Holy Card Heaven: December 2012

Vigil of the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

THEOTOKOS
The Vladimir icon

The Feast of Mary Mother of God was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1931 in view of fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus. Oct.11, 431 AD was the date historians believed to have been the date of the close of the the Third Ecumenical Council. In the Council of Ephesus Mary was proclaimed Theotokos the Mother of God.

Mary is devoutly honored as Theotokos in the Eastern Church, and the pope, in instituting the feast, asked prayers for Christian unity.

The feast day was moved by Pope Paul VI to January 1, Solemnity of the Mother of God.

May your soul, like a mystical bee, never abandon the dear little King and may everything within it be for Him. ~ St. Francis de Sales

Long expected Prince of Peace,
Save us, O Sweet Jesu.
Bouasse Lebel

I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valley.

INFANT JESUS

Infant Jesus, meek and mild

look on me a little child.

Pity mine and pity me,

suffer me to come to Thee.

Heart of Jesus I adore Thee,

heart of Mary, I implore thee,

heart of Joseph pure and just,

in these three hearts

I place my trust.
Amen!

This sweet prayer from long ago was sent to Holy Card Heaven this Christmas by the author of:

Saints' Prayers

O JESUS FULL OF KINDNESS
I want to love you faithfully.

The Christ Child

Handmade by cloistered

Carmelite nuns in the 1800's

Come to me all, my arms are open, full of mercy and blessings.

Salvation has been given to us.
Let us unite our songs
with those of the angels.

Bouasse Lebel 1337

The Infant Jesus
Tony

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, December 27

SAINT JOHN

Come my Jesus,

come into my heart.

Let us prepare for him a bed of roses and lilies! ...

Angels of the Lord,
come help me to worship
the Lord of heaven and earth.

Bouasse Lebel 916

Near to Jesus one finds happiness.

Hand colored Bouasse Lebel

Salvation descends
from Heaven for us;

Let us welcome,
with the Church,
the One who
comes to fulfill
all our desires.
~ Dom Gueranger

Feast of the Nativity

OH, MY SON! OH, MY GOD!

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us full of Grace and Truth.

Christians together,
Happy together.

See above the CHIRSTMAS VIDEO, MOSTRA on line Natale - Le Monde Ravissant des Images Pieuse created by Paola and Renato Galanzi and posted on their beautiful site, Le Monde Ravisson des Images Pieuses

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Untitled. Psalm 42
As the deer longs for streams of living water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

HE DESCENDS FROM HEAVEN, THE LITTLE CHILD
He weeps for your sins. He smiles on your tears.
Bouasse Lebel 2023

The Little Jesus

MARY
MOTHER OF SWEETNESS

Rose Mystérieuse
Felix

The Innocent One watches.

Life-Giving Fountain
This image is based on the beautiful icon by this name venerated in the Orthodox communion.

collage - hand colored and hand made
in the mid 1800's

Gaudete Sunday Third Sunday in Advent

"Gaudete in Domino semper" ("Rejoice in the Lord always")
Philippians 4:4-5

Oh it is beautiful,
this happy day.
With happiness
we await His
return.
Hand embroidered on silk

St. John of the Cross: Carmelite Solemnity, December 14

St. John of the Cross, Doctor of Mystical Theology

(Spiritual Canticle music)

Holy Virgin
Breval, Paris

Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12

Our Lady of Guadalupe Madrid, circa 1900

As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.
~ Psalm 42

Translation of the Holy House of Loreto: Feast Day, December 10

Flemish engraving by Lodewyk Joseph Fruytiers
hand-colored Amsterdam, circa late 1700's

LINKS:
Holy House of Loreto

A touching story

Second Sunday in Advent

As the deer longs for the source
of living water. So to you, Lord, I fly and I'm coming.
Benziger

The Immaculate Conception: Solemnity, December 8

Immaculate Mary
Breval

For additional images that celebrate this great Mystery please see:
small album ~ Mary Immaculate, Love's Pure Light

FLOWERS OF THE EARTH
I breathed the fragrance of their virtue, and drew them to myself to form the heart of my Mother.
Bouasse Lebel 103

First Friday

Untitled: based on ~ Psalm 42
As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.

Saint Nicholas Day, December 6th

St. Nicholas; Discovering the Truth about Santa Claus.

St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra Greek (270 – 346) Because his relics were translated to Bari in southern Italy in 1087, he is also known as St. Nicolas of Bari. His holy relics poured healing myrrh, and even today, fragrant myrrh streams through many of his icons.

Sermon by St. Augustine for the
Feast of St. Nicholas

OUR LADY
OF THE DESOLATE
Bousse Lebel 129

St. John of Damascus, Doctor of the Church: Memorial, December 4

The Icon of Three Hands
St. John Damascene was the great defender of icons. Because of his defense of the holy images and because of his great ability as a writer, the order was given by the iconoclasts that his right hand to be cut off at the wrist. St. John asked for the severed hand and prayed before the icon known as the Hodegetria or She Who Shows the Way. Asking fervently that his hand might be restored, he fell asleep exhausted. Virgin Mary came to him in a dream; when awoke his hand was miraculously restored with only a red line showing. In gratitude, St. John composed the hymn "In thee, O Full of Grace, all creation rejoices" The icon before which St. John prayed exists to this day on Mount Athos in the Hilander Monastery. It is called Tricherousa, or Panagia "Of Three Hands" due to the silver hand which St. John placed on the icon as a testament to the above miracle. See: The Icon of the Three Hands Additional links: small album ~ Doctors of the Church

Works:
Apologia Against Those Who Decry Holy Images)

1st Sunday in Advent

I sigh after you, Lord, like a deer after the living water. Psalm 41:2

Ven. Leon DuPont, Apostle of the Holy Face: December 1st.

Ven. Leon DuPont, Apostle of the Holy Face Dec.1

Small album ~ The Holy Face

HOLY FACE OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST
Exact copy of the Image of the Holy Face conserved in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. Bouasse Lebel 667

The Feast Day of the Holy Face is observed on Shrove Tuesday, a movable feast celebrated next on Tuesday, February 12, 2013

I have left the glory to embrace the ignomy of THE CROSS. This is the key that closes the infernal realm and opens HEAVEN. Bouasse Lebel 814

WELCOME TO HOLY CARD HEAVEN

One of our favorite holy cards says simply, "Heaven is the home of loving souls." In a way, an album of holy cards is like a little heaven; the truth that inspired the cards greets us anew with each tender image, and we feel at home. Little by little I hope to bring together a collection of this gentle faith art for the delight and comfort of any loving soul who happens by.

Ethereal messengers of God's Love and Light, the small engravings that gather here fly in day by day. Little paper shrines that shelter the sacred, they are gathered here in the hope of sharing their beauty and meaning with another generation. To those who love them, they have much to give; like time spent in a restful garden, they are a feast for the eyes and a feast for the soul.

This gentle art can be used today to enter safely into the inner landscape allowing its imagery to guide the soul. Visual poetry employing symbol and metaphor as carriers of meaning, the path to which they invite us is always one in which God's own Love leads the way.

You can click on an image to enlarge it and see the artist's loving attention to detail. It is especially meaningful to be able to see the faces at a higher resolution. In many of the images, the sweetness of expression is at once joyful and serious, and, for a brief moment, we seem to draw close to the Presence of pure goodness, pure happiness.

The blessing I ask for any who come this way is again taken from a favorite holy card: "May a tender Friendship surround you always, and may all your days be a smile of heaven."
Fr. François Fénelon

About the Cards in this Collection

While some are from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands or other parts of Europe, Paris was perhaps the main place of publication. Dates are seldom available but most are from the mid 1800's to the close of that century. The depiction of persons is Eurocentric, but the symbols in the early holy cards are universal and inclusive: the image of the Heart as symbol for the incarnation of divine love, the image of the small bird as a symbol for the human soul eager but fragile and in constant need of God's love and care, the Living Water, the garden enclosed, the door that opens into Light... through visual poetry, the early holy cards continue to speak a language that reaches across the barriers of time and space and can be received by everyone.

Our favorite holy card illustrates the hope we hold as Christians that the door to heaven will be opened to the soul refined by love. It is the refinement of the soul by divine love that the art of the holy cards helps us to contemplate. The card has an engaving of the dove in flight into the mystery of Trinitarian love. The Uncreated Light overlaid by the symbol for the Holy Trinity is at the heart of the card. The writings of the early fathers, as well as those of the the Carmelite saints and Christian mystics throughout the ages - both in the Church in the east and the west - help us to approach the mystery of Trinitarian love not only as the theological underpinning of Christian belief but also as the action of the Spirit of Love in and through which we live and move and have our being.

Scheduling of the Cards and the Small Albums

Holy Card Heaven enters its fourth year on the first Sunday in Advent, December 2, 2012. Day by day the cards will continue to be moved into the new church year depending for their placement on the dates of the movable feasts and seasons. This way no cards need get lost in the distant past, new cards can be added, and we can appreciate the collection a little differently with each passing year.
Small Albums, each with a different topic, will change from month to month and will be linked in the top right column.

Followers