecology-and-the-bible/

6

St. Francis and Ecology Global climate change has been an area of concern for many decades. The exploitation of the

natural world to support human consumption has led to an increase in greenhouse gases and the rapid warming of the planet. How should people of faith respond to this problem? An examination of the life of Saint Francis (1181-1226), and particularly his views of the natural world, is a good place to begin rethinking our relationship with the planet.

St. Francis of Assisi was a man who came from a high economic and social status. As a young boy, he often traveled with his father, a wealthy cloth merchant, on business. On these journeys he regularly came into contact with medieval troubadours, whose songs of courtly romance and love shaped his desire for status and honor. As he grew older, the allures of “the world” grew stronger, and he embarked on the life of a soldier in the hope of gaining glory that would lead to attaining knighthood, a profession praised by the troubadours.

During one battle against the neighboring town of Perugia, Francis was captured and imprisoned in 1202. For the next year he sat in prison, where he became ill due to the poor conditions of his confinement. Upon his release, however, he continued to pursue the path of military valor. Two years later, in 1205, he again embarked on a military mission, but on the way experienced a vision in which he was told to “serve the master,” i.e. God. From that point onward, Francis began to distance himself from “the world” to become a “soldier of God,” a “knight” in the service of the church.

A number of key events over the next few years sharpened his spiritual focus: he took a pilgrimage to Rome, where he gave away the money he had, received a vision at the San Damiano church, and renounced his ties to his family. All of these experiences shaped his growing connection with and dedication to God. For Francis, this commitment manifested itself in a variety of ways: he began to identify with and minister to the poor, vulnerable, and outcasts, and he developed a deep reverence for and connection to the created order.

St. Francis revered the natural world and felt that its beauty was the way God revealed his majesty and showed his love. Because he saw God in all things, he believed that humanity could live a peaceful life filled with love if it began to think of the world and everything within it as a family. Perhaps inspired by the secular exploits valorized in the songs of the troubadours, Francis’ composed a Christian “love song” for God, the world, and all of its creations known as the Canticle of the Sun: O Most High, all-powerful, good Lord God, to you belongs praise, glory, honor and all blessings.

Be praised, my Lord, for all your creation and especially for our Brother Sun, who brings us the day and the light; he is strong and shines magnificently. O Lord, we think of you when we look at him.

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon, and for the stars which you have set shining and lovely in the heavens.

7

Be praised, my Lord, for our Brothers Wind and Air and every kind of weather by which you, Lord, uphold life in all your creatures.

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water, who is very useful to us, and humble and precious and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire, through whom you give us light in the darkness: He is bright and lively and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Earth, our Mother, who nourishes us and sustains us, bringing forth fruits and vegetables of many kinds and flowers of many colors.

Be praised, my Lord, for those who forgive for love of you; and for those who bear sickness and weakness in peace and patience, you will grant them a crown.

Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister Death, whom we must all face. I praise and bless you, Lord, and I give thanks to you, and I will serve you in all humility.

Francis’ perspective on the world inspired thousands of people to transform the way they perceived God’s creations, and his ideas continue to resonate with people of faith today. In fact, in 2013, when Jorge Mario Bergoglio became pope, he assumed the name “Francis” to honor the life of St. Francis. Throughout his tenure, Pope Francis has emulated the saint’s life by making Catholic Social Teaching more visible and becoming a leading voice on ecological sustainability.

Dig Deeper Brigham, Erin M. See, Judge, Act: Catholic Social Teaching and Service Learning.

Revised ed. Winona, MN: Anselm Academic, 2018.

Catholic Online. “The Canticle of Creation (by Saint Francis of Assisi) Prayers.” Catholic Online, www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=3188.

Delio, Ilia. “Francis of Assisi, Nature’s Mystic.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 20 March 2013, www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/francis-of-assisi-naturesmystic/2013/03/20/82619910-9166-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html.

8

Catholic Social Teaching Catholic Social Teaching (CST) emphasizes a style of living that promotes the common good and giving aid to those who need it. There are seven major principles in the CST tradition: • • • • • • •

The Dignity of the Human Person The Call to Family, Community, and Participation Worker’s Rights Preferential Option for the Poor Solidarity Care for Creation Human Rights and Responsibilities

While each of these principles can stand alone, the Catholic church sees them as interrelated and necessary for attaining a world aligned with God’s will. The dignity of the human person emphasizes that all humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and thus deserve to be treated respectfully. The call to family, community, and participation argues that human dignity is best expressed through social relationships, which provide meaning and purpose to life.

In order for families to flourish, it is necessary that workers receive a living wage and enjoy dignified working conditions. Because this is not the reality of so many workers, the church teaches that the poor must be prioritized so that they too can enjoy lives of abundance that the Bible wants for all humans (John 10:10).

Displaying solidarity—a belief that all people are interconnected and a call to act in support of others—is especially important for strengthening the social order. When solidarity is applied on a larger scale, it connects with care for the created order, the belief that humans should protect God’s other creations, nonhuman animals and the natural world. Doing this not only shows our obedience to God’s will (Genesis 1:26-31; 2:8, 15), it also ensures that all humans will be able to thrive physically, intellectually, and emotionally. These human rights, the church teaches, are fundamental, and we have a responsibility to ensure that they are maintained for everyone.

9

These CST principles represent the church’s vision for building a just society that solves the various challenges that confront the modern world. Each of us is a part of the human family and we are all interconnected and interdependent. Loving our neighbor should be seen from a global perspective—we must see ourselves in others and collaborate towards effective solutions.

This point can be illustrated through a closer examination of Care for Creation. The natural world provides us with the physical fabric of our lives; the environment gives us things we need every day. It gives us food to put on our tables, the material to build our homes, and the material to make the clothes we wear on our back. The ecological crisis thus harms both the world and humanity: our exploitative practices threaten biodiversity, and overconsumption negatively impacts human dignity and human rights (e.g., climate change refugees), threatens the viability of families, and makes attaining economic prosperity increasingly difficult. All of these principles are thus intertwined: becoming an advocate for one topic will naturally lead to efforts to create positive change for the others. Pope Francis thus reminds us that our actions in the world have consequences, and exhorts us to “be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”

Dig Deeper Brigham, Erin M. See, Judge, Act: Catholic Social Teaching and Service Learning.

Revised ed. Winona, MN: Anselm Academic, 2018.

USCCB. “Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions.”

2020, www.usccb.org/resources/sharing-catholic-social-teachingchallenges-and-directions.

10

Laudato si’ Laudato si’ is a very important encyclical composed by Pope Francis in 2015. He wrote this

document in order to address the devastating effects that humans have had on our ecosystem, and to propose a new ethic grounded in interdependence with rather than exploitation of the environment. This encyclical offers a framework for understanding our ecological crisis and finding solutions to care for the natural world.

Pope Francis emphasizes the necessity of social, economic and environmental justice and protecting our common home. Citing the Patriarch Bartholomew, the pope affirms that humans have committed sins in their treatment of the earth: “for human beings … to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life—these are sins” (8). He thus calls upon human beings to respect the laws of nature and the equilibrium among the creatures of the world. While Genesis states that God gave humans a powerful role in the created world, they also have the responsibility to represent him faithfully by taking care of our common home.

We are expected to respect the gift we were given. The pope writes, then, with the hope that his encyclical “can help us acknowledge the appeal, immensity, and urgency of the challenge we face” (15).

Throughout Laudato si’, Pope Francis expresses the significance of caring for creation through the concept of integral ecology. Integral ecology is the assertion that humans are unified with nature in an interconnected web of relationships. Rather than viewing humans and the natural world as two separate entities, Pope Francis states that humans should cultivate an intimate relationship with nature. As a whole, the ecosystem and humans encounter similar challenges; whether it is climate change or social or economic issues, all of these challenges impact one other. For the environment and humans to flourish, it is essential to understand the various points where these points interconnect. Pope Francis thus explains: “We depend on these larger systems for our own existence. We need only recall how ecosystems interact in dispersing carbon dioxide, purifying water, controlling illnesses and epidemics, forming soil, breaking down waste, and in many other ways which we overlook or simply do not know about. Once they become

11

conscious of this, many people realize that we live and act on the basis of a reality which has previously been given to us, which precedes our existence and our abilities” (140).

If humanity continues to discount the great value of the ecosystem, it will damage both it and ourselves. The environment depends upon us to care for it, just as we depend on it for our survival. It is thus critical to practice integral ecology, which encourages humans to identify their role in the environmental crisis and to take the initiative to restore the planet’s health. The Pope calls this “ecological citizenship” and encourages us to practice it by respecting our surroundings and minimizing our harmful effects on the environment. We can, for example, take action by reducing our ecological footprint, developing sustainable environmental policies, and engaging in ecological education in all of our social institutions. Pope Francis concludes his encyclical with two prayers for spiritual reflection.

“A Prayer for the Earth”

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

12

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

“A Christian Prayer in Union with Creation”

Father, we praise you with all your creatures.

They came forth from your all-powerful hand; they are yours, filled with your presence and your tender love.

Praise be to you!

Son of God, Jesus, through you all things were made.

You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother, you became part of this earth, and you gazed upon this world with human eyes.

Today you are alive in every creature in your risen glory.

Praise be to you!

Holy Spirit, by your light you guide this world towards the Father’s love and accompany creation as it groans in travail.

You also dwell in our hearts and you inspire us to do what is good.

Praise be to you!

Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you.

Awaken our praise and thankfulness for every being that you have made.

Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined to everything that is.

God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.

Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live.

The poor and the earth are crying out.

O Lord, seize us with your power and light,

13

help us to protect all life, to prepare for a better future, for the coming of your Kingdom of justice, peace, love and beauty.

Praise be to you!

Dig Deeper Brigham, Erin M. See, Judge, Act: Catholic Social Teaching and Service Learning. Revised ed. Winona, MN: Anselm Academic, 2018.

Pope Francis. Laudato Si’ (24 May 2015). 18 June 2015, www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papafrancesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

“Laudato Si’: Summary & Action Steps.” Catholic Climate Covenant, catholicclimatecovenant.org/resource/laudato-si-summary-actionsteps.

14

Saint Kateri Conservation Center Mission

Saint Kateri is the patron saint of integral ecology and of the environment. Because of this, it

only makes sense that the conservation center’s purpose is to promote Catholicism, ecology, and life as well as promoting healthy living habits. Placing God at the center of their goals, the conservation center seeks to accomplish many ecological tasks: • Restoring all habitats for people, animals, and plants • Conserving biodiversity and energy • Producing healthy food • Limiting climate change • Maintaining unpolluted water and air • Restoring faith and relationships with God, nature, and one another According to its mission statement, the organization “seek[s] to stimulate and sustain the ‘ecological conversion’ called for by Saint John Paul II and later endorsed by his successors Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Ecological conversion begins with a personal conversion toward God, and extends to the entire community of life—past, present, and future.

To meet our enormous ecological challenges, we strive to help ‘rebuild’ the Church, much as Saint Kateri Tekakwitha and Saint Francis of Assisi have done. This includes promoting our Catholic faith and supporting the ‘ecological conversion’ necessary to protect and sustain the integrity of God’s creation.”

Vision

“We envision a faithful, loving home on Earth for all people and the whole of God’s creation. The Earth is our home. All of God’s creatures, from water, soil, and air, to plants and animals, are our brothers and sisters.

Human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, are an integral part of nature and are responsible for its cultivation and care.

We seek to build a Catholic faith community focused on God, his Church, and the restoration of his creation, by encouraging religious expression in the care of creation and by addressing the fundamental religious and moral dimensions of ecology and the environment.”

15

History

Saint Kateri’s Conservation Center promotes faith, internal ecology, and life. The center was

founded in 2000 by Bill Jacobs, and was named in honor of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (16561680), who was born into the Mohawk tribe in upstate New York. Upon her conversion at age 19, Kateri experienced opposition among the Mohawks fled to Sault St. Louis (near Montreal) to live with a Christian native community. She was known for her physical austerities and is considered the patron saint of indigenous peoples, integral ecology, and the environment.

Inspired by the life of this Native American saint, the Saint Kateri Conservation Center places God at the center of their work and is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes. More specifically, it seeks to apply and integrate the wisdom and knowledge of the Bible and church tradition to various ecological initiatives. One area the group focuses on is education: they have been collecting and sharing writings on this topic on its website library since 2000.

Believing that “people are to be co-workers with God in the care and cultivation of creation,” it also supports the construction of “Saint Kateri Habitats” designed to build faith and restore the created order. They also conserve land and water for public benefit, including nature preserves, parks, forests, wetlands, gardens, farms, and religiously-owned land.

Saint Kateri lived in a time when the air was clean, the land and water was filled with biodiversity, and the ecosystems were healthy. This situation enabled her to connect and interact with the plants and animals in a deeper way than many of us do today. The Saint Kateri Conservation Center attempts to reclaim these interconnections by inspiring and supporting Catholics who restore backyards and rivers to healthy habitats for people and animals. Catholics are encouraged to plant milkweeds, goldenrods, trees, and other native plants in these habitats to demonstrate their commitment to the natural world, biodiversity, and sustainability.

To encourage the restoration of habitats and the creation of gardens, the organization encourages participants to “register their Saint Kateri Habitat, be featured on the Saint Kateri online Esri Story Map, and exercise the option to purchase a yard sign to identify their habitat.”

Designed Saint Kateri Habitats contain at least two of the following: 1. Food, water, cover, and space for wildlife, including habitat for pollinators and other terrestrial and aquatic organisms.

2. Native trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, ecosystems.

16

3. Food, water, cover, and space for people, including vegetable gardens, flower gardens, community-supported gardens, indoor gardens and farms.

4. Ecosystem services, such as pollination, clean air and water, carbon storage for climate regulation, and religious faith arising from interactions with the “Book of Nature.”

5. Clean energy and sustainable practices of gardening, farming, and landscaping.

6. Sacred places for worship, prayer, and contemplation, including Mary gardens, prayer gardens, and rosary gardens.

The habitats must also have some religious expression, such as crosses, grottos, stations of the cross, wayside shrines, or statues of Mary or Catholic saints. The program is beneficial because it brings people closer to God and his church while protecting the integrity of creation.

Advocacy

The Saint Kateri Conservation Center has been evangelizing and teaching about Catholic

ecology for 20 years. They understand the need to stop this moral crisis that makes humans societies feel as if they have the right to destroy the environment and the integrity of God’s creation. It is because of this that it has created education and outreach programs both online and “on the ground.”

Some of the online methods it uses are its website, where they have acquired an extensive Catholic ecology library, and social media. These pages include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. Below we have listed the names of each respective account for your convenience: • • •

Facebook: @saintkaterictr Twitter: @SaintKateriCtr Instagram: @saintkatericenter

As for their work on the ground, the Saint Kateri Conservation Center offers a variety of presentations, workshops, and ecological retreats to learn more about God’s creation and about what you can do to help. In the future, they plan to add to their educational database by creating new videos and webinars and adding new books, courses, and curricula.

There is more to the conservation center than just education programs. It also provides a number of habitat programs to fight the “insect apocalypse.” The center has recognized that the number of pollinator species (i.e., bees and butterflies) in the world is rapidly decreasing because of people damaging native plants and ecological communities. Because of this, the Center has designated more than 80 habitats designed to address this problem in the United States, Canada,

17

Honduras, Poland, India, and Cameroon.

To the left we can see a girl by the name of Sydney Machion participating in one of the youth projects to create new habitats for insects.

One specific bug that Saint Kateri’s Center is trying to preserve is the western monarch butterfly. The dwindling habitats in California are causing this butterfly to go extinct. The Saint Kateri Conservation Center is working with Catholics in the area to create habitats which must include at least two of the

following six elements:

1. Food, water, cover, and space for wildlife, including habitat for pollinators and other terrestrial and aquatic organisms.

2. Native trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and ecosystems.

3. Food, water, cover, and space for people, including vegetable gardens, flower gardens, community-supported gardens, indoor gardens, and farms.

4. Ecosystem services, such as pollination, clean air and water, carbon storage for climate regulation, and religious faith arising from interactions with the “Book of Nature.”

5. Clean energy and sustainable practices of gardening, landscaping, and farming.

6. Sacred spaces for worship, prayer, and contemplation, including Mary gardens, prayer gardens, and rosary gardens.

Dig Deeper Jacobs, Bill, and Kathleen Hoenke. “Saving Monarchs: The Saint Kateri Conservation Center Seeks Help from California Catholics.”

Catholic Ecology, 21 Jan. 2019, catholicecology.net/blog/saving-monarchs-saint-kateri-conservationcenter-seeks-help-california-catholics.

Jacobs, W. “SAINT KATERI TEKAKWITHA CONSERVATION CENTER INC.” SAINT KATERI TEKAKWITHA CONSERVATION CENTER INC - GuideStar Profile, 2014, www.guidestar.org/profile/46-1437406.

18

Montez, Elisa, et al. “Mission and Vision.” Saint Kateri Conservation Center, 24 July 2020, www.kateri.org/mission-and-vision/.

Montez, Elisa, et al. “Our Values.” Saint Kateri Conservation Center, 20 June 2020, www.kateri.org/our-values/.

Sheridan, Rose, et al. “Education and Outreach.” Saint Kateri Conservation Center, 21 July 2020, www.kateri.org/education-and-outreach/.

Sheridan, Rose, et al. “As Catholics Living Our Faith, We Are Restoring God’s Creation!”

Saint Kateri Conservation Center, 10 June 2020, www.kateri.org/as-catholics-living-our-faith-we-are-restoring-gods-creation/.

“The Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Conservation Center.” Catholic Ecology, catholicecology.net/blog/saint-kateri-tekakwitha-conservation-center.

19

Mary Gardens History and Symbolism

Mary Gardens were created to symbolize the life, virtues, and mysteries of Mary, the Blessed

Virgin and Mother of God, and her son Jesus in the popular religious traditions of the medieval world. A Mary Garden is a sacred garden with a statue or shrine of the Virgin Mary, and the plants and flowers symbolize various legends or traditions associated with Mary and Jesus.

Mary Gardens are valued because of the peace, comfort, and inspiration they bring to their visitors.

Medieval Catholics from as early as the seventh century were reminded of Mary and Jesus in the flowers and herbs growing around them. The first main reference to the Garden of Mary is from the life of St. Fiacre. He was known for planting and taking care of a garden that honored the oratory to Our Lady in France.

There are several flowers in a Mary Garden that have developed symbolism. The first one is the lily. This is special because according to church tradition, Mary’s tomb was filled with roses and lilies when Thomas saw her ascend to heaven. Another flower is the lavender. Tradition again states that when Mary’s clothes were hung to dry, they assumed the scent of this flower.

Ecological and Spiritual Significance

Native plants in the Mary Garden can have ecological

and spiritual benefits for our planet and those who live in it. Mary Gardens contain native species in an attempt to address the loss of biodiversity on the planet. Biodiverse ecosystems are essential for the maintenance of all life. To support biodiversity, the Saint Kateri Conservation Center encourages the use of native alternatives to the traditional plants found in the original Mary Gardens of Europe.

These gardens are also designed to be places of beauty and to remind us that Jesus and Mary are inviting us to experience God’s creation. These plants are known to be transformed into objects of meditation and our signs of our ultimate end. Planting Mary Gardens is an act of faith and is a special way to honor our blessed Mary and reflect upon her virtues. All Mary Gardens in some sense possess the original truth and beauty of the first garden created.

20

Dig Deeper Fish Eaters. “Mary Gardens.” 28 September 2017, www.fisheaters.com/marygardens.html.

Goshorn, Audrey. “What Is a Mary Garden (And Why You Should Have One).” 26 May 2020, www.stjoegold.org/parishnews/2020/5/26/what-is-a-mary-garden-and-why-you-shouldhave-one Rice, Fr. Larry. “Did You Know ... About Mary Gardens?” www.burningheartsdisciples.org/blog/mary-gardens.html.

Saint Kateri Conservation Center. “Mary Gardens Featuring Native Plants: A Spiritual Experience.” 9 March 2020, www.kateri.org/mary-gardens-for-a-spiritual-experience/.

21