Franciscan History with the Black Mustard Plant



The ubiquitous and beautiful California mustard plant has an unique Franciscan religious story and legacy.

Every spring, the hills, valleys and roads between the 21-California Franciscan Missions burst into shocking yellow as each bloom has four distinct petals that forms a cross.

Legend has it that 17th and 18th century Franciscan Friars planted these billions of petaled-flowered crosses by scattering seeds along El Camino Real to mark the road and their apostolic trail.

Our Franciscan-inspired mustard plants are readily distinguished from other plants because of their cross-shaped blossoms.

The most common mustard plant in Southern California is black mustard (Brassica nigra), from which the popular seasoning is derived. In the late winter or early spring, these acres of yellow-blossomed black mustard brighten the state.

A native of Europe, black mustard was introduced in California by the Franciscan padres. So when you are next enjoying the bloom of Spring, say a prayer for those California Apostles who sowed the early seed of Christ in California.


Gregg Garrison

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Faith, Prayer and Our Founding Fathers

Image
Was there disagreement among our Founding Fathers about opening their Continental Congress with prayer?  Yes, says historian Ron Zell.  In an interesting and informative presentation to the OFS at our March meeting, Mr. Zell presented the text of a letter from John Adams to his wife Abigail.  In the letter, Adams tells about the debate going on to decide whether or not to open with prayer at the Continental Congress.   You can see the letter in the two slides below.  (Mr. Zell has generously shared these slides from his presentation on faith in the early colonies up through the Constitutional Congress in 1787. Click on the slides to see them full size.) Below is a continuation of Adams's letter to his wife, Abigail. Prayer to open the Congress was approved. On the left is the Psalm read by a Reverend to the Continental Congress. The painting below is of the Reverend praying at the congress. The painting is by Howard Chandler Christy.  Thirteen
Read more

St. Serra's Sermons During a Famine in Spain

Image
Old Mission Santa Barbara statue of St. Francis receiving the stigmata. Photo by Gregg Garrison Four sermons are delivered by St. Serra in Mallorca, Spain in the middle of a devastating famine. Ten thousand people died in St. Serra’s hometown from famine and plague in 1744. Serra’s four sermons from this time of suffering reflect on Psalm 34: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” As of March 28, t he 2020 global death toll is rapidly approaching 30,000 deaths from the Coronavirus, equaling the 1744 loss in life in St. Serra’s lifetime. These sermons — then and now — are inspired by great suffering and speak compassionately to people in the midst of a plague. In these sermons, St. Serra speaks to us of the earthly and divine rungs of the ladder that lead to God. Equal parts of suffering, healing and pardoning lead to “the eternal weight of glory and risen life.” The first rung of the ladder: God is gentle in the sufferings He sends us. Secondly, God is a healer. From the sec
Read more

Book Review of St. Clare of Assisi: Light from the Cloister

Image
The Life of Saint Clare from the Perspective of a Third Order Secular Franciscan Bret Thoman, OFS By Gregg Garrison, OFS, Minister TITLE & CITATION:    Thoman, Bret, OFS. St. Clare of Assisi: Light from the Cloister. Charlotte, North Carolina: TAN Books, 2017. 239 pages. Available in Hardcover ($24.95) and Kindle ($9.98). AUTHOR:   Bret Thoman, OFS, author, Forward by Rosella Chiara Mancinelli, and Afterward by Murray Bodo, OFM. BOOK REVIEW: The biography of Saint Clare in St. Clare of Assisi: Light from the Cloister is researched and written from the unique perspective of a Third Order Secular Franciscan. Saint Clare of Assisi (16 JUL 1194 – 11 AUG 1253) was born Chiara Offreduccio.  Saint Claire was canonized on 15 AUG 1255.  Thoman did not write a traditional biography. He states in his Author’s Note: “What follows is not a work of academia, objective biography, or straight history. Instead, I have sought something else: an historical narrative.” T
Read more