Louis the Pious loved to hunt. He was the only surviving son of the famous Charlemagne and a very busy emperor, but always made time to escape to the forests of Germany and give chase to the beasts.
Whenever he went out, Louis brought with him a delicate reliquary of the Blessed Mother. One day in the year 815, however, he lost the reliquary during a hunt.
A few different versions of the ensuing legend exist, but the main facts agree in all of them. Here is one account:
When Louis discovered that his reliquary was missing, he was devastated. He scoured the forest for the reliquary. He vowed to build a church on the spot if he ever found it again.
And he did find it. It was lodged upright in a rosebush.
Louis was true to his word. He built the Hildesheim Cathedral next to the bush so that the plant could grow against the altar wall.
The Thousand-Year-Rose (photo: Stefan Schäfer, Lich/CC BY-SA 4.0)
A thousand years later, the bombs of World War II badly damaged the old cathedral and shattered the rosebush. The bush, however, sprouted out strongly from its roots and bloomed again.
Since then, the plant has flourished undisturbed. It has grown to the top of the altar wall, making it not only the world’s oldest rosebush but also the tallest of its kind. It seems almost invincible, clinging with its delicate branches to the side of the cathedral.
Beautiful, strong, and resilient, the cathedral-climbing Thousand-Year-Rose is a true wonder of the world. It has survived centuries of disaster, upheaval, and change—just like the Church it represents, which Christ promised would last unbroken until the end of time.
The rest of us don’t have a cathedral to plant our roses next to, but we can make our springtime planting a divine endeavor. Learn how with A Catholic Gardener’s Spiritual Almanac, which explores the riches of the Catholic spiritual tradition in conjunction with all things gardening. With meditations and scripture passages, reflections on the liturgical seasons and feasts, and delightful stories of the saints, this book will be a favorite in your gardening library! Available today at The Catholic Company!
