The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today is almost over, but I didn't want to let it go by without wishing everyone a happy feast day for Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Last year I went to mass to celebrate with a Mexican friend and her family and had a great time.  All the little girls dressed as Mary and all the little boys dressed as St Juan Diego were so cute!

I cast the medal pictured here from a vintage medal in my collection.  I love it because it shows Our Lady's face so clearly.  (It's for sale in my shop Rosa Mystica, if your interested...)

We have Our Lady of Guadalupe to thank for truly bringing the Catholic christian faith to Latin America.  The miraculous cloak (or tilma) that belonged to Juan Diego and features the image of Our Lady is still on display in Mexico City and is venerated by pilgrims from all around the world.

The story of Guadalupe is fantastic to read, but too long for me to recap here at this late hour. (It's 11:00 PM while I'm typing this!) So I would suggest you head over to Catholic Online to read their version.

A St Thomas More Medal

I was just watching a history about Henry VIII, who is one of my favorite historical characters, (Well, favorite as in interesting - not admired!) and thought I would share this St Thomas More medal with you.

Thomas More was a lawyer, and one of Henry's closest advisers during his youth and the early days of his reign.  He ran afoul of the king when he refused to swear the Oath of Supremacy which recognize the king, not the pope, as the supreme head of the church in England.  Not only would he not swear to it, but being a rather smart guy, he wouldn't criticize it either!  He knew that if he agreed with the act, although he would save his life, he would go against his conscience and the teachings of the Catholic church.  If he spoke out against the act, he would lose his life, but guard his soul and conscience from harm.  Wanting to save both his body and his soul, he decided that the best route to take was silence.

Unfortunately for him, he was tricked into making a statement against the marriage (or perhaps perjury was committed about his words), but once his feeling were known, he didn't hold back on what he believed about the king's marriage, the supremacy of the pope and the Catholic church, and the importance of an individual's conscience.

Henry VIII had is old friend and advisor executed at the Tower of London on July 6, 1535.  His last words were "I die the king's good servant, but God's first."  He is the patron saint of lawyers.

This medal is available in my online shop:  Rosa Mystica

Sacred Heart of Jesus Enamel Medal

I just wanted to take a second to post this fantastic medal.  It's French and I would guess that it was made in the 1930's because of its geometric art-deco look.

The picture of Jesus has been hand painted in the center!  The artist must have used a brush with only one hair because the image is so tiny!  I placed it next to a stamp on a vintage postcard so there would be something to compare it to.

Enamel medals are my new favorite thing right now, and I've come across a few lovely ones that I'll share another time.  For the moment, please enjoy this unique example! 

Feast of St Michael the Archangel

Since today is Sept. 29, the Feast Day of St Michael the Archangel, I wanted to share this beautiful medal with you.  It's a reproduction that I cast of a vintage medal in my collection.

The original dates from the World War II era and especially brings to mind the militaristic attributes of this warrior angel.  St Michael fought to cast Satan out of heaven, so he's not depicted as a wilting, delicate guy.  You would want this angel on your side in battle!  I love the strong bold lines used to depict him.

The symbolism on the medal also follows a military theme.  The star behind his head is not just any star, but the star that you would see on the shoulder of a general, and the wings are those of an air force pilot.

This medal is a great reminder that Jesus does not demand that we be passive and weak in acting out our love for him, but sometimes he demands that we act with strength to protect what is right and good.

You can see this medal along with other St Michael medals in my shop: Rosa Mystica Religious Medals

My Amazing Glow-In-the-Dark Rosary

I got this off of Ebay several years ago without realizing what it was ~ a rosary for children that glows in the dark!  And not only does it glow in the dark, it also has a tiny Stanhope lens in the center of the cross that lets you see the Virgin Mary when you look inside!  What child wouldn't want to pray the rosary with this?

What is a Stanhope lens?  Briefly, it's a tiny microscope that was invented by Charles, the third Earl of Stanhope It's made by using a tiny tube of glass with convex ends. The image to be viewed is put at one end of the glass tube and appears to be magnified when the device is held up to the eye. 

Stanhope lenses were especially popular during the 19th century and put in all sorts of souvenirs and novelty items.  They were popular to sell at religious pilgrimage sites as well.  An image of the site would be put at the end of the tube and the whole thing would be set into the center of a rosary crucifix.  I have another one that shows six views of Lourdes, France when you look into the viewer! It's amazing when you realize how tiny the viewing area is.

In the Mood for "Song of Bernadette"

 The title of this post says it all ~ I'm in the mood to watch one of my  favorite movies of all time: "The Song of Bernadette", so I'm showing a gorgeous medal from Lourdes, France.  It shows the Virgin Mary on the front, and Bernadette Soubirous kneeling before Mary on the back.  If you haven't seen the movie, it tells the story of St Bernadette Soubirous.  Here's the synopsis, and yes, the whole thing is a spoiler, but read it and watch the movie anyway.  It's awesome.

In 1858, in the grotto of Massabielle, near Lourdes in southern France, Our Lady appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, a young peasant girl who lived in complete poverty.

Bernadette always just referred to the beautiful vision as "aquero", meaning "that one" in her dialect.  When asked who she was, Mary said that she was the Immaculate Conception, Bernadette didn't even know what the words meant and had to repeat them to herself so she wouldn't forget before she told the priest!

Mary also asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision, and told the girl to bathe and drink from a spring in the grotto. The problem was - there was no spring there!  Bernadette just dug at a muddy spot and rubbed mud on herself.  People thought she had gone nuts.  But after she left, a spring began to flow from the site.  Today that spring flows at a rate of 32,000 gallons a day!

The water from this spring has shown remarkable healing power, though it contains no curative property that science can identify, and people come from all over the world to bathe in it and pray at the there.  Lourdes has become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady and is visited by over 6,000,000, not a typo - six million, people each year.

A Hand-Painted Holy Card

I received this beautiful holy card in the mail a few weeks ago.  It's from France and has been all hand-painted.  The inscription on the bottom reads "Souvenez-vous do moi dans la receuillement a la prière." which translates as "Remember me in contemplation before prayer."  On the back is written "Souvenir d'affecteuese reconnaissance ~ Sr. Adelphe" meaning "A souvenir of affectionate remembrance ~ Sister Adelph".  So I'm assuming that Sister Adelph painted this holy card for a dear friend, or possibly a student (if she was a teaching nun).

The cross in the center looks like it's made out of celluloid - it's shiny and almost iridescent - and it's outlined by a chain of little pink roses with a purple and yellow pansy or violet in the center.

During the 19th century people were very aware of the meanings of different flowers.  Red roses stand for love of course.  (As anyone who watches the bachelor would know! :)  I looked up "pansy" and saw that it stands for remembrance.  Even more interesting, in French the word "pansy" is "pensée" which means "thought", so the pansy meant "thinking of you".  The pansy is also a symbol of the holy trinity with it's three colors, purple, yellow, and white, symbolizing the father, son and holy spirit.  The specific colors also were symbolic:  Purple = loving memories, yellow = kind thoughts, and white = souvenirs.  And then to pile symbolism on top of symbolism, a woman who retired from the world and became a religious was thought to be the pattern of humility and was associated with the violet, the most humble of flowers.

I have to believe that Sister Adelph was familiar with the language of flowers because she couldn't have chosen a more perfect on to be the center of her lovely holy card.