Holy Card Heaven

Sunday, September 11, 2011

PEACE, DETACHMENT
Let those who thirst come to Me. John 7:37

Bonamy

Small album~
Holy Card Retreat

Saturday, September 10, 2011

THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST
O God so great, who has made you so small?.. Love.
What do you ask in return?.. Love.
~St. Bernard
Letaille

Small album~
Mary, Mother of God

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Generous Vine
Now, my soul burns with desire to follow You, O, my God.
Letaille, Paris

Small album~
The Holy Eucharist

Monday, September 5, 2011

The Sweet Rest of the child of Mary.
In the arms of my mother I do not fear the storm. Bouasse Lebel 545

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Jesus showers with blessings the soul that is abandoned to Him.
Like a mother caressing her little one, so I console you.
Bouasse Lebel, Pl. 524

Friday, September 2, 2011

He will lead to the Fountains of Living Waters
those who have washed their robes in the Blood of the Lamb.
based on Revelations Chapter 7

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Kind Heart of my Mother,
you are the Heaven
I wish to inhabit forever.

O Mother of the Savior,
powerful protectress,
we are yours forever.
Saintin, Paris

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The treasures
of the Heart of Mary
Bouasse Lebel 108

Monday, August 29, 2011

United Forever

In one same Prayer,

In one same Hope,

In one same Love.

Bouasse Jeune

Sunday, August 28, 2011

St. Augustine: Feast day, August 28

St. Augustine, 354-430
Doctor of Grace

Quotations:

"If you are the Body of Christ and his members, your divine mystery is set on the table of the Lord; you receive your own mystery... Be what you see and receive what you are."
St. Augustine

"And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here."
St. Augustine

Saturday, August 27, 2011

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

Small album~
Heart of Jesus and Mary

Friday, August 26, 2011

Mary, shining star, guide me to port, to the meeting place of the elect.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Do not fear shipwreck.
It is I who guides you,
and the waves obey Me. Based on Matthew 8 :27
Bouasse Lebel 1110

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Jesus, Zealous for Souls

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

handpainted with inlaid
mother of pearl

Monday, August 22, 2011

Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Feast Day, August 22

Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Dopter

Small Album_
Queen of Heaven and Earth

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Your Heart, O Holy Mother, will always favor the repentant sinner.
Saintin

Small album~
Sweet Heart of Mary

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

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.