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This article has been published in: Ocula 23, Flowers of the soul: The symbolism of flowers in the religious imagination

author: Francesco Galofaro (Dipartimento di filosofia e scienze dell'educazione, Università di Torino (UNITO), IT; Centro Universitario Bolognese di Etnosemiotica (CUBE), IT)

Rosa Mystica: the Morphogenesis of the Rose

language: english

abstract: The paper focuses on the presence of botanical figures, such as flowers and gardens, in the sources of the Litany of Loreto, aiming to reconstruct how the function of these figures changed from the Old and New Testament through the acclamations of the Great Akhatist Hymn (626 B.C.) and the Aquileian version of the litany (8th century). Early patristic tradition established an opposition between Mary and Eve, the first woman, according to a soteriological perspective. However, it was not until the 4th century, in Efrem, that the contrast was extended to Eden, which surrounds Eve whereas it is embodied by Mary – see also Appiano Caprettini (1979). This successful association slowly disappeared during the western low middle ages as the cosmological function was replaced by the soteriological one in the Litany to the Virgin, following the model of the Litany to the Saints.

citation information: Francesco Galofaro, Rosa Mystica: the Morphogenesis of the Rose, "Ocula", vol.21, n.23, pp.144-166, July 2020. DOI: 10.12977/ocula2020-33

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