Tag Archives: St. John’s University

Catholic Scholars Visit the Mary Garden

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Photos: Gloria M. Chang

“What is theology?” asked Professor Andrea Florendo to a group of young Catholic Scholars in the Passionist Monastery Chapel.

“The study of God,” responded a sophomore brightly in the front row. 

“Yes, and where does theology begin?” Professor Florendo continued. Looking at each of the young faces, she exclaimed, “In a garden!” Following the creation account in Genesis, the story of God and humankind unfolds in the Garden of Eden. Flowers, trees, rocks, soil, animals, sun, moon, sky, water, humans—the whole natural world—declare the glory of God. Prayer and liturgy burst forth among flowering plants and birdsong in God’s garden of paradise. 

On Sunday, October 6, 2024, seven Catholic Scholars from St. John’s University visited the Mary Garden at the Passionist Monastery in Jamaica, NY. Fr. Victor Hoagland, C.P., Professor Andrea Florendo, and Gloria Chang, founders of the Mary Garden Guild at the Passionist Monastery, welcomed the students warmly. 

Fr. Victor, who has traveled extensively throughout the world on pilgrimages and missions, shared the global Passionist charism with the Catholic Scholars, who are preparing for a life of faith-inspired leadership. The Passionists, who received their mission from St. Paul of the Cross to keep alive in the world the love of Jesus Crucified as seen in His Sacred Passion, have expanded their charism to include the care of creation as taught by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si. Inspired also by Fr. Thomas Berry, C.P. (1914-2009), a pioneer in ecology, the Passionists have redesigned their retreat center in Jamaica, NY, in his name. 

Andrea Florendo, a retired theology professor at St. John’s University and designer of the Mary Garden, gave a tour, pointing out the significance of the enclosed garden as a symbol of Mary’s virginal womb, the fountain as Christ’s “fountain of living waters,” and the cross path as the four rivers in the Garden of Eden. 


Photo: Gloria M. Chang

Our visit in the Mary Garden ended in praise and thanksgiving to God with prayers from Scripture and a reading from the Book of Genesis. May the Lord bless our Catholic Scholars abundantly with faith and grace as they continue their studies and formation at St. John’s University.

How great is your name, O Lord our God,
through all the earth!

Psalm 8:1

Mary Gardens

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Andrea Oliva Florenda, a professor at St. John’s University in Queens, New York, offered a day of reflection on Mary Gardens, December 1 at Bishop Molloy Retreat Center, Jamaica, New York. Professor Florenda teaches in the department of theology and religious studies at St. John’s, specializing in Marian theology. She’s also the designer and curator of the Marian Garden at the university.

Mary Gardens, dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, appeared in Europe following the Black Death, a pandemic that caused millions of deaths in that part of the world in the 14th century. The gardens, usually found in monasteries and religious shrines, brought hope to people walking “in the shadow of death.”

God placed Adam and Eve in a garden, Christian tradition says. (Genesis 2, 8-28) Rising from the dead, Jesus proclaimed eternal life in a garden. (John 20,11-18) For early and medieval Christians, Mary appeared as a garden enclosed, flowers, plants and trees surrounded her, “our life, our sweetness and our hope.” The Mary Garden, which became a favorite inspiration for medieval and renaissance artists, brought the promise of life to the “poor banished children of Eve.”

Does the Mary Garden have a role today in a world facing climate change and environmental degradation? Professor Florenda thinks it does. Besides the mysteries of faith, it teaches reverence for creation, for the soil, for plants that feed us and bring healing, for flowers that nourish our sense of beauty.

Certainly science and technology have a large part to play in the current environmental movement, but Professor Florenda notes the number of young people, from various religious tradition drawn to her Mary Garden at St. John’s, where the mysteries of seed and soil unfold, where pharmacy students study medicinal herbs and seasonal vegetables feed the poor.

The day of reflection on Mary Gardens ended at the grotto honoring Mary in the garden of Immaculate Conception Monastery in Jamaica. There, Professor Florenda spoke about the meaning of the grotto, its structure and the plants and trees surrounding it.

“There is a language in each flower,
that opens to the eye,
A voiceless but a magic power.
A prayer in earth’s blossoms lie.” Anonymous