s awaiting his martyrdom, in which
he saw himself transported with Perpetua to a heavenly garden,
fragrant with roses, and turning to his fair companion, he exclaimed:
"Here we are in possession of that which our Lord promised!"

Roses and other flowers are painted on the walls of historical
cubiculi. In a fresco of the crypts of Lucina, in the Catacombs of
Callixtus, are painted birds, symbolizing souls who have been
separated from their bodies, and are playing in fields of roses around
the Tree of Life. As the word _Paradeisos_ signifies a garden, so its
mystic representation always takes the form of a delightful field of
flowers and fruit. Dante gives to the seat of the blessed the shape of
a fair rose, inside of which a crowd of angels with golden wings
descend and return to the Lord:--

"Nel gran fior discendeva, che s'adorna
Di tante foglie: e quindi risaliva,
La dove lo suo amor sempre soggiorna."[33]
_Paradiso_, xxxi. 10-12.

Possibly it is from this allegory of paradise that the rite of the
"golden rose" which the Pope blesses on Quadragesima Sunday is
derived. The ceremony is very ancient, although the first mention of
it appears only in the life of Leo IX. (1049-1055); and I may mention,
as a curious coincidence, that the kings and queens of Navarre, their
sons, and the dukes and peers of the realm, were bound to offer roses
to the Parliament at the return of spring.

Roses played such an important part in church ceremonies that we find
a _fundus rosarius_ given as a present by Constantine to Pope Mark.
The _rosaria_ outlived the suppression of pagan superstitions, and by
and by assumed its Christian form in the feast of Pentecost, which
falls in the month of May. In that day roses were thrown from the
roofs of churches on the worshipers below. The Pentecost is still
called by the Italians _Pasqua rosa_.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The relations between the Empire, the Christians, and the Jews
have been discussed by really numberless writers, beginning with the
Fathers of the Church. I have consulted, among the moderns: Mangold:
_De ecclesia primaeva pro caesaribus et magistratibus romanis preces
fundente._ Bonn, 1881.--Bittner: _De Graecorum et Romanorum deque
Judaeorum et christianorum sacris jejuniis._ Posen, 1846.--Weiss: _Die
roemischen Kaiser in ihrem Verhaeltnisse zu Juden und Christen._ Wien,
1882.--Mourant Brock: _Rome, Pagan and Papal._ London, Hodder & Co.