On Monday, every student in our Digital Journalism class was gifted a branch of freshly picked rosemary. It was a gift from Fr. Lucas S.J. a visual arts professor at USF. Fr. Lucas is a resident of Loyola Village on Lone Mountain and the caretaker of one of the most spectacular private gardens in San Francisco.

Fr. Lucas led us through his hilltop sanctuary and he spoke of his personal reflection on the garden. “There are a lot of metaphors in gardens. Gardens are about memory…you have to remember what you planted and always be thinking ahead about what’s coming up,” said Fr. Lucas.

Walking through the garden you can see the dedication that went into creating such a lovely space. Fr. Lucas talked about the different cycles of life and blooming that took place in the garden and it was clear he was very much in step with those rhythms. He said, “It’s (the garden) constant work, like life well-lived is constant work.”

The gift of rosemary could not have been more appropriate. Fr. Lucas gave us this herb saying, “Shakespeare says that rosemary is for remembrance.” As I searched for this quote in Shakespeare’s archives, I was amazed to see what the full quote truly is.



“There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember.” These are the words of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Prayer, love, and remembrance; three actions that the Loyola Village Garden truly evoked and actions we could all spend a lot more of our time doing.

The Secret Garden

Nestled on the eastern slope of Lone Mountain, and overlooking the Presidio and San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Bridge, is a little known part of USF's campus, the Loyola House. Few students have ever been inside the building, and fewer still have walked around the gated garden housed therein. Father Tom Lucas, one of the Jesuits who lives in Loyola and a caretaker of its garden, drove home the obscurity of the garden when he admonished students, "Pull the gate closed, because we have to keep the secret garden secret."

Built between 1998 and 1999, Loyola houses 25 Jesuit priests, including Father Lucas and Father President Stephen Privett. The Jesuits used to live in Xavier Hall, now Fromm Hall, but Lucas said the building was too large for their needs. Several locations were scouted for a new home, and Lone Mountain was chosen both for the size of the available space and the spectacular view.

The garden attracts animal life from around the Bay, including 28 different kinds of birds, from hummingbirds to Red-tailed hawks, and often draws in raccoons at night. The raccoons, who have no salivary glands, are attracted to the garden's fountain because they need water to digest their food. Lucas seemed happy to host the raccoons, in spite of their tendency to knock over the papyrus plants growing in the fountain, and their penchant for eating the goldfish he occasionally places inside.

The garden attracts more than just animal life. When it first opened, the stairs going up the north side of Lone Mountain had not yet been completed, and students would sometimes stumble upon the garden when trying to scale the mountain. Lucas also related the story of a man who walked his terrier along the garden wall, and complained when Lucas asked him to stop.

When explaining the fact that the garden is closed to the public, Lucas asked students to remember that Loyola House is the priests' private home. "Think of this place like your backyard," Lucas said. "This is our backyard. Your neighbors don't just stroll into your backyard, do they?"