I didn’t think much of it when my auction pal Rebecca mentioned that she’d seen some Catholic holy cards in a box lot at the auction house. I see cards, rosaries, tiny crosses and other representations of our spirituality at auction all the time.
So, these expressions of religiosity didn’t strike me as much different. But when I saw her with the red, gold and black tin with curly designs, I was intrigued. I’m always curious about what treasures people hide inside keepsake tins or favorite books or just plain cardboard boxes.
Inside the tin were the holy cards she was eager to buy from among the hordes of boxes and tabletop knickknacks in the back room at the auction house. The lovely tin she held in her hands had enticed me to want to see her holy cards and find out why someone had stashed them there.
I was raised Baptist and had never heard of holy cards. Rebecca had been brought up Catholic and had childhood memories of them:
She and friends would get them from a shrine near her school. They’d stop by the shrine after school to pick up the holy cards and trade them among themselves (in much the same way, I suppose, we would collect and trade Bazooka bubble gum cards). She kept hers in a box, just like the person who’d kept the tin.
Some holy cards have the names of deceased people on them, she told me, and she had found some of those in the tin at auction. Now, I was even more interested in combing through the container – now to see who was buried there.
Holy cards, I found out, were also called prayer cards and have a long tradition in the Catholic faith. The earliest ones were woodcut prints, and the oldest surviving one is of Saint Christopher from the 15th century. It was found in a 1417 manuscript called “Laus Virginis,” apparently done by a German engraver.
The cards have a religious figure or emblem on one side and a prayer on the other, and are used to celebrate such special events as a wedding, communion or confirmation. They are also presented at funerals – bearing the deceased’s name and a prayer, along with a request to pray for the person’s soul.
I found several sites selling the cards, which apparently are also collectible. Here’s someone with a collection of 40,000 cards. There’s even a book simply titled “Holy Cards” written in 2004 that pulls together many of the cards, their artwork and histories of the saints shown on them.
The tin at auction was loaded with holy cards (with and without prayers), along with greeting cards, booklets, bookmarks and ribbons. Most of the cards were no more than 4 inches long and 2 ½ inches wide. Some had age on them while others appeared to be newer.
Here’s a sampling:
“Divine Jesus Infant of Prague Christ the King,” from a shrine in New Haven, CT.
“Santa Lucia Vargine & Martire,” in Italian.
“Our Lady of Perpetual Help,” from the daughters of St. Paul in Boston.
“Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” from a monastery in Wisconsin.
“Our Lady of Knock, Pray for Us,” from a mission in Dublin, PA.
“This offering is said by the millions of members of the Blue Army throughout the world, each morning … to fulfill the request of Our Lady of Fatima for the sanctification of daily duties as a condition for the conversion of Russia,” from the USA headquarters of the Blue Army in Washington, DC.
The tin contained a number of funeral cards, with the names of the deceased along with a scripture and a prayer on the back. Most were from the 1960s through the 1980s, and had the funeral home’s name listed at the bottom:
“Pray for the Repose of the Soul of Sarah Mattson. Died September 8, 1966.”
“My Jesus have mercy on the soul of Frank Bozzello. Died December 25, 1959.”
“My Jesus have mercy on the soul of Margaret Rochford. Died July 1, 1921.”
“May Jesus have mercy on the soul of Elizabeth Casserly McDermott. Born January 7, 1883. Died February 6, 1970.”
“In Loving Memory of John J. Cavanaugh. Died August 7, 1982.”
Some thin paperback booklets had also been placed inside the tin, most with a religious theme:
“Daily Teachings from the Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ” by Rev. Richard Burnet with an introduction by the late Rev. William Marsh. I found out that it was originally published in 1864 in London.
“A History of Grand Opera in Philadelphia,” compliments of the department store Strawbridge & Clothier. Copyrighted 1909, it also contained photos of notable opera performers, and the Academy of Music, which stood as the city’s opera showcase until 1908 when Oscar Hammerstein I opened the Philadelphia Opera House.
