A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
Liturgical: Fifth Sunday of Easter
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing."
Sanctoral: Peter Chanel, France +1881 Patron Saint of Oceania, Martyr
Human: In 238 BC, the temple of the goddess of flowers and fertility, Flora, was dedicated near the Circus Maximus. Her three to six day festival, the Ludi Florales or Floralia, resembled a carnival, with Romans dancing adorned with colorful garlands and stacks of flowers arranged on the feast tables. The festival included games, plays, and mime and dance performances.
Natural: What flowers grew in ancient Rome? Here are a few-- roses, narcissi, oleanders, violets, crocus, narcissus, lily, gladioli, iris, poppy, amaranth, and wildflowers.
Quote: "I enjoy perpetual spring; most buxom is the year ever; ever the tree is clothed with leaves, the ground with pasture. In the fields that are my dower, I have a fruitful garden, fanned by the breeze and watered by a spring of running water. This garden my husband filled with noble flowers and said, 'Goddess, be queen of flowers.' Oft did I wish to count the colours in the beds, but could not; the number was past counting."
--Flora speaking in Fasti v. 183ff by Ovid
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