So...
Today's title is fairly indicative of my sense of humour if I'm perfectly honest, but I will be leading you down a vaguely scholarly thought path today.
Recently, I was searching for references to the "Hortus Conclusus" (enclosed garden) in the Patrologia Latina in Oxford. It is essentially a printed compendium of early latin documents written by Church Fathers from Tertullian in 200 AD, up to the death of Pope Innocent III in 1216.
It's a massive work of untranslated latin, but it does give you the opportunity to try and wheedle out the opinions and personal views of contemporary 'big wigs' and their views on the church and passages in the bible.
My tedious index skimming brought me eventually to discussions on this passage of the Song of Solomon:
I was reading for something else so I'm afraid I do not have the specific commentaries to hand, but several of the commentaries compared the enclosed garden/shut spring/sealed fountain of this passage to Mary and her immaculate conception - the connotations are fairly obvious. The pomegranates come in too with their associations with fertility.
Today's title is fairly indicative of my sense of humour if I'm perfectly honest, but I will be leading you down a vaguely scholarly thought path today.
Recently, I was searching for references to the "Hortus Conclusus" (enclosed garden) in the Patrologia Latina in Oxford. It is essentially a printed compendium of early latin documents written by Church Fathers from Tertullian in 200 AD, up to the death of Pope Innocent III in 1216.
It's a massive work of untranslated latin, but it does give you the opportunity to try and wheedle out the opinions and personal views of contemporary 'big wigs' and their views on the church and passages in the bible.
My tedious index skimming brought me eventually to discussions on this passage of the Song of Solomon:
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse: a spring shut up,
a fountaine sealed.
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant
fruits, Camphire, with Spikenaed,
Spikenard and Saffron, Calamus and Cynamom, with all trees
of Frankincense, Mirrhe and Aloes, with all the chiefe spices.
A fountaine of gardens, a well of liuing waters, and
streames from Lebanon.
Awake, O Northwinde, and come thou South, blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out: let my beloved come into his
garden, and eate his pleasant fruits.
- Chapter 4, 12-16
I was reading for something else so I'm afraid I do not have the specific commentaries to hand, but several of the commentaries compared the enclosed garden/shut spring/sealed fountain of this passage to Mary and her immaculate conception - the connotations are fairly obvious. The pomegranates come in too with their associations with fertility.
Now, some of these biblical commentators were not content with leaving this comparison there.
Oh no.
By comparing Mary's state to this enclosed garden/fountain etc. they extrapolated that it was in fact the enclosed/shut nature of her....garden/fountain....which led to her painless childbirth. After all, it was argued by some that women suffer during childbirth because of Eve's sin, and a women such as Mary who is able to get pregnant while remaining a virgin is thus absolved of Eve's sins and blessed to be pain free.
This was all terribly interesting as I love discussions like this but I'm resisting the urge to dabble in a wholly new area of research so my curiosity has to stop here.
What has caught my attention though, as a half formed thought, is whether there is any connection between the modern slang "lady garden" and these early comparisons between women, reproductivity and this holy garden. A Lady Chapel for example is a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary so I'm not completely out on a limb here.
I have no idea as I'm not a biblical scholar, or expert in the history of the English language, but I thought I'd share my academic musing for the week.
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