Holy Card Heaven

Friday, August 19, 2011

O Jesus, I brought back the lost sheep.

Turgis

Thursday, August 18, 2011

THROUGH JESUS I RAISE MY HEART IN PRAYER.
Through my Heart, flooded by Divine Light, the incense of your prayers is allowed to evaporate.
Mon. Bouasse Lebel

small albums~
Prayer Light

Heart of Jesus and Mary
Holy Cross

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Holy heart,
fire of pure love,
inflame us
with your passion.

Small album~
Doves & the Heart of Mary

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

JESUS, SPOUSE OF OUR SOULS
I search for a pure heart, and there I take my rest.
It is among the lilies of amiable innocence* that the most noble alliance with God is formed. Letaille, Paris

* friendly, kind, gracious and pure love

Small album~
Heart of Jesus and Mary

Monday, August 15, 2011

THE ASSUMPTION: Solemnity, August 15

The Assumption
Original painting in gouache
on paper lace

Small album~
The Assumption

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
by Father William G. Most

Sunday, August 14, 2011

THE HEART OF A MOTHER

My Jesus comes.
He is all mine.
O my mother,
impart to my heart
the disposition
with which thou didst
receive Him.
Turgis, Paris

Saturday, August 13, 2011

The humble and the little ones
are the object of her most ardent
solicitude.
Bouasse Jeune, Paris
Pl. 1059

small albums~
Sweet Heart of Mary
Nestling Doves

Friday, August 12, 2011

Holy Heart of Mary, Our Model
Life of Prayer, Life of Work, Life of Sacrifice.
Bouasse Lebel

small album~
Sweet Heart of Mary

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Holy heart of Mary,
united inseparably
to the Heart of Jesus,
pray for us.

Small album~
Doves & the Heart of Jesus & Mary

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Treasure of tender affection which always overflows and never runs out.
Bouasse Jeune

small album~
Sweet Heart of Mary

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

INVOCATION
Mary, make us worthy to be called your children.
Dopter, Paris

small album~
Heart of Jesus and Mary

Monday, August 8, 2011

Treasures of the Holy Heart of Mary.
Bouasse Lebel 108

small album~
Sweet Heart of Mary

Bouasse Lebel

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Holy Heart of Mary,
Furnace of the hearts of love, Pray for us.
Mon. Bouasse Lebel

small album~
Sweet Heart of Mary

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Transfiguration: Feast Day, August 6

They saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus. (Matt 17:1-9)
Felix, Paris

St. Gregory Palamas' Homily on The Transfiguration

Anastasius of Sinai sermon on the Transfiguration: Here in Our Hearts, Christ Makes His Abode, Sayinf: "Today Salvation has Come to this House"

small album ~
Transfiguration of Christ

Friday, August 5, 2011

Sweet Heart of Jesus, be my Love!
Bouasse Lebel M 307

small album~
Sacred Heart of Jesus

Thursday, August 4, 2011

THE MOST HIGH HAS SANCTIFIED HIS TABERNACLE. ~ PSALM. 45.
She is a garden enclosed and a fountain sealed. ~ Song of Songs
Open to me your Immaculate Heart, O Mary. I have chosen it as home.
Souvenir of December 8, 1854

small album~
Sweet Heart of Mary

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Heart most similar to Jesus,
Pray for us.
Bouasse Lebel, 787B

small album~
Sweet Heart of Mary

Monday, August 1, 2011

Glory to you, O, Virgin Mary!
Dopter

Heart of Mary
Small album~
Doves and the Heart of Mary

AUGUST: Devotion, Heart of Mary

Feasts in August:
1. St. Alfonsus Liguri (M) August 1
2. Our Lady Queen of Angels (F) August 2 (card is posted in 2012)
4. St. John Vianney (Cure d'Ars) (M) August 4
5. Transfiguration: (F) August 6
8. St. Dominic (M) August 8
15. Assumption of Mary (S) Aug. 15 (Ob)
20. St. Bernard of Clairvaux: (M) August 20
22. Queenship of Mary (M) August 2
28. St. Augustine (M) August 28

Carmelite Feast Days in August
7. St. Albert of Trapani: (M) August 7
9. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (M)
26. St. Teresa's Transverberation August 26

Small albums August~
Transfiguration of Christ
Sweet Heart of Mary
Heart of Jesus and Mary
Doves and the Heart of Mary
Doves & the Heart of Jesus & Mary
Mary's Meadow
Assumption of Virgin Mary
Queen of Heaven and Earth
Divine Pilot
Holy Card Retreat

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Garden
of the Soul
Happy the state of the heart in which Divine Love reigns. Alone, the pure souls united to Jesus taste the ineffable delights.
Bonamy, Poitiers

Thursday, July 28, 2011

It is by the virtue
of my blood,
that the heart
is purified
and absolved.
Turgis

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Perfect Gifts
of the
Heart of Jesus
Faith that illumines,
Hope that consoles,
Love that vivifies.
Bouasse Lebel 3005

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Lord perpetuates
the memory of his wonders
He gives food

to those who fear him.

Friday, July 22, 2011

St. Mary Magdeline: Feast Day, July 22

VISIT OF JESUS
to the Penitente soul

Her tears have pierced His Heart, and her iniquity has been drowned in a river of bitterness.
Bouasse Lebel

from ~ small album: The Divine Gardener

St. Mary Magdeline's Feast Day

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Blessed Eucharist is the Testament of the Heart of Jesus.
Turgis, Paris

F.W. Faber: The Precious Blood Is Living in the Chalice

from ENLARGING THE HEART

Sunday, July 17, 2011

FREQUENT COMMUNION
It is through this divine touch that the cold heart comes alive and gradually experiences within itself that which befits the Heart of Jesus.
Letaille 19

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Grant, O my God, that my prayer, like a sweet melody, rises to you, so that it draws on all whom I love a merciful glance.

Mme. Bouasse Lebel

From the small album, Prayer Light

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

He quenches thirst at the Source of graces.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Blood of Jesus Christ
Lejeune, Paris

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Source of Graces.
Turgis

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The blood of Jesus revivifies the earth.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

May your Precious Blood purify my soul.

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

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.

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.

Scheduling of the Cards and the Small Albums

Holy Card Heaven enters its seventh year on the first Sunday in Advent, 2015. 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.

Holy Card Heaven

Friday, August 19, 2011

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011