C. James Graham, 33°

As 18° Knights of the Rose Croix, Scottish Rite Masons realize the rose is a primary symbol for our Order, and February, marked by Valentine Day, is a month especially appropriate to reflections about this lovely flower and what it symbolizes both in Masonry and universally.

The rose has a long and rich history. Roses were first cultivated in China about 4,000 years ago. The early Egyptians grew roses and shipped them from the port of Alexandria throughout the ancient world. In 1187, Saladin defeated the Crusaders in Jerusalem, and after his victory, he ordered that 500 camel loads of roses be brought to cleanse the mosque of Omar. In the Middle Ages, several varieties of roses survived only by the effort of monks who cultivated rose gardens at their monasteries for both decorative and medicinal purposes.

Everyone has heard the nursery rhyme “Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down.” This rhyme was written during the Black Plague, when bubonic plague spread throughout Europe killing a quarter of the population. The “rosy” and “posy” refer to the practice of carrying flowers, which because of their fragrance, were thought to ward off the plague. The “rosy” also referred to the skin lesions of the plague, which were reddish pink, like a rose.

The famous War of the Roses, the British Civil War, was fought between the house of Lancaster, whose symbol is a red rose, and the house of York, whose symbol is a white rose. After the War, in 1485, Henry Tudor married Elizabeth Plantagenet, a member of the York house. Since then a white rose superimposed on a red rose has been the symbol of the monarchy in Great Britain symbolizing the uniting of these two families.

In France, Napoleon’s wife, Empress Josephine, loved roses and created what was at the time the largest rose garden in the world at their palace at Malmaison. It is said that there were over 250 varieties in Josephine’s rose garden.
The rose has a particular historic significance in America. According to tradition, on October 11, 1492, while sailing on the Sargasso Sea, a crewman saw a rose branch floating on the water. This rose renewed the explorer’s hope of finding land, and the seafarers continued on, soon finding the New World. The oldest fossilized imprint of a rose is on a 35-million-year-old slate deposit in Florisant, Colorado.

George Washington, our first President and America’s most prominent Mason, was the first recorded American rose breeder and had a large rose garden at his Mount Vernon, Virginia, estate. Congress passed a law, signed by President Reagan on November 20, 1986, establishing the rose as the National Flower of the United States. Today, the rose is the most popular cut flower in our country. There are over 1,000 acres of greenhouse area dedicated to the production of roses in America, about 60% of them in California. In 2000, over 1.2 billion cut roses were purchased by Americans. This is a per capita rate of 4.67 roses per person.
As Masons, we use symbols to teach and learn certain moral precepts. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Craft should use this ancient and important symbol. In Greek mythology,

Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, is said to have created the rose from her tears and the blood of her son, Adonis, who had been attacked by a wild boar. In Roman mythology, the rose was the symbol of Venus, goddess of love. Cupid is said to have offered a rose to the Harpocrates, the Roman god of silence, to keep secret the various love affairs of Venus. Harpocrates was usually depicted holding a rose in one hand, with a finger of the other hand at his lips, in a sign of silence. This established the rose as a symbol of secrecy. To this day, the term sub rosa, meaning “under the rose,” means confidentiality or secrecy.
For some, the rose has reli-gious symbolic significance. There are references to roses in both Confucian and Buddhist religious literature. Christians have seen the rose as an important symbol of their faith. Early Roman Catholics strung rose buds together using them in prayer, establishing what is now known as the rosary. The red rose has been taken by some Christians as a symbol of Mary, mother of Christ, and by others as a symbol of Christ himself: “I am the rose of Sharon” (The Song of Solomon 2:1).

The rose has long been used for medicinal purposes. The Persians used rose oil for the treatment of various ailments. The Greeks used rose-scented oils for perfumes, both for the sick as well as for anointing the dead. The apothecary rose (Rosa gallica officinalis) became the foundation of a large industry in France in the Middle Ages due to its reputed medicinal value. Because of the rose’s long use as a medicinal, it became a symbol of pharmacology which is still used today.

Today, roses of various colors are symbolic of certain virtues or sentiments. Red roses are symbolic of love, affection, friendship, and respect. White roses symbolize reverence, purity, secrecy, and humility. Yellow roses represent joy and gladness. The pink rose is a symbol of grace, gratitude, or sympathy. So, even though roses are ancient symbols, we still find meaning in their beauty and their fragrance today.

As Scottish Rite Masons, the rose is an important symbol in the 18th Degree, Knight of the Rose Croix. In a Masonic context, there are other possible interpretations, aside from those noted above, associated with the rose symbol. We use light and darkness as important symbols of good and evil. We are taught that, although our lives will have times of sorrow and misfortune, ultimately there will be light and goodness for the virtuous. Albert Pike, in Morals and Dogma (p. 291) said that the rose “is a symbol of Dawn, of the resurrection of Light and the renewal of life.” Most of the year, the rose bush is simply a collection of green, scraggly stems covered by thorns. Most of the time, the rose bush is neither beautiful nor fragrant, and to touch its thorns will cause pain. But with patience, careful cultivation, and proper watering, the ugly, thorny bush becomes filled with beautiful blossoms that captivate the senses and fill the soul with joy.

It is such a strong parallel to the Masonic symbol of light and darkness! Our lives will have times of darkness, of struggle, and of pain, but with the careful cultivation and practice of hope, faith, and charity, we will find that light, goodness, and love of which the rose is such a powerful symbol.

C. James Graham, Valley of Little Rock, Arkansas, is the Associate Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. He received the 33° at the 2003 Biennial Session. Contacts: 5315 Timber Creek Circle, North Little Rock, AR 72116-6493; jamesgraham@comcast.net