{"id":6351,"date":"2014-10-17T12:44:08","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T12:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/?p=6351"},"modified":"2015-05-22T12:08:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T12:08:20","slug":"pomegranates-garden-catechism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/","title":{"rendered":"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A new offering\u00a0on my blog is the Garden Catechism.\u00a0In these posts we\u00a0will look at the symbolism of plants in Christian art.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll begin with one of my favorite fruits, the pomegranate.<\/p>\n

When I was a kid I thought the pomegranate was popular in October because of its Halloweenish looks. Crack it open and its membrane looked like brains and the sarcotesta\u2014a scary sounding word\u2014the juicy part around the seed, was a bloody red!<\/p>\n

The Pomegranate, Punica granatum,<\/em> is native to Iran, found throughout the world, and fortunate for us, thrives in California and Arizona. It is called India\u2019s (Indian) Apple, and from the French, grenade<\/em> (yep, like the little hand bombs), comes the word for the beverage syrup, grenadine<\/em>. In Latin we combine pomum<\/em>, apple, and granatum<\/em>, seeded.<\/p>\n

In Judaism the seeds are said to symbolize sanctity, fertility, and abundance. One of the seven sacred varieties of plants mentioned in the Bible, the pomegranate is said to have 613 seeds which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot<\/em> or commandments of the Torah. Depictions of the fruit have also been featured in Judaic architecture and design. They decorated the pillars of King Solomon\u2019s temple and the robes of Jewish kings and priests. It is traditional to consume pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah because, with its numerous seeds, it symbolizes fruitfulness.<\/p>\n

In the hands of the Christ child it is a symbol of the resurrection.<\/p>\n

Placed in a still life alongside apples\u2014the forbidden fruit of paradise\u2014it symbolizes the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

When the fruit is seen held by the hands of the child Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary it carries a twofold meaning of chastity and resurrection.<\/p>\n

There are pomegranates on each side of the Chi Rho and depiction of Christ as an older child in the Hinton St. Mary Mosaic of Christ<\/a> from the British Museum. Roman emperors thought it disgraceful to have the depiction of Jesus beneath ones feet, being disrespectful to walk or spill food on him, so banned and removed mosaic floors.<\/p>\n

It can also indicate the church, the union of many under one authority.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plant symbolism is prominent in religious art. Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB offers a small study on the catechism of plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1932,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[734],"tags":[736,3487,735],"class_list":["post-6351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-garden-catechism","tag-christian-art","tag-garden-catechism","tag-pomegranates"],"yoast_head":"\nPomegranates, A Garden Catechism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Plant symbolism is prominent in religious art. Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB offers a small study on the catechism of plants.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Plant symbolism is prominent in religious art. Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB offers a small study on the catechism of plants.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Morning Rose Prayer Gardens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/margaretrose.realy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-17T12:44:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-22T12:08:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@realym\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/\",\"name\":\"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-17T12:44:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-22T12:08:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#\/schema\/person\/aa954d6e7e1802d2c46d1ab38722b84f\"},\"description\":\"Plant symbolism is prominent in religious art. Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB offers a small study on the catechism of plants.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/\",\"name\":\"Morning Rose Prayer Gardens\",\"description\":\"Prayer, coping and contemplation among the living things\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#\/schema\/person\/aa954d6e7e1802d2c46d1ab38722b84f\",\"name\":\"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9ab71433bca67400615f8d71c6c991?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9ab71433bca67400615f8d71c6c991?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB\"},\"description\":\"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB, is a contemplative living an eremitic life. She is an advanced master gardener with over forty years experience in the green industry, award winning author, and offers presentations and retreats. She is a regular columnist at CatholicMom.com, Aleteia.com, and blogs about gardening and spirituality at The Catholic Conspiracy and here at Patheos.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/margaretrose.realy\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realym\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/author\/margaretrose\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism","description":"Plant symbolism is prominent in religious art. Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB offers a small study on the catechism of plants.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism","og_description":"Plant symbolism is prominent in religious art. Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB offers a small study on the catechism of plants.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/","og_site_name":"Morning Rose Prayer Gardens","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/margaretrose.realy","article_published_time":"2014-10-17T12:44:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-05-22T12:08:20+00:00","author":"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@realym","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/","name":"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-10-17T12:44:08+00:00","dateModified":"2015-05-22T12:08:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#\/schema\/person\/aa954d6e7e1802d2c46d1ab38722b84f"},"description":"Plant symbolism is prominent in religious art. Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB offers a small study on the catechism of plants.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/pomegranates-garden-catechism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pomegranates, A Garden Catechism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/","name":"Morning Rose Prayer Gardens","description":"Prayer, coping and contemplation among the living things","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#\/schema\/person\/aa954d6e7e1802d2c46d1ab38722b84f","name":"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9ab71433bca67400615f8d71c6c991?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed9ab71433bca67400615f8d71c6c991?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. OSB"},"description":"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB, is a contemplative living an eremitic life. She is an advanced master gardener with over forty years experience in the green industry, award winning author, and offers presentations and retreats. She is a regular columnist at CatholicMom.com, Aleteia.com, and blogs about gardening and spirituality at The Catholic Conspiracy and here at Patheos.com.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/margaretrose.realy","https:\/\/twitter.com\/realym"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/author\/margaretrose\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1932"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}