The name Lily, as now used, signifies purity, but in its original form of Cœlius it meant "heaven."
    The Lily, in Christian Art, is an emblem of chastity, innocence and purity—a vase of lilies being frequently placed, in pictures, by the side of the Virgin; and St. Joseph is also represented holding a lily-branch in his hand to show that his wife Mary was the personification of purity.
    In regard to the Lily being the Virgin's flower, it is interesting to know that in Buckinghamshire the White Lily (Lilium Candidum) is dedicated to her under the name of Lady-Lily, and the Order of the Lily of Navarre has also reference to the Virgin.  This order was instituted by Prince Garcia VI. in 1048, in the City of Nagera, "where the image of the Virgin Mary issuing out of a Lily was discovered in the time of the King's sickness, who thereupon suddenly recovered his health; and in token of gratitude instituted the Order of Knights of St. Mary of the Lily, consisting of eight-and-thirty knights whereof he was chief.  Each of these weareth a Lily on his breast, made of silver, and a double chain of gold enterlaced with the Gothish letter M, which stands for Mary.  At the end of the chain hangeth a Flower-de-luce, carrying the same letter crowned."
    Consider the lilies how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Matthew, Chap. VI., v. 28, 29. (Girls' Christian Names, Swan, 1905)