Growing up in Kentucky, we spent most of our time outdoors. When we got hungry, we just grabbed an apple off our apple tree that we grew in our field. We also had several tart cherry trees, peach trees, and pear trees, but perhaps the neatest thing we had were beehives. My father is a beekeeper and every year we get to eat delicious clover honey. What an awesome treat! Little did I know just how important the honeybee truly is for our lives and our holy Catholic Faith.
The honeybee may be the most important animal on earth. Pollination is vitally important for life on earth and the bees are the number one pollinators. Honey is a superfood. Bacteria can’t live in it. It’s used for ailments such as the common cold. It will help clean your teeth by killing the bacteria buildup. Bee venom is also used for healing. The honeybee is truly a gift from God.
In the early Church, the honeybee was considered a sacred creature and is a uniquely Catholic symbol.
The bee is found six times in the Bible: Deut. 1:44, Judges 14:8, Psalm 117:12, Sirach 11:3, Isaiah 7:18, and it’s also found in an addition to the Septuagint version of Proverbs of chapter 6, “Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom …. Or go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is, and how her industry deserves our respect, for kings and the sick make use of the product of her labor for their health. Indeed, she is glorious and desired by all, and though she be frail, she is honored, because she treasures wisdom.” Deborah is also the Hebrew word for bee.
Honey is mentioned 61 times in the Old Testament and 5 times in the New Testament and honeycomb is mentioned 11 times in the Bible. Samson and John the Baptist ate honey.
Christians have looked to the honeybee as a model for the Christian life. They symbolize hard work, chastity, and sacrifice. St. John Chrysostom wrote in his 12th Homily, “The bee is more honored than other animals, not because it labors, but because it labors for others.”
The traditional tabernacle and the triple tiara are shaped like a beehive and the altar candles are made from 100% beeswax, which is a symbol of purity. Honey represents sweetness, which the Word of God in Scripture, Tradition, and the Eucharist certainly is.
Honeybees also stay with the Queen. They guard, protect, and follow her. Wherever she goes, they go. When bees sting an intruder in their hive, they will ultimately die. In other words, they will give up their own lives to save the others, especially the queen. Let us stay with Our Lady and guard and protect her honor and follow her as she followed Our Lord.
The patron saint of beekeepers and candle-makers is St. Ambrose. Legend has it that when he was an infant in his cradle, bees swarmed his mouth leaving no sting but only honey. It came to pass that he would be called the “Honey Tongued Doctor.” The beekeeper term Ambrosia (from the name of the saint) is a mixture of pollen and nectar used to feed bee larvae by worker bees.
Cardinal Maffeo Barberini changed his coat of arms from 3 horseflies to 3 honeybees to gain status. He would later became Pope Urban VIII in 1623 and he spread the imagery of honeybees throughout Rome. You can see his bees in the huge columns of the Altar of the Confession in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Monument to Pope Urban VIII-St Peter’s Basilica – Walks in Rome (Est. 2001)
Pope Pius XI tells us that the Christian teacher imitates the bee “which takes the choicest part of the flower and leaves the rest” (Divini illius Magistri, n. 87).
Lastly, Pope Pius XII gave an address on honeybees on Nov. 27, 1948. He declared, “Bees are models of social life and activity, in which each class has its duty to perform and performs it exactly…Ah, if men could and would listen to the lesson of the bees…how much better the world would be! Working like bees with order and peace, men would learn to enjoy and have others enjoy the fruit of their labors…” [See footnote for full papal address. ]
The next time you see a honeybee, be reminded of the words of our popes and let it be. It has a lot of important work to do and so do we.
Footnote
Love it…the insect of the Bible. Watch a swarm being hived…amazing. They have been tracked out to 7 miles in search of nectar and pollen. The fragrance of the busy hive in early Spring is wonderful. There is only one queen per hive and she determines whether it survives or not. She can bring life to the hive 2000 + times per day…is gentle and will not sting. Honey has nearly every known vitamin and mineral known to man. And after all this time we still do not understand all there is to the bee. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful gift.
Is it a coincidence that there is false honey sold at the market that is sweet but doesn’t fortify. Like the words of Vatican II that so many partake of believing it is sweet but turns bitter when digested.
Absolutely a great article and a wonderful reminder. The “modern” man-centered fools can’t fully explain or control one of God’s lowly creatures but yet they have the hubris, arrogance, and stupidity to think they can control, man, God’s highest creature
Thank you! This is great. We are TRYING to be beekeepers, with no success yet. (Are tw attempted bee colonies have absconded.) But we have recently begun praying to St. Ambrose.
For another bee/ Catholicism topic, do you know anything about the history of monks and beekeeping. Were they the first to build beehives, rather than harvest honey from the wild?
see https://historyofbees.weebly.com/europe.html
https://www.omlet.us/guide/bees/starting_out/beehive_types/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070904114558.htm#:~:text=It%20dates%20from%20the%2010th,Cohen%20of%20the%20Hebrew%20University.
Thank you for the links.
Catching a wild colony is our next plan. We thought we would try the nice, friendly bees for our first beekeeping attempt. But I guess we are just going to have to go for the wild ones. They say that all of the bees where we live are Africanized.
Our two attempted bee colonies have absconded.
I’m sorry to hear that. I know my father is always on the lookout for swarms to catch and place in his hives.
Interesting!
FROM THE EXULTET – HOLY SATURDAY
THE PRAISE OF THE BEES
In huius igitur noctis gratia, suscipe, sancte Pater, incensi huius sacrificium vespertinum: quod tibi in hac Cerei oblatione solemni, per ministrorum manus de operibus apum, sacrosancta reddit Ecclesia.
Wherefore, in this sacred night, receive, O holy Father, the evening sacrifice of this incense, which holy Church renders to Thee by the hands of Thy ministers in the solemn offering of this wax candle, made out the work of bees.
Sed iam columnae huius praeconia novimus, quam in honorem Dei rutilans ignis accendit. Qui licet sit divisus in partes, mutuati tamen luminis detrimenta non novit. Alitur enim liquantibus ceris, quas in substantiam pretiosae huius lampadis, apis mater eduxit.
Now also we know the praises of this pillar, which the shining fire enkindles to the honor of God. Which fire, although divided into parts, suffers no loss from its light being borrowed. For it is nourished by the melting wax, which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious light.
If Faith is still following this she might have success using lemongrass oil mixed with a small amount of vaseline. Dab some of this in or around a hive nuc containing beeswax. Best time of the year is spring from late March through June….swarming season. This mixture imitates the scent of the queen and draws scouts and a queen to your hive.
Thank you, On Guard!