Thank you, Joanna Gaines!
It is a good time to prioritize the beautiful, and we have many links to that end in our collection today. One discusses the importance of literary fiction for Catholics. Another delves deeply into why we are so drawn to beauty. Also, don’t miss a look at a school in Kentucky which fosters old crafts such as broom-making. Plus, a great Nordstrom Rack hack, an interview with author Michael O’Brien, and possibly the best chicken tenders recipe to please a crowd. And please note: our new site debuts tomorrow!!! This is the last day our current website will be live. If you have articles you want saved, please find them the search box.
If you have are stubborn and have a hot temper, we have the saint for you! In our collection today, read a personal piece about St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. Also, some sage advice about taking care of yourself in pregnancy. Plus, the first Christmas at a grand hotel, a philosopher responds to accusations of pro-life extremism, and a tasty instant pot tandoor chicken. And much more!
Despite the overwhelming reporting on the undecided election, there is some good news about pro-life women making gains in the House of Representatives featured in today’s collection. Also, vinegar is making a comeback well beyond the confines of the apple cider variety. And we have a couple of visual feasts, one in a blue and white palette in a transformed California estate, and some great ideas about decorating for Thanksgiving. Who knew foraging and candles could go so far? And more!!
We have some great diversion from the election in our collection today, like a swoon-worthy look at plaster. Having lived next to a plaster shop in Rome, this is a fun reminder of plaster’s potential (and we will soon be featuring two plaster pieces in The Mercantile). Plus, two yummy autumnal recipes including the ultimate fall scone and comforting Chicken Milanese. And a fun look at a prosecco vineyard for sale (with a chapel on location), and DIY Christmas ornaments. And much more!!!
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Off the Cuff
By Molly Franzonello
So many of us are transient, moving every couple of years. It is easy to think that a true ‘home’ doesn’t exist, or at least, not yet. I have never considered myself a homebody, don’t own a home, and for the past six years haven’t lived in the same single place for more than a year. But as I read Theology of the Home I saw in it the tools to make any space one of prayer/spiritual growth, comfort, and hospitality. It is a recipe we all long for in a place where we gather and rest.
By Carly Kashmanian
Gratitude is the secret to true, enduring happiness. Unfortunately, it’s one of the most difficult virtues to cultivate and maintain in our media-saturated, consumerist society. As Catholics, we have all the right tools to combat the temptation toward ingratitude, but so often we forget and have to learn the hard way. Well, I do. But at least I learned, and I’m here to help you in the hope of making your journey to spiritual awakening less painful than mine was.
Favorite Catholic Things
The Homemaker’s Litany is a prayer put together by Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering for all women who truly want to make their home a foreshadowing of heaven.
By Carrie Gress
Dickens got started in the early 90s and his tiles are still going strong. He attributes their appeal to their beauty and sense of history. "People like to feel they are an integral part of the story of humanity, and my tiles have the weight and feel of another era, a time when things were more permanents and long-lasting. I think it's this aspect of the tiles that make people want to reach out. In essence, they want to touch history."
By Leslie Fain
Maybe it started after my husband and I binged watched Downtown Abbey, but I began to feel a desire to dress better for Mass. I remember a friend telling me that in Indian culture, people try to dress their best out of respect for others. If I were to dress for a job interview, or meet a member of the British Royal Family, I would be scouring the Internet and mall for the perfect dress. Why was I not putting forth more effort to meet with the King of Heaven and Earth each Sunday?
By Carrie Gress
I’ve been eager to introduce HD readers to Stella Maris & Co. candles for some time. Almost two years ago, I was standing in my kitchen and the thought occurred to me that there is an abundance of soy candles in the market place today, but out of all that I had seen, I’d never seen one that was Catholic. Why wasn’t any one making these?
By Carrie Gress
What happens when the rosary and the Tooth Fairy meet? Something wonderful, says Brianna Gilmore, the founder of Pocket Angels. I caught up with Brianna, a mother of four who lives in Portland, Oregon, to find out more about her hand-sewn angels and her growing business.
By Carrie Gress
A fun new source for children’s clothing with a Catholic twist is now available online. Lilies + Loaves makes clothing that tell a story visually about Marian apparitions and the lives of saints. Made for infants to age five, the garments are made by local seamstresses in Philadelphia.
By Carrie Gress
The chapel has a certain allure. Even those people go see the Cathedral, when they go and see the small chapel, that is what they remember. The chapel has a closeness, prayerfulness, and intimacy about it.
By Carrie Gress
There is something enigmatic about snow. Often, it arrives silently, without ceremony. One scarcely knows it is there. Only over time, does it reveal itself. The accumulation brings with it a blanket of beauty. Everything becomes different, suddenly pure, calm, quiet, and glistening with wonder.
By Molly Farinholt
Is beautiful art an expression of the divine and an instrument of worship? It has not always been seen as such — even within the Church. In the Byzantine Empire, during the eighth and ninth centuries, magnificent icons were torn down and destroyed while bitter debate raged between those in favor of such destruction and those who sought to halt the burning.
By Sofia Infante
In the decade since a group of Carmelite monks living in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming set out to roast their own coffee, their popularity has steadily increased. The monks began by roasting their coffees in a cast iron skillet and selling a small selection of flavored coffee online. Today, they offer a large selection of flavored coffees, teas, and more.
By Noelle Mering
“I got motivated to bring more Catholic devotion into our home. From a faith perspective it just made sense, and from a design perspective you simply cannot go wrong with holy images...they fit in any home, any style (which I am sure is by divine design).”
By Noelle Mering
My husband Anthony and I have four children, 9, 7, 5, and 2.5. It’s boy-girl-boy-girl and everyone still has a hefty affection for the faith. We moved into our home two years. In that move, we really took stock in the artwork, statutes, and relics, and how to let our new space soak up the Catholicism we so love to imbue into our kids’ everyday life.
By Carrie Gress
I met John Novotny, the creative director of video production at Franciscan University, a couple of years ago. I could tell almost instantly from his accent that he was Canadian and as we drove from the Pittsburgh airport to the Steubenville campus, his story unfolded about how he honed his gift for photography.
By Noelle Mering
“We loved the idea of raising our family on a farm with so much room for our children to play, learn, and grow,” says wife and mother Katherine Ocello who lives on a farm in a small New Jersey town. “We lived our first year of marriage just outside New York City and we really felt called back home to a simpler and slower way of life.”
By Noelle Mering
“It’s been over a year since we moved our family from a quaint little home on the outskirts of town to a larger mid-century home near the city’s center. How lovely it has been to gradually fill each corner with beauty and intention, though we still have many untouched plans.”
By Noelle Mering
Emily Hannon is a writer, wife, and mother of two living in Ohio. She shares details about her home at Christmas time. “I sought out to create a space that made me feel comfortable yet inspired,” says Hannon, “where I would be invited continually to see the beauty in the ordinary. So much of motherhood is messy and mundane, creating a space that radiates peace and beauty is so valuable to me.”
By Noelle Mering
“I got motivated to bring more Catholic devotion into our home. From a faith perspective it just made sense, and from a design perspective you simply cannot go wrong with holy images...they fit in any home, any style (which I am sure is by divine design).”
By Noelle Mering
My husband Anthony and I have four children, 9, 7, 5, and 2.5. It’s boy-girl-boy-girl and everyone still has a hefty affection for the faith. We moved into our home two years. In that move, we really took stock in the artwork, statutes, and relics, and how to let our new space soak up the Catholicism we so love to imbue into our kids’ everyday life.