Roses and other flowers are painted on the walls of historical cubiculi. In a fresco of the crypts of Lucina, in the Catacombs of Callixtus, are painted birds, symbolizing souls who have been separated from their bodies, and are playing in fields of roses around the Tree of Life. As the word _Paradeisos_ signifies a garden, so its mystic representation always takes the form of a delightful field of flowers and fruit. Dante gives to the seat of the blessed the shape of a fair rose, inside of which a crowd of angels with golden wings descend and return to the Lord:-- "Nel gran fior discendeva, che s'adorna Di tante foglie: e quindi risaliva, Là dove lo suo amor sempre soggiorna."[33] _Paradiso_, xxxi. 10-12. Possibly it is from this allegory of paradise that the rite of the "golden rose" which the Pope blesses on Quadragesima Sunday is derived. The ceremony is very ancient, although the first mention of it appears only in the life of Leo IX. (1049-1055); and I may mention, as a curious coincidence, that the kings and queens of Navarre, their sons, and the dukes and peers of the realm, were bound to offer roses to the Parliament at the return of spring. Roses played such an important part in church ceremonies that we find a _fundus rosarius_ given as a present by Constantine to Pope Mark. The _rosaria_ outlived the suppression of pagan superstitions, and by and by assumed its Christian form in the feast of Pentecost, which falls in the month of May. In that day roses were thrown from the roofs of churches on the worshipers below. The Pentecost is still called by the Italians _Pasqua rosa_. FOOTNOTES: [1] The relations between the Empire, the Christians, and the Jews have been discussed by really numberless writers, beginning with the Fathers of the Church. I have consulted, among the moderns: Mangold: _De ecclesia primæva pro cæsaribus et magistratibus romanis preces fundente._ Bonn, 1881.--Bittner: _De Græcorum et Romanorum deque Judæorum et christianorum sacris jejuniis._ Posen, 1846.--Weiss: _Die römischen Kaiser in ihrem Verhältnisse zu Juden und Christen._ Wien, 1882.--Mourant Brock: _Rome, Pagan and Papal._ London, Hodder & Co. 1883.--Backhouse and Taylor: _History of the primitive Church._ (Italian edition.) Rome, Loescher, 1890.--Greppo: _Trois mémoires relatifs à l'histoire ecclésiastique._--Döllinger: _Christenthum und Kirche._--Champagny (Comte de): _Les Antonins_, vol. i.--Gaston Boissier: _La fin du paganisme_, etc., 2 vols. Paris, Hachette, 1891.--Giovanni Marangoni: _Delle cose gentilesche trasportate ad uso delle chiese._ Roma, Pagliarini, 1744.--Mosheim: _De rebus Christianis ante Constantinum._--Carlo Fea: _Dissertazione sulle rovine di Roma_, in Winckelmann's _Storia delle arti._ Roma, Pagliarini, 1783, vol. iii.--Louis Duchesne: _Le liber pontificalis._ Paris, Thorin, 1886-1892.--G. B. de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana._ Roma, Salviucci, 1863-1891.