Annunciation Coloring Pages

The Solemnity of the Annunciation USUALLY is celebrated on March 25, but this year because it fell during Holy Week and no feast supersedes Holy Week nor the Easter Octave, the Solemnity will be Monday, April 8.

Annunciation Coloring Page
From Crusade, No. 12, 1955 by the Maryknoll Sisters

Annunciation Coloring Page2
From The Hail Mary by Society of Saint Paul, 1952

Annunciation Coloring Page
From We Love God: Ordered Activities in Religion by Sister Mary Francine, S.S.C., Illustrated by Jeanne Dekan.

Annunciation Coloring Page3
From The Rosary Color Book, drawings by Ettore Fattori, Copyright 1949 by Catechetical Guild.

Gifts

When my friends lost their 11 day old infant, little Mary Rose, I felt very strongly to support them in little ways. Her mother was very focused on the Rose in her name. When Mary Rose was born her little hands were shaped like a little rosebud, and their younger son said they looked like roses. Hence the middle name. Little did they know that this Little Rose would soon be flowering in Heaven.

Because of the emphasis with the roses, and phone discussions about the family trying to pray the rosary together and having some difficulty with their young sons, I immediately thought of the crocheted roses and baskets idea from Kimberlee. I found some nice baskets from Michael’s with velvet linings, so the roses wouldn’t snag on the basket. I used I Love This Cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby because I don’t like how acrylic feels. I wanted this to be a totally tactile experience, with the roses being soft.

Mary The Dawn — Music for the Assumption

This is revised post, originally published in 2006.

This morning as I was listening to the podcast of Morning Prayer for the Solemnity of the Assumption from DivinoreOffice.org (the site is not loading for me this morning, so I can’t link directly to the podcast.) The hymn today is Mary the Dawn sung by Kathleen Lundquist and it reminded me of my original post. I just love this hymn with its haunting melody in a minor key. The text is so rich. Today we contemplate the great mystery of Mary’s purity and her body and soul ascending to heaven. Her Faith, her Love, her humility, and the high honor of being the Mother of God, and the very closeness of Christ — these and so much more are the reasons for the Assumption. This hymn fits so wonderfully in contemplating the intimate relationship between Mary and her Son.

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I pulled out my hymnals to play and sing Marian hymns during this month dedicated to Our Lady. I wanted my son to hear them and let them become second nature to him. As I was paging through my Pius X Hymnal, I was just wowed by this hymn. The words and music were so haunting.

Mary the Dawn

Medieval English text, Gregorian Tone 4, setting by Justin Mulcahy, C.F. (pen name Paul Cross)
Copyright 1949 by McLaughlin and Reilly Co. First appeared in 1953 The Pius X Hymnal:

Mary the Dawn, Christ the Perfect Day;
Mary the Gate, Christ the Heav’nly Way! Mary the Root, Christ the Mystic Vine;
Mary the Grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!Mary the Wheat-sheaf, Christ the Living Bread;
Mary the Rose-Tree, Christ the Rose Blood-red!

Mary the Font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;
Mary the Chalice, Christ the Saving Blood!

Mary the Temple, Christ the Temple’s Lord;
Mary the Shrine, Christ the God adored!

Mary the Beacon, Christ the Haven’s Rest;
Mary the Mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!

Mary the Mother, Christ the Mother’s Son.
Both ever blest while endless ages run.

To Jesus, through Mary. The text is just beautiful. The words remind me of this time of year, both liturgical and seasonally: May for Mary, Mother’s Day, Springtime, gardening, Easter and New Life, Holy Thursday, First Communions, the upcoming Feast of Corpus Christi.

In searching the Web, I find that this piece is even considered one of The Top Ten Catholic Hymns!

Besides the Pius X Hymnal, this hymn is also in The Adoremus Hymnal which is in print. Women for Faith and Family has shared this sheet music for this hymn.

As an added bonus, I found this gorgeous arrangement of Mary the Dawn arranged for SSA and Chorus by Leo Nestor. This .pdf file also has a sound file, so you can listen while you preview the music. I listened to it all day yesterday…the melody is so haunting.

Solemnity of the Assumption, Revisited

Something happened, so this is a re-post of my re-post.

This is a repost from 2008. This has been one of my favorite memories for a feast day. The sachets we created are still so fragrant! Our lavender plants and new sewing machine are beckoning me to do this again, now with both boys. Perhaps this time I’ll take better pictures of a tutorial for our actual sachets.
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The Assumption of the Virgin, El Greco, 1577

Tomorrow is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady. This is a dogma of our faith that Mary was asssumed into heaven, body and soul.

Ds and I are having a wonderful time discussing this feast together. I’ve been pointing out how pure Mary was. It helps to think of sin as putrid, rotting, garbage to the soul. Mary was so clean and white, fragrant like a flower, emitting wonderful scents like perfume. Her body was so pure it shouldn’t stay on earth, so Jesus took her to heaven. My son is a thinker and has lots of questions, so we’ve had quite an interesting conversation.

I also shared the story about Mary falling asleep, the Dormition. The Apostles thought she was dead, so they placed her in the tomb. St. Thomas was late, and so when the other Apostles took him to see the body, they found no body, just a tomb filled with fragrant flowers. Jesus had taken Mary up to heaven, body and soul.

Herbs and Flowers for the Assumption

And with that story, we made the connection of the Blessing of Fruits and Herbs (assumption-blessing-of-fruits-and-herbs.pdf). Florence Berger in her Cooking for Christ has always inspired me, especially for Marian Feasts. I always enjoy reading her description of their gathering herbs for the Assumption. And her recipe for Moravian Spice Cookies on the Immaculate Conception is a perfect tie-in. She cites the passage in the Book of Sirach (formerly Ecclesiasticus), 24:20-21 that describes Mary:

I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatical balm; I yielded a sweet odor like the best myrrh; and I perfumed my dwelling as store, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odor is as the purest balm.

Our focus this year is on herbs and fruits and flowers for this feast. I posted some food ideas at Catholic Cuisine. Our big emphasis is lavender, and we did a small craft incorporating the lavender.

My main idea was to especially use lavender to incorporate all the senses. The craft would allow him to engage his senses, and he could pick the herbs, remove the flowers and stuff the sachets. I thought I might give him a small area to hand stitch if he wanted to try, and then the finished product could be a gift for his grandmother, who celebrates her 80th birthday this weekend.

I used scrap material, some vintage silk and linen. (My son loves the feel of silk, so I thought it would be another reason to entice him for this project.) I cut out rectangles that were on average about 7 1/2 by 4 1/2, turned under 1/2 inch on the long side. I folded the sachet up like a pillowcase, except I left about 1 1/2 inches overhang on one side. That would create a flap. I stitched the sides together (topstitch on the outside), then folded under and stitched the top edge flap. (Another prettier option was to stitch the sides with the inside out and turn out, but I chose to do it this way.)

We filled up the sachets, closed the flap, and then chose a pretty color embroidery floss to top stitch the “envelope” together. I used all 6 strands, a tapestry needle and used knots and left the thread hang as decoration. I tried to make it simple for my son to try the stitching, but the design is a little rough, and it was hard for him to pull through (with a big needle) the thickness of fabric, but a smaller needle is harder for him to handle. So not sure what to do there. But if you have an older child, there wouldn’t be much problem.

The picture isn’t a good one, my apologies. The fragrance while working on this project was so wonderful — a tangible reminder of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

May you have a blessed feast day. Our Lady assumed into Heaven, pray for us!

Presentation in the Temple

Tuesday afternoon my 8 year old son has atrium with the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This has been a favorite and special time for him for over 4 years.

He received the presentation on the Presentation in the Temple with Simeon and Anna. Later his catechist shared with me his reflections. She didn’t remember his exact words, but he said Simeon knew that this child was special, and after holding Jesus he had so much joy he would be ready to die.

My son also said Mary recognized that Jesus wasn’t a baby like other babies, and she knew that her heart would hurt as He grew up.

He was excited to read the Canticle Nunc Dimittis, recognizing it because it’s on the back cover of the Magnificat. He wanted to do the Canticle in calligraphy right away.

I talked with him before bedtime on the Presentation and wondered if he had any thoughts. He was explaining how the figures in the atrium have a little hole in Mary and Simeon, so that both can hold the baby Jesus. Then he was thinking about how Mary was holding the baby Jesus, he said:

“Mary was holding Jesus in her arms like this at the Presentation, with Jesus only 8 days old. She held him the same way 33 years later at the foot of the Cross.”

Powerful food for meditation.

 

Flower Arranging

One of my favorite “Practical Life” works in the atrium of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is flower arranging. The children love the combination of working with the beautiful flowers of nature, choosing vases, working with water, and beautifying the environment.

This past week I was working at our parish festival, which has both White Elephant and Used Book sales. I scored in finding lots of pretty little vases to use for the atrium, and for our home use.

I love that the season of May is brimming over with flowers — just perfect for presenting to Mary every day of the month. My youngest had found the store of vases in the china cabinet and decided to fill many of them with our wonderful flowers. I have bachelor buttons and 3 kinds of roses all blooming. (Pay no attention to the water spills. Water dries. Also my computer cord. I’m no photographer.)

He was so pleased with his work, that he continued on filling vases.

I did demonstrate clipping the roses, but I didn’t get too formal about all the steps of arranging. This was a moment to enjoy, and a beautiful gift to Mary and our family.

Fiat

Today we celebrate a little Christmas — Christ became Flesh today, a nine month preview before He was born and revealed to the whole world.

I had this post on Lady Day from past years, which included this Annunciation Coloring Page.

We took the day off from most school work. We celebrated by attending Mass, celebrating breakfast with family, and doing little fun things like the library and a used book store.

But for this evening I have a few more coloring pages. It’s interesting to see different artists’ rendition, and you can see the completed images on this post.

Annunciation Coloring Page

Annunciation Coloring Page2

Enjoy.

January 21: St. Agnes and Our Lady of Altagracia

This is a slightly revised post from last year:

Today is the Feast of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr.

Pope Benedict XVI has already blessed the two lambs whose wool will be used for the palliums (pallia?). From the Vatican:

BLESSING OF THE LAMBS FOR THE FEAST OF ST. AGNES

VATICAN CITY, 21 JAN 2010 (VIS) – This morning, in keeping with the tradition for today’s feast of St. Agnes, the Pope blessed a number of lambs in the Urban VIII Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace.

The wool of the lambs is used to make the palliums bestowed on new metropolitan archbishops on June 29, Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles.

The lambs are raised by the Trappist Fathers of the Abbey of the Three Fountains in Rome and the palliums are made from the newly-shorn wool by the sisters of St. Cecilia.

From this link is a description:

On the feast day, 21 January, the Trappist fathers of the Monastery of Tre Fontane (near Saint Paul’s Basilica) provide two lambs from their sheepfold to the Benedictine nuns of Saint Cecilia. They arrive at Saint Agnes’ Basilica wearing crowns, lying in “baskets decorated with red and white flowers and red and white ribbons—red for martyrdom, white for purity.”

This YouTubevideo is from last year, but gives a little peek at those adorable lambs. Blessing of the Lambs at the Feast of St. Agnes (I can’t seem to embed the video in WordPress.)  Here’s the clip for this year’s blessing.

We’ll also read today from Faces of Courage: Stories of Five Great Friends of God by Mary Berardi, printed by the Daughters of St. Paul which has beautiful color pictures. (This is out of print, and I saw various versions on Amazon for sale, but I linked to the one with the illustration, not for the !price.) The story of St. Agnes is so captivating, and the illustrations are so beautiful. The story is also included in the Fifty Seven Stories of Saints for Boys and Girls by the Daughters of St. Paul (older version).

This is one of my sister’s confirmation name, so I think and pray for her today. I love this little saint.

I’d be remiss if I don’t include the little legend for maidens. My cousin, without knowing, realized she found her husband on the feast of St. Agnes. From Feast Day Cookbook; The Traditional Catholic Feast Day Dishes of Many Lands by Katherine Burton and Helmut Ripperger:

In some countries Saint Agnes is the saint of maidens, especially those who are looking for husbands. The eve of her feast is considered an auspicious time to find out who will be one’s future mate, and there are several old-time ways said to achieve this. In England a girl took sprigs of thyme and rosemary, sprinkled them three times with water, put one on each side of her bed, and then recited:

Saint Agnes, who’s to lovers kind,
Come ease the trouble of my mind

In her dreams then she saw the face of her future husband. Sometimes a maid ate instead a salt-filled egg from which the yolk had been removed. In that case her future husband came to her in her dreams and offered her water. In certain parts of England, young women made cakes of flour, salt, and water (surely a fasting rather than a feasting dish), which were called ”dumb cakes” because without saying a word the young woman would go upstairs with one of these cakes–backwards, to make it harder–get into bed, eat her cake, and pray fervently to Saint Agnes. There seems to be no record of disappointments, and we trust that all of those to whom Saint Agnes showed the dream face of her future got her man. Nor is there any record of how these cakes were made.

The imagery evoked by that passage just gives me the giggles. “Salt-filled egg” — well, yes, I’d want a dream for anyone to give me water! And St. Agnes should have demanded more talent to bring to the marriage by having some tasty feast day treats baked by the maiden. Those “dumb-cakes” anyone dumb cluck could make. I think St. Agnes should have come down and asked the maiden “Now what do you have to offer for a young man? It’s not all about you!” My friend Mary has a more practical approach. If I wasn’t allergic to wool I’d totally embrace this idea! I have to stick to non-animal fibers.

Be sure to check out Waltzing Matilda’s beautiful Coloring Page for St. Agnes.

Our Lady of Altagracia
Today is also in the Dominican Republic the feast of Our Lady of Altagracia (Our Lady of Good Grace). We read last night A Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia by Julia Alvarez. As we were reading we thought of the neighboring country of Haiti, and was praying to Our Lady of Altagracia for the Haitians suffering so much in the earthquake.

Tonight we’ll read from Stories from the Americas by Frank Henius, illustrated by Leo Politi. This is an out-of-print treasure; it portrays a more account of Our Lady of Altagracia, and the illustration from Politi is priceless.

There are many ideas for Our Lady of Altagracia in this thread. She is the patroness of 4Real Forums.

Catholic Icing has compiled many crafts and food ideas for both St. Agnes and Our Lady of Altagracia.

• Crafts for St. Agnes Feast Day
• Lamb Food ideas for St. Agnes
• Our Lady of Altagracia

From Catholic Cuisine:

• Lamb ideas for St. Agnes
• Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Altagracia
• Orange Smoothies for Our Lady of Altagracia
• Orange Rolls for Our Lady of Altagracia

Christmas Anticipation Prayer and Novena for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today marks the beginning of both the Christmas Anticipation Prayer (or Christmas Novena) and the Novena to the Immaculate Conception.

 

Beginning on November 30, the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, the following prayer is traditionally recited frequently daily until Christmas. This is a very meditative prayer that helps us increase our awareness of the real focus of Christmas and helps us prepare ourselves spiritually for His coming.

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
In which the Son of God was born
Of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight,
in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold.

In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God,
to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
[here mention your request]
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

My favorite prayer book, Handbook of Prayers edited by Father James Socias has a most beautiful novena to the Immaculate Conception. Each day is different, rich with meditative readings and prayers. The entire novena is in .pdf form on this page.

Lady Day, March 25

Tomorrow marks the other of the two Solemnities celebrated during Lent, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of our Lord. We recall the Incarnation, the moment the Word became Flesh within Mary’s Virginal womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. This feast is celebrated nine months before Christmas Day, marking the maternity of Mary.

This is one of the times of the years I love to pull out my books and read about the history of the liturgy, traditions, symbolisms of the day. I’ll share my food thoughts at Catholic Cuisine. This post will be a little rough, with mostly thoughts and collections of links and ideas.

Overall Liturgy and Feast Day inspirations, see:

Catholic Culture
Women for Faith and Family
Domestic-Church

In my sidebar there is a page on the Annunciation, which is a chapter from Father Francis Weiser’s The Holyday Book. This is rich with the history of this feast day.

What particularly interested me was that in central Europe this is often called “Feast of Swallows”:

It is the general belief (and usually happens) that the first swallows return from their migration on or about this day. An ancient saying in Austria claims:

When Gabriel does the message bring,
Return the swallows, comes the spring.

This coincidence might have been the reason why people in medieval Europe ascribed to the swallows a certain hallowed character. They call them “God’s birds” in Hungary, “Mary’s birds” in Austria and Germany; and no farmer would ever kill swallows or destroy their nests. Another reason might well have been the fact (made known in Europe by Crusaders and pilgrims) that the town of Nazareth, where the Annunciation took place, has an abundance of swallows circling the houses all day with their cheerful twittering.

So, while in the United States March 19, the Solemnity of St. Joseph is the return of the swallows, the other Solemnity of Lent, a few days later is the Feast of Swallows in Europe. What a perfect tie-in for both feast days! In my previous post I included some links regarding Song of the Swallows. I thought a swallows craft would be perfect to tie these feasts together.

Swallow’s Roost
Cliff Swallow Nest
Bird Mobile to Download includes a swallow. An alternative could make just swallows for the mobile which is what we are going to do, if I get my color printer hooked up in time. There is also a non-color option. ETA: Our swallows are so beautiful! A highly successful craft!

There’s also a beautiful picture to color from the Rosary Coloring pages I have in my sidebar. ETA: I also added another Annunciation Coloring page.

Of course the prayer we’re going to stress for this day is the Angelus, recalling the moment of Incarnation:

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary…

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
R. Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
Hail Mary…

V. And the Word was made flesh,
R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary…

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His passion and cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

The symbolism for the Annunciation includes the Annunciation Lily, which has no stamen and may have a tiny flame of fire on it; Fleur-de-Lis; Gladiolus; Angel (as in St. Gabriel).

Some Old Testament types of the Annunciation include the visit of the angels to Abraham, announcing the birth of Isaac; God appearing in the burning bush to Moses, announcing the delivery of Israel from Egypt; budding of Aaron’s rod is type of announcement that the Rod of Jesse should burst into blossom and bear fruit; and announcement of the birth of Samson and Samuel are also types of the Annunciation. (see Church Symbolism by Webber).

Our reading will include sections on the Annunciation from these books:

The Life of Mary edited by Inos Biffi
Young Mary of Nazareth by Marianna Mayer
Mary: Mother of Jesusby Tomie DePaola
Maryby Demi
Mary, Mother of Jesusby Mary Joslin
Mary by Brian Wildsmith

And since it’s an Old Testament type of the Annunciation, and also ties in with our Lenten themes,
Moses: The Long Road to Freedomby Genady Spirin
Moses by Margaret Hodges.
Exodus by Brian Wildsmith
All of these have tremendous illustrations, especially of the scene of the Burning Bush.

Tying in the Swallows and Easter, we will also read The Easter Swallows by Vicki Howie

The word Lent is a form of Spring, and with the warmer temperatures and blooming vegetation in this hemisphere, our thoughts naturally turn outdoors. This is a perfect time to plan or start a Mary garden, whether it be one potted plant, or a few special flowers planted within the vegetable garden, or a whole plot dedicated to Mary.

The website Mary Gardens is the ultimate source for Mary Gardens ideas, but there is also a beautiful book Mary’s Flowers: Gardens, Legends, and Meditations by Vincenzina Krymowthat also can provide inspiration.

Also, from Father Weiser again, he also has some Marian plant information, tying in the “fertility rites” of Spring with Mary. And this feast day seems to be the perfect tie-in. From The Easter Bookby Francis X. Weiser, S.J., Copyright, 1954, by Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc.:

Fertility Rites — While the struggle between summer and winter went on (December to April), many symbolic celebrations were held to demonstrate how anxious people were for the coming warm season and to insure as well the blessings of fertility (the important second part of these ancient rites).

The joy over the appearance of new plants and flowers in spring prompted man to attribute to them a special power of protection and healing. People planted special spring flower gardens; they brought branches of early-blossoming plants, like pussy willows, into their homes; they decorated themselves and their living rooms with wreaths of flowers and clusters of blossoms. A striking Christian variation of these nature rites was the medieval custom of planting “Mary gardens,” which were made up of all the flowers and herbs that are ascribed by love and legend as a special tribute to the Blessed Virgin. This charming and inspiring tradition has been revived in many places in Europe and more recently in this country.³

In a typical Mary garden the statue of the Madonna occupies a place of honor, either in the center or in a grotto against the wall, with, usually, a birdbath or bubbling fountain built in front of it. Some of the more familiar plants of the many that belong in a typical Mary garden are:….

Marigold (Mary’s bud) has bell-shaped blossoms of vivid yellow. An old legend says, “Her dresses were adorned with Marigold.” This flower was used to decorate her shrines for the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) and during the month of May. …. 

I also love this section from Mary Reed Newland classic work The Year and Our Children. Although she gives the idea for the Month of Mary, I think the Annunciation is the beginning of wonderful Marian feasts in the spring to start making Mary Shrines.

Other points to stress are how this is a pro-life feast day, purity and virginity of Mary, obedience to God’s Will (Fiat), the circle of feasts in the Calendar, and also choosing some classic works of art of the Annunciation and compare and highlight.

The Word was made Flesh,
And Dwelt Among us.

A blessed feast of the Annunciation to you all.