Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol 41): A Sacred Space for Family Prayer

By bobbi
November 4, 2015
9 Comments

Join me for a Pinterest Party every first Tuesday of the month as we link up and pin it, create it, and inspire others to do the same. Recipes and crafty ideas are encouraged but think outside the box too. Think organizing ideas, birthday themes, a cute outfit, a new hairstyle, marriage tips, life inspiration, traveling destinations, a great quote – anything you’d post to Pinterest.

Show us how you didn’t just pin it but brought it to life!

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for (normally) a month but this one is open for a year! So there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂 (If you want to grab the button, scroll to the bottom.)

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When I was growing up and after our family had a reversion to the faith, my mom set up a little table in the house that was the family “prayer table.” It held the family bible, a candle and seasonal decor, such as the baby Jesus during Christmas. I loved the idea and brought it into our own home once Brian and I were married. He both had a love of icons and found ourselves with quite the collection. We hung them up in various places in our house and created sacred spaces – spots that reminded us of the eternal and turned our minds to God. When we first got married and lived in a small apartment our space was a tiny broken down nightstand that we set up in the corner of the room.

Once we moved into our current home, we used the kitchen table from our old apartment that was now too small for our family. We set it up in the entry way right next to our front door.

Years ago I went to a book sale at our parish and I found the exact same family bible that my parents had. I was so excited to bring it into our home. My kids would grow up looking at the same beautiful religious artwork that I loved. We also have on the table our pregnant mama statue (given to me by a special friend) to represent all the pregnant mamas we are praying for, especially family members. We also have a photo of the little girl we sponsor in Mexico named Abi. She has become a sweet part of our family.

Liturgical Prayer Space

I love our entry way prayer table but it doesn’t change during the year. Plus I wanted to have something in the family room since that is where we spend the bulk of our time, where we eat and say grace, where we gather to say our family night prayers, where we sit on the couch and spend time together. I thought this was the room that needed a little sacred space.

I decided to use the top of an old cabinet a friend gave us. It wasn’t fancy but it would do. We gathered a number of our icons and placed them on the wall.

Here are some samples of how the top of the shelf changes through the liturgical season.

LENT/ EASTER

We set up the Stations of the Cross prints and a candle centerpiece using a long rectangular tray filled with six votive candles for the six weeks of Lent. Similar to an Advent wreath, we light one each week. We printed off Catholic Icing’s Lenten Calendar and I placed it in an inexpensive frame from Ikea. I use a dry erase pen to mark a cross on each day as it passes. It is great for the kids, who have no sense of time, to see how many more days until Easter. Lastly we added our Acts of Love Jar (with little acts we can do) and our Prayer Jar (with a daily intention) which we choose from each day. To keep track of the acts of love we do, we use Catholic All Year’s idea of the Sacrifice Beans.

FALL/ ALL SAINTS’ DAY

Each month we focus on a different prayer or invocation. In October we were teaching the kids the Guardian Angel prayer so we used Catholic All Year’s super hero prayer printable. On the feast of All Saints’ Day, I was inspired by Mary’s post at Sometimes Martha Always Mary.com and I printed our the patron saints of our family from Happy Saints.com. (They have some really cute and inspirational products.) We have St. Joseph (Brian’s patron), St. Anne (my patron and middle name), St. Rose (Bella’s middle name), St. Andrew, St. John-Paul, St. Matthew, Our Lady of Lourdes (For Baby Victor whom we miscarried on her feast day) and St. Junipero Serra (For Baby Joseph who was also miscarried. We have a family devotion to our Carmel Mission saint.) In November we have a printable with the photos/ names of deceased family members and friends.

ADVENT/ CHRISTMAS

During Advent we have our Mysteries of the Rosary prints, “hay” for Baby Jesus’s manger, the Advent Calendar (both explained here) and our Jesse Tree with Jesse Tree cards from Blessed Is She.

Night Prayer/ Rosary Time

A couple months ago on the feast of Our Lady’s birthday we started praying night prayers and a decade of the rosary together. It is not always easy but we’ve been faithful to it and it has been beneficial to the family. It’s encouraging to see the kids grab their rosaries and tell us that it’s time to pray. It is heartening to hear them say their intentions, whether it is for a friend who was sad at school or for Kylo Ren to turn good. To help the kids stay focused, we light a candle and turn off the lights. It helps to set the mood and keeps the kids relatively quiet. (Unfortunately, there are still the arguments that a sibling is praying too slow or too fast or that a swinging rosary hit somebody in the head but… baby steps, right?)

At least we no longer have arguments about who gets to pray first or who gets to blow out the candles. (Nothing like a yelling match to put you in a prayerful mood, eh?) We have a prayer leader of the day. They get to start off the intentions, the rosary and blow out the candle at the end. If we unavoidably miss an evening prayer time, we light two candles the next evening for the current leader and the boy who missed blowing out the candle the night before because that job is SUPREME.

To also avoid the tangled rosaries in a basket, lost rosaries or the he-has-the-color-I-like fights, everyone keeps their rosary in one central location in our hallway by the door leading to the family room.

The print of Our Lady was painted by one of my favorite artists Flor Larios.

The numbered hooks I found at Marshals. I’ll admit I bought it while shopping with my sister who was visiting last year. I had no idea what I’d use it for but I knew I’d find something…and viola! 😉

Prayer Spaces in Bedrooms

In our bedroom, I also added a sacred space for Brian since he likes to say his prayers in there.

In the kids’ room, I didn’t think it would be wise to have candles and statues since there are too many swinging light sabers. Instead I hung up two framed prints and a rosary.

Setting Up Your Own Space

Don’t have a sacred space yet? Whether you are single, married or a mama of many, it’s easy to make one. Just find a little spot in your home to make your little prayer area. It can be a mantle, a book shelf, a small table, a wall shelf or whatever you can create. Add a statue, crucifix, icon or a framed printable. Maybe a candle, flowers or seasonal decor. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like.

Put together your sacred space and share it with us. Hashtag #BISsisterhood and #familysacredspace. If you are a blogger, link up your sacred space post below.

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Since I am working on making prayer and the liturgical year more present in our family life, here are some of the books/resources I’ll be reading over the next few months for ideas. If you have more suggestions, list them in the comments.

The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home by David Clayton and Leila M. Lawler

Feast!: Real Food, Reflections, and Simple Living for the Christian Year by Daniel and Haley Stewart

Liturgical Year Posts from Catholic All Year.com

Liturgical Living Posts at Carrots for Michaelmas.com

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my home. I hope you will share your own sacred space!

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Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation or inspiration, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for a year. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

An InLinkz Link-up

Favorite Advent Traditions: Keeping Christ in Christmas

By bobbi
December 13, 2014
12 Comments

I am excited to be a part of Beth Anne’s Advent Blog Hop! I love reading about the traditions Catholic families use to keep Christ in Christmas and today I’m sharing the activities we do. Some of these we’ve been doing for years and others we’ve just started.

NOTE: Don’t try to do all these activities unless you have super powers or at least are immune to doing-too-much-at-once stress. (Ask me how I know. 😉 ) If you are just starting out, choose one activity that would work for your family. Then you can add on as the years go by if you’d like.

The Advent Wreath

The Advent wreath is probably the most familiar and easiest of the Advent traditions and it remains a favorite of the kids. There is something special about turning down the lights and watching the flames flicker in the darkness.

There are many ready made advent wreaths from Catholic online stores but it is also easy to make one of your own. I went to our local Trader Joe’s and picked up one of their fresh wreaths. You could also use clipped branches from your Christmas tree arranged in a circle or make your own wreath with materials from a craft store.

Next you need 4 candles – three purple and one pink. Starting with the first Sunday of Advent, you light the first candle. The second week light two candles and so forth. The third Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice.”) We light the pink candle to symbolizing our growing joy that Christmas is almost here. (The priest will also wear rose colored vestments at Mass that week.) The last week is another purple candle.

We used to use the long taper candles but they were always toppling over. Finally I found four hefty sized candles at Hobby Lobby and we place them in our wreathe. (The only downside is that they are lavender scented so the kids think it smells like a fancy bathroom around them.) 😉 If you can’t find colored candles you could use white candles and tie purple/pink ribbons on them. (Away from the flame.) And if you have little ones who can’t keep their hands off the flame, you can use the battery operated candles!

Are you on a tight budget? Go to Pinterest and search “paper advent wreaths.” You’ll find all kinds of ideas including ones with construction paper and toilet paper rolls. It’s not really about the wreath itself, it is more about taking a few moments to quiet yourself and think about he coming Savior.

With that said, in a perfect world, each night we gather around the Advent wreath, light the candle(s) and say our night prayers. However, it was hit and miss since evenings are hectic with homework, bathing, getting the boys to bed early, prep for the next morning, etc. Family evening prayer was just not happening. So Brian suggested we switch our prayer to before we say our dinner grace. It is the one time in the day when we are always all together at the same time. It has worked so much better!

The boys are eager to turn down the lights while Brian lights the candles and I read the reflection from Sarah Reinhard’s book Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent and Christmas Reflections for Families. (It only cost $1.99 at Amazon and $0.99 on Kindle). It has wonderful daily reflections that are simple enough for the kids to understand. Most days we use the reflection book. Other days when we have evening activities scheduled, Brian says a short spontaneous prayer. The main thing is that we are praying something together.

(Click here for a simple prayer from Loyola Press to say each week when lighting the candle.)

UPDATE: Fast forward two years and we are now in the habit of saying night prayers and a decade of the rosary as a family before the kids go to bed. We light our Advent wreath before our prayer time. Remember, baby steps. Start small and then you take on a little more as the kids get older. 🙂

The Advent Calendar

After we say our Advent wreath prayer, the “person of the day” gets to open the next box in our Advent calendar. We started this tradition years ago as a way to combat the seasonal “gimmies” (give me this, give me that). To help bring the focus back on Christ and sharing his love with others, we started the tradition of making our Advent Calendar into an Act of Love Calendar. We explained that we can show our love for Jesus by sharing that love with others and what we do for others, we do for Our Lord.

A couple years back I found this little country house Advent calendar at Target and I loved it!

Normally you would put in a treat or little toy for each day but instead I put little slips of paper with different acts of love our family could do each day.

If an activity doesn’t suit our family or I have something else in mind, then I write my own act.

At dinner time, we each take a turn sharing something about our day. During Advent this will sometimes include sharing about our act of love. For example, Andrew shared how on the day he was supposed to help someone in need, he helped a classmate that fell down at recess and walked him to the school office to get a band aid.

Another time we had to be a peacemaker so I shared that instead of losing my temper and yelling at the kids, I first went into my room and screamed into my pillow, then came out of my bedroom and corrected the boys calmly. (They got a kick out of that one.) This sharing helps us to see how we can apply our faith into the daily fabric of our lives.

If you are looking for a nativity box, Target has some other cute ones. Amazon also has a pretty Wooden Nativity Advent Calendar with 24 Magnetic Figures. Or if you prefer a wall calendar there is the Traditional Nativity Advent Calendar Personalized Version or the cute Little People Nativity Advent Calendar. But you certainly don’t need to spend money on these fancy boxes!

For the full post and links for the Acts of Love calendar, visit the full post here.

A Letter to Baby Jesus (Instead of Santa)I posted earlier this week about this activity we added to our family this year. You can get all the details here but in a nutshell, a few years back, I asked some fellow Catholic moms how they keep Christ in Christmas. A friend shared with me how she has her kids write letters to Baby Jesus instead of Santa. I loved the idea.

The boys still believe in Santa and they wanted to write their wish lists but I liked the idea of a letter to Baby Jesus so I incorporated the two. I put together a simple form letter that I could print off and give everyone to fill out.

Before they can get to the wish list part, they first have to think about what they will give Baby Jesus as a gift.

Then they chose a person they would especially pray for during Advent.

When they were done, they folded up their letters and put them in their shoes for St. Nicholas to deliver to Baby Jesus. In the morning they found their letters gone and their treats instead.

If you’d like to print of a copy of the Letter to Baby Jesus for your little ones, I posted the PDF here. Also, I made a second version for those who don’t want the Santa aspect. It can be found here. 🙂

For the full post, visit here – A Favorite Advent Tradition: A Christmas Letter to Baby Jesus (Instead of Santa).

Advent Adventures

Photo Credit

I have enjoyed using the Holy Heroes activities for Advent in the past and now, along with their daily activity emails, they have their worksheets in a book form.It has made it much easier to have all the worksheets already printed out and in one place!

Photo Credit

For Bella and Andrew, there are a lot of various activities and puzzles they can do. For Matthew and John-Paul, they like to do the coloring pages. (They also like the Childhood of Jesus Coloring Book.) The Advent book also solved a problem I had with the next Advent tradition…

Filling Jesus’ Crib with Straw

Like the letter to Jesus, for years I’ve been wanting to do the activity of filling Baby Jesus’ crib with soft “straw.” Every time one of the kids completes their act of love or does some other sacrifice, they can put a piece of straw in Jesus’ crib. Or if I see someone doing their chores without complaint or sharing a toy with a sibling, I will tell them they they were acting very loving and they can put in a straw for Jesus. (It is the same concept as the sacrifice beans we did for Lent and that was a hit with the boys.)

I kept putting off starting the activity until I could buy a baby Jesus like the one we had growing up. Well, I have yet to buy one and thought I would just skip it again this year. But when I bought the Advent Adventures book, I was excited to see they had a paper version.

With some tape, scissors and yarn to cut up as straw…

We now have our Baby Jesus manger. (The book also comes with a paper Baby Jesus to cut out and place in the manger on Christmas morning.)

A Nativity Set for the Littles

Anyone with children knows that they are very hands on. They also know how their blood pressure rises every time their little one grabs the ceramic Mary or St. Joseph from the nativity set and starts running down the hallway with it. One of the best investments I ever made was purchasing the Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set. They can be a bit pricey but it was worth it! A nativity scene that the kids can touch and move around makes life sooo much easier. Amazon has the Fisher Price deluxe models and the simple “To Go” Set.

A Birthday Party for Jesus

It is a family tradition that on each child’s birthday the dining room table is decorated with a birthday sign and stuffed animals to “greet” them when they wake up. Being Jesus’ birthday, it is only natural that it is celebrated in a similar fashion. Since Christ is the guest of honor (not Santa) our St. Nick plush holds Jesus’ birthday sign. I also place on the table the birthday cake we made for Jesus’ party.

On Christmas morning we all gather around the table that holds the empty manger. We place a large white candle in the center of the advent wreathe and light it. Mom or Dad (or an honored sibling) places the child Jesus in his manger and we sing Happy Birthday. Then the festivities begin.

The Spirit of Giving

John-Paul, Matthew and Andrew packing stockings for soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.

Nothing invokes greediness quite as quickly as a materialistic holiday season. To help conquer this, it is helpful to keep kids (and adults) focused on the spirit of giving, especially those less fortunate. If you have older kids this can be done through working at a soup kitchen, food pantry, or visiting the elderly. This year Bella will be singing Christmas carols at a local Catholic convalescent home with her youth group.

Most parishes have programs where you pick a name or number and buy a gift for a specific child. Brian’s work also sponsors a local needy family so we have a number of choices. I make sure to pick a young boy that the boys will sponsor, a tween/teen girl for Bella and Brian and I will pick someone on the list that is often overlooked – an older boy or a single mom. The kids, including little ones, can do extra jobs and chores around the house to earn some extra money (or use their tithing money if they get an allowance) in order to buy small gifts for these needy children. Or they can help you buy canned good for the local food bank.

This is a great lesson in selflessness for the kids – a certain 5 year old of mine was shedding dramatic tears when he realized the skateboard we bought was going to little Jose and not him. Moreover, it is a lesson of real patience for me to let the kids get involved. I love buying gifts for people and making it special but it is another thing when you are walking down the grocery aisle with three opinionated little boys arguing over which items to purchase for the food baskets for the homeless. (Seriously?) It’s easy for me to say forget it and just do it myself but I need this lesson in sacrificial giving as much, if not more, as they do.

Plan Ahead for Charitable Gifts

I’ll admit that the extra gift giving can add up to a lot of extra money! Luckily, I have been looking for bargains throughout the year. Once a month during one of my many Target visits, I’ll check out the dollar section for various care package items. You can pick up small toiletries, snacks and hand warmers to give to military troops or the homeless or you can find coloring books, games, craft projects, socks etc to fit into a child’s care package. During off-season sales or Pre-Thanksgiving sales or Black Friday sales I find generic gifts like baby dolls or skateboards for the Angel Tree children. To help the kids understand sacrificing for others, we’ll give away some of their older toys to St. Vincent de Paul and as a family we’ll give up one of our “Pizza Nights” and eat sandwiches or leftovers instead. The money we saved goes towards buying gifts and food for others.

With a little creativity, planning and sacrifice, you can make your charitable gift giving more affordable for your family. (NOTE – If you are anything like me, you may also want to download the free printable from the post Keeping Track of Your Hidden Gifts from Orgjunkie.com. I wish I had that last year because I have two Christmas presents that I know I bought but I can’t figure out where I hid them! LOL)

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

Sometimes when I read posts like this on other mom blogs I think, “Aw! Look at all that stuff they are doing! How come we don’t do things like that? Look at those eight kids in matching home-sewn outfits, kneeling reverently as they pray the rosary. And look at the gluten and dairy free Christmas recipe they followed using only fresh produce from their organic home garden. Sigh. I’m lucky I barely (fill-in-the-blank) let alone what they are doing…”

Yeah, none of that kind of talk is allowed here.

Truth be told, this looks great on paper but in real life it is messy and chaotic. We light the candles for our Advent prayer and two of the boys will be in laughing hysterically over one of their ill timed farts or they will be near blows because one brother blew out the candle when it was their turn. Most years the activities don’t start on the first day of Advent. For example, the baby crib to be filled with straw. I literally just put it together yesterday and it only had five straws in it so far. I added more so it wouldn’t look so skimpy for the photo.

Although we are all trying to be more loving, more generous and more patient this Advent, it is not an easy road. When Brian came home yesterday I was nearly in tears because days of stormy weather and having the boys cooped up in the house had them climbing up the walls. Matthew and John-Paul are two playful buddies but sometimes they reach a point where they are arguing over everything. No, really. Everything. The ridiculousness of it coupled with the noise and fighting becomes like nails on a chalkboard. I finally blew up at them and I yelled at them like I hadn’t yelled in a long time. It was not pretty. It made me feel hypocritical for writing this “happy” post today.

The point is that even thought we try to use these tools, it is not always roses and sunshine. We all fall short. That is when we turn to God (and confession) to give us the grace to pick ourselves back up. Then in between the realness there are moments when the kids “get it.” We see a loving gesture or a chore being done without being asked, a spontaneous act of love or a contrite apology (from child and mother). When we see in ourselves that the second time around we held our temper or that we turned off the radio to pray the rosary or that we finished all the laundry instead of checking Facebook, then we know progress is being made slowly but surely.

The other good thing about Advent is that is is four weeks long. It is never too late to start a new tradition or refocus our attitude in general. And if you are season of life right now that consists of just making it through the day in one piece, then store these ideas for the future and offer to God the little acts that pop up throughout your day. No need for elaborate activities. God knows your heart.

With those thoughts, I wish you a blessed second half of Advent! If things are going well, keep up the good work. You are an inspiration! And if things have not been going well, let’s work on this together and pray for one another. 🙂

Lastly, a big thank you to Beth Anne for including me in the Advent blog hop! Check out the other featured bloggers this week.

PS – You can follow me on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Periscope or Katch (past Periscopes), GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

It’s Just What I Needed at Four in the Morning

By bobbi
December 21, 2011
No Comments

(Although this isn’t posted until now, I wrote it this morn. 😉
It’s 5:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep. I haven’t been able to sleep since 4am. Matthew woke me up and he needed to be changed and fed. Since his bed is right next to mine I can usually do this quickly and fall right back to sleep, but not this morning.

Since it’s nice and cozy in my bed snuggled between my baby and my hubby I pulled out my iPhone (yes, I sleep with it) and opened up my google reader to find a ridiculous amount of posts waiting to be read. I must admit that although it is insanely early, it is so nice to be able to just relax and catch up on the news and activities of my fellow Catholic moms. I always find inspiration, humor and a little pep talk when I need it most.
God has a way of giving you exactly what you need when you need it.

As I was reading certain posts it brought to mind my experience at Confession on Saturday. It had been a rough couple of weeks and I could feel my insides all tied up in knots and stressed. I knew I had to make the most of this last week of Advent and Confession was the first step. After telling my sins to the priests he spoke to me about a few things but what struck me was his reminder that God’s gifts to me this Christmas are my husband and my children, despite any personal difficulties I may have in being a good wife and mother. It’s not as if I don’t already know that but it was as if my life flashed before my eyes and I saw a quick glimpse of how blessed I am and how much I take for granted. It moved me to tears. These tears were just what I needed since, coupled with God’s grace, they washed away all the muck in my soul and refreshed my spirit. It was just what I needed.

Of course, those moments after confession are like the moments after a retreat. You are gung ho “on the mountaintop” with Jesus but once you return to the real world, life can dampen your resolve. However, God gave me a quick reminder of Saturday’s lesson at four in the morning when I read It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost by Kate Wicker. She spoke about whether or not we should bring our rambunctious younger children to Mass. I’m not entering that debate right now but what stood out most for me was this paragraph:

Yet, I kept thinking about a recent post over at Rosetta Stone. (I know I should have been paying more attention to Mass, but it was enough for me to be thinking about anything besides strangling my toddler.) Michelle wrote that, “Nothing compares to a three-year-old boy. Nothing.” I’m not going to start comparing who is harder – girls or boys. I loved what someone wrote after an older post of mine that wherever you’re at and whatever you’ve been given is probably the hardest for you. If God is trying to prune us and sanctify us through the vocation of parenthood, then it makes sense that He gives us just the kind of children we need – the kind that will push our buttons and throw us down to our knees and force us to realize that we cannot, absolutely cannot, do this on our own. We need Him. We need to keep a constant dialogue open with God throughout our days. Even when we find ourselves questioning everything about God – whether we’ll ever have a personal relationship with Him, whether He even really exists or cares deeply, profoundly about us and our children – we have to keep talking. We don’t have to pray like others pray. We have to pray as we pray. Sometimes we have to simply show up – and stay put once we’ve arrived even if every part of us is screaming to just go, escape, get the heck out of there before you or your child really loses it [at Mass].

“If God is trying to prune us and sanctify us through the vocation of parenthood, then it makes sense that He gives us just the kind of children we need…” I love that. It is so true. Our vocation is tailor made with small crosses (or big) that will sanctify us and lead us along our path to heaven. And we are never, never alone on our journey. We just have to always keep our eyes and hearts set on the Lord. Thank God that He is so patient with us and never stops reminding us and sending us what we need when we need it.

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

All Saints Day Costume Ideas

By bobbi
October 15, 2009
No Comments

I originally received this list years ago from a homeschooling mom in Santa Cruz, CA. I thought I’d share the ideas with you. 🙂

MARY, MOTHER OF GOD

Blessed Mother – Wear a white dress and a blue shawl over head and shoulders.

Our Lady of Guadalupe – She appeared looking like an Aztec princess. Wear a white flowery dress, a black sash(sign of pregnancy) & a blue veil with stars on it. She could carry the miraculous roses.

APOSTLES/FRIARS/MONK

For any saint that was an apostle or a friar or monk, get a man’s T-shirt, put a rope around the waist, maybe sandals, and there is your costume! Or buy brown, gray, or black material, cut a hole in the top & tie a rope or strip of material around the waist. Use face paint for a beard.

St. Peter – He could have keys hanging at his waist. (Because Jesus gave him the keys to heaven, Mt. 16:19) He could also have a net.

St. Francis – You can cut out a bird and pin it on his shoulder, or bring some stuffed animals.

St.’s Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John – For one of the gospel writers you can bring a bible.

St. Constantine and St. Benedict and St. Anthony the Abbot (from Egypt) were monks (a rosary in belt).

Great St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus. He was a carpenter by trade, so have him carry a tool or hang on his belt.

St. John the Baptist – Wear fake fur or leather & sandals. Perhaps tie a strip of cloth around the forehead. Could carry a shell for baptizing or some locusts (grasshoppers) & honey.(This is what he ate.)

KING/QUEEN/PRINCESS

For any saint that was a king or queen, you can buy a crown for a boy, or a princess outfit for a girl. Crowns can be bought online at Oriental Trading Company, or a local craft/toy store. Princess outfits are everywhere!

GIRLS:

St. Queen Elizabeth of Hungary – She can carry a basket of bread or flowers. She took bread to the poor. She built a hospital and cared for the sick.

St. Margaret – Queen of Scotland, would actually have Scottish plaid clothing.

St. Bathildis – Queen of France

St. Adelaide – Queen of Germany and Italy

Queen Ester – Old Testament

St. Helena – Married Constantius Chlorus, co-regent of the western Roman empire. At the age of 80 she led a group to the Holy Land to search for the True Cross. (326AD) She built a church on the spot where the cross was found, the feast of the Holy Cross on Sept.14 celebrates the event.

St.Helena – First Christian queen of Ukraine (relics found to be incorrupt)- lived 879-969

St.Yolanda – Princess. Daughter of Bela IV King of Hungary (13th century)

BOYS:

King Casimir of Poland – 15th century, add a lily.

Good King Wenceslas of Bohemia – He could also wear armor along with his crown.

King Solomon and King David – Old Testament

King Louis IX of France (13th century was crowned at age 12.) Representation: crown of thorns; king holding a cross or crown of thorns; nails.

Henry II (Good King Henry)-king of Pavia in year 1004. He was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1014 by Pope Benedict VIII; he was the last of the Saxon dynasty of emperors.

Humbert III- Count of Savoy from age 13. Eventually assumed a Cistercian habit. (12th century)

INDIAN

For Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (Lily of the Mohawks), a little girl can dress as an Indian. Maybe add a cross around her neck, carrying a lily or cross.

KNIGHT/ARMOR

For St. Joan of Arc, St. George and the Dragon, St. Gengulphus, or St. Michael the Archangel, they can wear plastic “Armor of God” from Catholic Child. For St. Michael you can buy *feather wings online at Oriental Trading Company or make some with cardboard with tin foil over them, staple elastic to put them over the shoulders.

SOLDIERS

St.Sebastian was officer of the Imperial Roman army, and captain of the guard.

Acacius was centurion in the imperial Roman army.

Adrian was an officer at the court of Nicomedia.

Martin joined the Roman imperial army at age 15. Encountering a beggar he cut his heavy officer’s cloak in half, and gave it to him. Later he had a vision of Christ wearing the cloak.

Maurice- (3rd century) Officer in a legion of Christian soldiers from Upper Egypt

Theodore- Roman general and covert Christian during a time of persecution

Eustachius- Pagan Roman general in the army of the emperor Trajan. Converted to Christianity following a hunting trip during which he saw a glowing cross between the antlers of a stag.

ANGEL

For an angel costume wear a man’s T-shirt. For wings see above. *Often you can find angel costumes at party stores or in catalogs such as Lillian Vernon. (The archangel Gabriel with a horn. Cherubim or Seraphim carrying instruments)

SPANISH FARMER

St. Isidore the Farmer from Spain, a boy can dress up like a farmer with a hoe, maybe a plastic sand shovel or rake.

NUNS

Buy black material, cut a hole at the top for the neck or use a man’s black T-shirt. Where a white turtleneck underneath, use a square of black material over the head as a veil, and wear a crucifix or cross.

St Brigid of Ireland- often pictured holding a lamp or candle – She began life as a slave & heard St. Patrick preach)

Gertrude the Great-raised in a Cistercian abbey in Germany from the age of 5. Often pictured with a crown or lily.

St. Scholastica- The twin sister of St. Benedict often pictured with a crosier.(like a shepherd’s crook) If your girl is still little she can use a wooden walking cane.

St.Therese of Lisieux, France- (the little flower/ of the child Jesus) A Carmelite at age 15. At age 8, she was healed from an illness when a statue of the Virgin Mary smiled at her. She could hand out roses to people. She promised to shower the earth with roses from heaven. Her habit would be brown.

St.Colette-A Poor Clare from France, that restored the rules of St.Clare. Pictured with a crucifix and a hook. She was named after St. Nicholas.

PRIESTS

St. John Bosco- He wore a black cassock. Perhaps use a large black T-shirt, with a white turtleneck underneath. He entertained boys with slight of hand and juggling etc., and would then repeat the homily he heard at church. He founded the Salesians to work with and educate boys. (We have a relic of him in our altar in the church.)

St. John Mary Vianney (or Cure of Ars)- A known confessor and preacher from France. He’s pictured in white with 2 black strips below his neck and a red stole. Please see his incorrupt body and other images on the web site I list below. It’s amazing!

St Philip Neri: Born in France, founded the Oratorians (like Fr. Peter Sanders) wear a black T-shirt or sweater with a white collared shirt underneath. (make sure the collar sticks out) He wore a 3(?) pointed black hat you could make out of black paper.

MEXICAN INDIAN

Saint Juan Diego saw our Lady of Guadalupe, wore a tilma. Buy rough material such as canvas or burlap and tie it around his neck. Perhaps attach a picture of Our Lady on it.

ASIAN MONK

St. Theophylact- 8th century- He established hospices and was imprisoned the last 35 yrs. of his life.

PRISONER

St. Maximillian Kolbe wearing a blue striped prison uniform and glasses. (A priest that died at Auschwitz during WWII.)

PEASANTS

The little children of Fatima, Portugal, who saw the Blessed Mother, could carry rosaries.

Blessed Francisco (9 yrs. old) He wears trousers, white shirt, cap, and perhaps a jacket.

Blessed Jacinta (7 yrs. old) and Blessed Lucia (10 yrs. old) The girls wore dark skirts, usually with aprons over them, white blouses and veils over their hair.

St. Bernadette of Lourdes, France, who saw Our Lady, would also be dressed the same way.

SHEPHARDESS

Germaine’s right hand was deformed. Once in winter her stepmother, Hortense, accused her of stealing bread, and threatened to beat her with a stick. Germaine opened her apron, and summer flowers tumbled out. Her body was found incorrupt in 1644. (skirt, shawl, head kerchief, crook, carrying a lamb) FRANCE

HOLY MEN & WOMEN

SAINT MARTIN de PORRES was born in Peru, his father was a Spanish Knight and his mother was a black freed-woman from Panama. He was a Dominican brother who helped the sick and poor and is the patron saint of interracial justice. He wore a white robe with black on top, like a T. You can see his and many other saints at the web site below. Seen with a rosary, crucifix, and a dog.

ST. DOMINIC SAVIO: Born in Italy. Died at age 15. He was studying to be a priest. He is the patron saint of boys, altar boys, and choirboys. He was a protégé of St. John Bosco. He is pictured in a white dress shirt, bow tie, vest, and jacket or as an altar boy.

ST.VERONICA: (Who wiped the face of Jesus.) Wear a dress or man’s T-shirt tied at the waist, sandals, and carrying her veil. ( Attach, perhaps with glue, a picture of Jesus.)

ST. HELENA was Caesar’s wife. You can dress up in toga.

ST. GALL was a fisherman from Ireland. Use a fishing pole.

CRAFT IDEAS:

HALO: Use gold pipe cleaners to bend into halos to put on any saint! Or gold, star, bendable wrapping ribbon wire. These are available from craft stores. Party and toy stores sometimes carry halos too.

HOLY CARDS: Buy holy cards of your child’s saint for him/her to pass out to others. The kids can be trading holy cards!

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Tag Archives: liturgical year