DUTCH FLORISTS CREATE A FLORAL HEAVEN IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE

DUTCH FLORISTS CREATE A FLORAL HEAVEN IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE

For decades, it has been Dutch florists who have provided the floral decorations for St. Peter’s Square for Easter. It is always a true labor of love – not just growing the flowers but, extremely important, packing them correctly in the huge vans that bring them to Rome so that they arrive fresh and unbroken.

Work began yesterday and continued today, despite rain and chilly weather. It will be wonderful to see the final product – the final arrangement of the 35,000 plus flowers!

A number of times in the past I have gone to the square and taken photos on Easter Sunday, after Mass, long after the flowers, shrubs, etc. had been placed in the square by the Dutch florists. I always loved the moment and prayed my parents were watching from heaven as they were marvelous gardeners! We always had enough property to have flourishing gardens and this was their passion.

The flowers you see in this slideshow were taken by a vaticanista colleague with permission to share. Thanks to Hendro Munsterman who writes for Nederlands Dagblad, a Dutch newspaper, we have these great images!

One photo shows bouquets of pink roses. These were delivered to the press office for the journalists who write about the Dutch floral display in the Vatican.

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Vatican news published this on April 1:

To celebrate Easter and to express the joy of the resurrection of Christ, Saint Peter’s Square will be transformed into a garden in bloom. More than 35,000 flowers and plants from the Netherlands will carpet the parvis of the Vatican Basilica. The floral decorations will be created by the workers of the Garden and Environment Service of the Directorate of Infrastructure and Services of the Governorate, with the collaboration of Floral Designer Daniela Canu. Dutch florists and floristry professors from Naklo in Slovenia will also contribute.

Together they will work throughout the whole day of Good Friday to prepare and finish the decorations by the following day. World of Spray Roses – Creative and Innovative Sprayroses Inspiration Worldwide Rose Alliance will provide some 720 roses, delivered to the Service via Flora Netherlands, in cooperation with Dr Charles Lansdorp.

Not only on the occasion of the Solemnity of Easter, but throughout Holy Week, Saint Peter’s Square will be adorned with flower arrangements and decorations. This will be carried out by the in-house workers of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, in cooperation with those who have offered plants and flowers.

In particular, for Palm Sunday, 2 April, olive twigs will be distributed, provided by the National Association of Oil Cities, by the mayors of the Oil Cities of Umbria Region, coordinated by Dr. Antonio Balenzano, national director of the Association.

The “Phoenix palms” will be provided by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. Palm trees from the city of Sanremo will also be present.

The wholesale floricultural company Flora Olanda of Rome will lend the large olive trees to be positioned near the statues of Saints Peter and Paul, at the foot of the parvis, and the obelisk.

 

35-YEAR TRADITION OF DUTCH FLOWERS IN THE VATICAN AT EASTER TO END

Coronavirus has a new victim – St. Peter’s Square!

I learned of this interesting but somewhat sad story on a Dutch news site and, with the help of Google translate and tweaking some grammar, you’ll see how Easter will be quite different in the Vatican this year.

The last sentence of the story says: “The Vatican has yet to be notified.”  I’m guessing they know now.

35-YEAR TRADITION OF DUTCH FLOWERS IN THE VATICAN AT EASTER TO END 

A Christian online news site is reporting that, for the first time in 35 years, there will be no flowers gracing the central loggia of the basilica and the papal altar in St. Peter’s Square at Easter. The annual tradition of placing a sea of flowers on the balcony for the Urbi et Orbi blessing and on the square for the papal Easter Mass will end this year, according to the chief flower arranger of this event, Paul Deckers.

A florist from Posterhold in Limburg, Holland, he told the online paper http://www.nd.dl that he can no longer find sponsors after two years of coronavirus and that, from this year on, St. Peter’s Square will have to do without the Dutch floral splendor.

Deckers has been involved in the flower arrangement on the square since 1988 and responsible for its organization and realization since 2015. “The sponsors are stopping, it no longer fits in with their marketing policy,” says Deckers. “And that while we had a global platform for Dutch floriculture since 1986.” (www.nd.nl file photo)

The floral decoration of the square had been canceled for the past two years due to the pandemic.  Deckers said, “Dozens of growers took part. Rose growers, tree growers, daffodil bulb growers, hyacinths, blue grapes and tulips, you name it. We had thirty employees who transformed St. Peter’s Square in one day, with everything .- flowers, trees, shrubes, – transported in refrigerated trucks. It’s all over.” This was a project rooted in Dutch society, he added, especially with the annual papal ‘Thank you for the flowers’.”

”I saw the realization of the annual flower decoration, together with my fantastic team, all parties involved and growers, as a privilege and honor. I am grateful that we have had the opportunity to present Dutch floral art and floriculture on an international platform for many years. The fact that I received the ‘Benemerenti’ papal award from Pope Francis in 2015 is the crown on my work. Pope John Paul II, then Pope Benedict XVI and then Pope Francis expressed their thanks for the flowers from the Netherlands. This compliment is unique and of great value.”

“I’m losing 15 kilos of weight as the last few months have not been easy, because of all that tug-of-war,” he sighed on Thursday. The Vatican has yet to be notified.

Some photos I once took a few days after Easter in St. Peter’s Square: