A question about a unique item

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tracybluebird

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When a friend of mine’s Mom moved, she had a number of things she gave me which belonged to her Catholic mother since she knew I was Catholic. I have two beautifully framed Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart prints, what I determined to be a Last Rights Cross, and something I really haven’t been able to track down.

It is from 1941 and it’s a 4x6 wooden box on a wooden base. There is a brass last supper plaque on the front of it. On the top of it, there is a shell for what I is presume would be holy water with a cherub looking over it. There is a removable cross that fits in the top. There is a cardboard box that slides in the back of it, and it has a clip on it so it snaps in, but seems to have some kind of missing part, maybe a piece that fit over the box? There is a small holy water box in it.

Very interested in what this is, and how it may have been used in a home in the early 1940s.

Thanks
 
Sounds like it might be a box used to have holy water, a Crucifix, and possibly a candle for the ill or dying who are receiving Holy Eucharist at home from a Priest. These used to be quite common, but wooden ones like this are rare now. It was also sometimes set up when a Priest brought “Last Rites” or Viaticum to someone who was dying at home. It used to be the custom to have a small container with Holy Water, a Crucifix and a lighted candle at the bedside, ready for the Priest when he arrived. In fact, they often greeted the Priest at the door with a lighted candle in their hand, led him to the bedside of the ill or dying person (silently), placed the candle in a receptacle on the box and then stepped back while the Priest began the Prayers and Blessings. If the person was conscious and able to make their Confession, everyone else left the room and closed the door until the Priest opened the door and then began the Anointing (he always brought the Holy Oil) and prayers, then administered the Holy Eucharist. If this is what you have, and it is wooden, it sounds like it might be quite old, at least pre-Vatican II, depending upon when the deceased lady received it. They were often passed down through a family.
 
I was thinking that possibility, but it was so different from the other last Rights Cross I also have. The box on the back pulls out and is about 4x6 inches, and there is only one little bottle in it. There isn’t really a place for candles, but when I went to double check it, there are two spots where something else metal could have inserted, which could be missing candle holders.

I have not been able to find anything like this on the Internet, where the flat cross with a small spot for candles, there are a number of them.

It would be nice to find out what how I could google this to try and find an image, to see what those missing parts may be.

Thanks for your response.
 
These pictures show one very similar, and I am sure that is what it is. The pictures of the one that has a box with the last supper on the front and an opening in the back from the uk is very similar. It is made of a deep black wood, and it would make sense the two spots likely held something to put a candle in.

Interesting it’s put together totally different from the flat, more compact version, but served the same purpose. I think I was reading in an earlier post, as time went on, they were not as common since more people would pass away at the hospital or a nursing home. This one is definitely much older than the more compact one I have. The person who gave it to me did not even know what it was, and anyone old enough to know, was not around to offer any explanation!
 
wow what a great find true catholic relics from a simpler time cherish them always
 
I agree, it is a treasure, and I know that is how the woman who originally had it felt. Her daughter saved them for me, because she knew I would appreciate it. Now that I know what it is, we can talk about what and/or who it may have been used for, and she would probably know that. It is kind of sad, because she is showing beginning signs of dementia…perhaps this will spark something and get her thinking about her Mom’s and Dad’s heritage, both of whom she misses very much.

I am the perfect person to have both the more ornate version, and the flat cross version of a last rites/sick call box because I have been with people who were sick and/or able to pass in their own home. I recall praying the rosary at one man’s bedside. it was not sad, it was not scary, it was very peaceful, he was going home 🙂

Again it is a treasure, and I would love to know more about the traditions my mother had when she was growing up Catholic. She loved her faith, and always had here rosary in her pocket. When my son was baptized, she was unable to come to our state for the baptism, so I arranged to come out of our diocese to have him baptized in hers for special circumstances. I also told the pastor she had been sick, and he came to her home for an Anointing of the Sick. That meant so much to her! She truly was able to enjoy the festivities of my son’s baptism.

When she passed away, and I lived in her house for a bit, I would find rosaries all over the house, and little medals, prayer cards, etc. One of her most treasured things when she went to the hospital, was when my daughter, only 11, brought her one of those glow in the dark rosaries! From what I was told, she glowed herself!

The traditions in the Catholic church surrounding sickness, suffering and passing bring me such great peace. I really feel like such traditions are waning as time goes on, but it seems we need such peace in our world today, losing someone in the hospital can be so sterile; it almost seems there is less of an acceptance of our natural life which ends in death, and then a new life. Though many say we believe in the new life, the earthly death seems feared.

Perhaps some of these traditions of comfort should be given a new life

Tracy
 
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