Holding the white trumpet-like flower of the angel lily, he smelled the faint fragrance yet maintained a respect for the poisonous sap lurking in the veins of the African plant brought to Washington D.C. by a traveled friar. Nearby, through the gate once marked “Cloister: Do Not Enter,” rose gardens flourished amidst brick pillars with stone panels depicting the Stations of the Cross.
Throughout the afternoon, Mark Emmell and landscapers from his company Greensmith, dug, measured, and fashioned a fish pool that will be the central component of a memorial garden for Friar James, who was an etymologist by trade. After completion, bog plants will surround the pond to attract an array of insects. Until then, the bees buzz from a banana flower to the garden guild's bookishly labeled medicinal, culinary, household, and ritual herb-beds.
As a child, Emmell walked from his home in the surrounding Brookland neighborhood to the then 100-acre grounds of The Franciscan Monastery. Visits to his uncle working the switchboard were interspersed with time exploring the woods, cemetery, fields, and farm. As a father, Mark brought his own children to the now 45-acre monastery for Easter and discovered weeds taller than the rose bushes and poison-ivy blanketing parts of the property. At this time, Mark's sisters, volunteers in the parish, suggested their brother's landscaping expertise to a concerned friar.
Thirteen years later, the grounds boast a half-dozen palms fluttering in the wind, an expansive rose collection, and manicured gardens surrounding shrine-grottos. Dedicated in 1899, the church is a replica of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, situated inside the walls of Jerusalem and venerated by believers as the place of Christ's crucifixion and burial. The wild, tropical landscaping surrounding the Church of the Holy Sepulchre fits the church's mission.
In a brown habit tied at the waist with a rope belt and Tevas, Father Jacob-Matthew explains, the shrine church was built “so that people in the United States would be able to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land without physically having to board a boat and travel for 30 or 40 days to get to Jerusalem.” Father Jacob-Matthew welcomes thousands of visitors each year to the high domed church containing a crucifix hanging in line with the altar and a replica of Christ's tomb.
As the busloads of tourists increased throughout recent years, a group of Washingtonians formed a Garden Guild, and Mark Emmell's company Greensmiths was relegated to specially contracted projects. During one of the Garden Guild's Christmas poinsettia sales, Emmell recalls the large wooden doors of the portiuncula chapel opened to show glowing votive candles and Christmas wreaths. An old black gentleman with tear-filled eyes came to the opened doors and commented, “All my life, I have been wanting to see what's in there.”
While some are grateful for the open doors of the monastery, others have taken advantage of the welcoming atmosphere. During one incident, a thief stole the purses of two women in a tour group. While investigating the case, undercover investigators donned the brown habits of the friars. Emmell laughed remembering the shiny shoes that distinguished them from the friars.
Parishioners arriving in the winter months for daily mass walk along shoveled walks thanks to Emmell. After one large snowstorm came through, Emmell arrived well before 3 a.m. before the rest of the crew, to shovel the walks and parking lots before the first mass. He recalled, “The clouds were scutting by and there was a nice moon rising and it was so pretty. I just walked the whole property, and I saw a fox run in front of me with a whole mouth full of persimmons, and lots of wildlife. There was a pair of hawks here for the longest time.”
After the snow melts each spring, Emmell uncovers the palms lying dormant in the greenhouse, root bulbs still wet to preserve life. With co-workers, he lays the palms in slings, and carries them to the entryway to erect them for the summer months. As in the past dozen years, the palms quickly took root and now their leaves flutter in the autumn wind.
Visit http://www.myfranciscan.org/Default.aspx to learn more.
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