These were planted some months ago in front of the statue of Mary Immaculate on the front steps of the rectory here in Andrews, NC. Just to say, this priest, although not a husband and father in a biological nuclear family, is nevertheless NOT a bachelor, for all Catholic priests are married to the Church by way of the wedding vows of The Priest, Christ Jesus, with His bride, the Church, vows which priests recite in the first person singular – by way of their being ordered/ordained to the priesthood of Christ Jesus – this is my body, given for you, in sacrifice and this is the chalice of my blood poured out for you in sacrifice. That’s why a priest is called “Father” (as we read in Saint Paul). This is why a local church is called a parish (a family home) and why a regional church is called a diocese (a grouping of those parishes) under an “over-see-er” (a bishop).
However, because people think that priests are unmarried, I’m just as happy to give Bachelor Buttons to Jesus’ good mom, the Immaculate Conception. Call me a “squire”, or a warrior in the making, or a worker of the fields.
Regarding that last bucolic/bachelor possible etymological reference, I am reminded of Adam, whose name is the verbal form of the soil, thus, a tiller of the ground, a worker of the fields in that ever so bucolic setting, so very often for “bachelors”, young men who can do up extensive work indeed.
Mind you, Adam’s vocation as a “tiller of the ground” inasmuch as he has free will and is in good friendship as a creature with his Creator, is a co-worker with God.
More than this, Adam is George in pretty much any other language, as in Γεώργιος or George or Jorge…. Moreover, Jesus called His Heavenly Father “George” or Γεώργιος (see John 15:1).
So, I think it’s appropriate for me, little George, to give Jesus’ good mom some Bachelor Buttons. :-)
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 