FLOWERS

Strewing with flowers is a very simple and most innocent method of ornamenting the Christian altar, which is enjoined indeed by no law, but which is sanctioned by the custom of some churches in this kingdom, in which also the Protestant churches in Germany agree. This way of bringing in the very smallest of God’s works to praise him is extremely ancient, and is several times alluded to by the Fathers; especially by St. Jerome, who does not think it unworthy a place in the panegyric of his friend Nepotian, that his pious care for the Divine worship was such that he made flowers of many kinds, and the leaves of trees, and the branches of the vine, contribute to the beauty and ornament of the church. These things, says St. Jerome, were, indeed, but trifling in themselves; but a pious mind, devoted to Christ , is intent upon small things as well as great, and neglects nothing that pertains even to the meanest office of the Church. This custom has been immemorially observed in some English churches. It has also been the custom in some places, on Easter morning to adorn with flowers the graves of those at least who died within the year.