How much "Catholic" is in your home?

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PetiteFoi

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I am what you would call a “lapsed catholic” and seem to be making my way slowly back to the Catholic church.
Growing up, my family was Nonpracticing Catholic, I was ignorant of the immense ‘culture’ the surrounded Catholicism.
As I’m doing my research I’m learning about things like
  • Family alters
  • Holy water fonts
  • Statues
  • Images of Christ/Saints
  • Merian Gardens
  • Etc.
    That Catholics use around the home.
So what I’m curious about is, how much does your Catholicism show when someone walks into your house?
Do most Catholics have an alter or font?
Are statues and crucifix’s normal to have in most rooms? 🤷

Thanks!
  • PetiteFoi
 
No alter or font and we just bought the house so I don’t have a garden with a Mary in a half-shell…yet. 😃

But it is quite obvious where our faith lies by the crucifix we have hanging up over the first door you see when you walk into the living room from the front door.
You can’t miss it.

Plus, we have a beautiful framed picture of the Transubstantiation in our dining room.

Our daughter’s baptism cross is hanging in her room and we have rosary beads hanging up in our room.
 
Just a crucifix and an icon of Jesus, both gifts to me for my first Communion.
 
PetiteFoi said:
So what I’m curious about is, how much does your Catholicism show when someone walks into your house?
Do most Catholics have an alter or font?
Are statues and crucifix’s normal to have in most rooms? 🤷

Thanks!
  • PetiteFoi
Click to expand...
Looking around … well, except for the random church bulletins scattered among the mess of other papers 🙂 I’d say not much. On the inside I really only have a cross made from last year’s blessed palms hanging on one wall. Outside is my 4’ high statue of St. Francis, and that’s pretty much it. There is a beautiful crucifix I will inherit from my parents home someday (hopefully not very soon) that will go on my living room wall.

I’m just not a visually focused person. So purchasing such things never even occured to me when I came back to the Church several years ago. 🤷

Now, if you wish to see my bookcase, I have bibles, commentaries, and a slow growing but much loved collection of old hymnals, misselettes, and prayer books. I also have a prayer spot where I keep candles that I use daily during my prayer time. I put some extra effort into keeping it nice but I don’t consider the site to be an altar. So I’m guessing it’s a matter of what each person feels most comfortable with.

Side note: Last summer, 2 Mormon missionaries came to my door. In response to their opening questions about whether I had faith, did I have a church home, etc., I responded as I always do to such inquiries, saying “Yes, I do!” and indicated my beloved (and to me, obviously Catholic) St. Francis statue. I had to hide a laugh though when the oldest one looked at it and said “Oh. Is that Martin Luther?” 😃
 
What we have is limited to our room. A few rosaries that were my grandmothers, and one given to me by a family friends that was blessed by blessed Pope John Paul II. Some pictures and pamphlets. Our bibles.

I am wanting to get a small wall font that we can use. I am not ready for statues. Simply because when I was small like my daughter, we had many, and they scared me. I don’t want her to be afraid. Things are scary in the dark when you’re little, even of things you love.
 
Sounds similar to my home growing up I was confirmed but we didn’t have a single cross, or religous item in the entire house.

The first religous item that brought me a tiny step was the gold crucifix from my grandmothers coffin the second was a old blue rosary my grandfather gave me the last time I saw him
 
Tasteful art is always nice. We have a statue of Our Lady of Smiles near the front door and a good bloody crucifix in every bedroom. there is also a small statue, Flight Into Egypt, in the book case, and a hand made from mesquite crucifix from Mexico (a souvenier of a trip) as well as another small brass cross (this a souvenier from our Honeymoon) in the kitchen. In my office a vintage statue of Jesus looks down on me (inherited from my great uncle, a priest in the 1900s-1940s) and another staute of St Francis (a housewarming gift given to my parents in the 1960s) There is also a print of the BVM and another of Padre Pio (which I won at a parish carnival raffle)
In my bedroom, besides a crucifix, I have an old small print of St Joseph in an antique frame(again from my Great Unce’s estate,) an icon of St Michael, and a print of Our Lady of Guadalupe—the same version that Don John of Austria had in the cabin of his flagship at Lepanto.
Pretty eclectic, huh?
I guess there is no rhyme or reason—I am amazed that my bride tolerates it all—but these are iimportant to me—sort of like snapshots to remind me of my spiritual family. It’s also important to me that each bit of art has a story. For several Christmas’ I would buy one piece of religious art and give it to my family on “Little Christmas”(Epiphany) as a way of keeping the momentum of the Christmas season in the forefront.which, along with inheriting some of it, is how we ended up with so much.
My advice—go slow, Tasteful, quality art that means something to you is better than slapping up stuff just because. Don’t be afraid to spend some money, but even inexpensive items like my mesquite crucifix can be stunningly beautiful. Most cathederals, Spanish Missions, and pilgrimage sites have gift shops and religious art can become a cherished souvenier of your travels.
No green plastic glow in the dark stuff though!
Cheers!
 
According to my daughter God is everywhere in our house, because I have religious items in every room and on most walls. My daughter said this negatively at the time because we’d just moved into our new house and she was thinking her school friends would not be impressed God is everywhere. Her friends don’t have issue with it as they know we are Catholic and don’t bat an eye, so daughter doesn’t either anymore.

My mum and non religious friend like my home as they said it has a nice and peaceful feel.

I have some large statues, some small. Pictures of Christ, Mary and the Holy Family adorning walls, crosses and crucifixes on walls. Some various religious items dotted around the house. I do have a small font with Mary. My pride and joy is a large antique bevilled mirror with the Holy Family painted on it I got for $20 at a second hand store that is above my bed.

Even my non religious friend bought me a plate with Christ on it! A large chunk of my Catholic items I bought second hand at op shops.

I have a friend who is quite catholic yet she only had a few items in her house.
 
What we have has grown over the years with gifts and children. Some things change seasonally and the children will often have made something, so it’s not the same each year or all the time.
We have a statue of Our Lady in the front garden and beside the pond in the back garden. A picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hangs over the fireplace and the mantel shelf below is where we have a couple of candles and things that change seasonally - like the Jesse tree and the crib figures through Advent and Christmas. At the moment we have a purple runner, a glass container of ashes, a rock, a crucifix and a laminated, decorated verse of a Lenten hymn or the words said when the priest puts ashes on your forehead - it changes. So, this constitutes our family altar
We have at least some Catholic picture or emblem in each room. A very nice plastic statue of the Holy Family was given to us as a wedding present. It changes position, but is currently sitting in the bathroom. Young children love to have a glow in the dark statue. I found it very comforting when I was a child and it encouraged me to pray in the dark before I went to sleep or if I woke in the night.
We have had holy water fonts, but they always seem to fall off the wall - perhaps you or your husband are handier than we are.
The essential thing is that all these things are an aid to prayer and devotion, not the object of it. Start in one spot where you make an effort to gather for prayer each night (Lent is a great time to start that good habit) and let it grow slowly from there.
 
I have a chapel build with the permission of my bishop. We have regular masses in the chapel. Beyond that I have all the usual stoff.
 
We have items in every room. Various crosses and statues.

Had a lovely cross given to me by some sisters from a nuns nursing home. It is of the risen Lord on the cross made out of wood. That is in our bedroom.

I love the crosses we have but as others have said, they are an aid to my prayer.

My real sign of being a catholic which only I can see us in my heart and soul. My undying love for Our Dear Lord.
 
I have a picture of the Sacred Heart, various crucifixes and rosaries on display. There are also a couple of small Marian pictures.

Also, one of my favourite pictures is actually a photo I took in a London church of a statue of Blessed Pope John Paul II in the arms of Our Lady. It captures the love that Our Lady has for us all, and the love that she has for Blessed John Paul and the reciprocal love he had for her.

I saw it when I was working in London one day and had to find something to do with my time while I wasn’t needed in the middle of the day (I was sent away to come back two or three hours later)… I found the local Catholic church and went in to have a look around and to spend some time with Our Lord. As I was exploring the church and all the books, icons, memorials, etc, I passed by this statue and it completely stopped me in my tracks. It expresses the affection that Our Lady has for us all perfectly, in my eyes, and it spoke straight to my heart. It captures Blessed John Paul’s humility, fragility and submission to God and the warmth of Our Lady’s maternal love for us all. I don’t know how long I stood there gazing at it… all I know is that I experienced a moment of grace at that time, and I’ll not forget it.

I find it very difficult to put into words what goes through me when I look at the picture. It’s inspiring but it’s also deeply humbling. It speaks of John Paul’s “Totus Tuus”, of his devotion to the Blessed Mother, but it also speaks of the sorrow of his suffering in this life as it’s clearly modelled on him when he was no longer healthy. It moves me to great sympathy and compassion for him and makes me want to be a better person and more committed to my faith as a result of his example.

I took a picture before I left, printed it out and framed it when I got home, framed it and it now has pride of place on my office wall, sitting right above my computer.

Here it is… Please feel free to make your own copies if you wish.
 
Hi

I have a St Brigid’s cross in the main living room, as well as a small crucifix and a small statue of St Therese of the Little Flower that was my grandmother’s and I was given her when nana died. I have a small signed photo of Pope Benedict XVI there too

I also have a small crucifix hanging in our bedroom

Nothing is particularly large or impressive on their own. I never really thought of ‘making my home Catholic’, it’s just things that help me on my faith journey, little reminders in the place where we spend our time of the fact that there is more to life than creature comforts
 
We have la pieta statue in curio
We have last supper wall hanging in kitchen
We have a crucifix in all bedrooms
We have Mary and Jesus fridge magnet
We have Maria Rosa Mystica, St. Anthony, and Sacred Heart Statue in our bedroom.
We have various Mary Statuettes and infant Jesus statues in kids bedrooms
We have 2 Guardian Angel plaques.
We keep rosaries on bedposts.
We also keep nativity statues out in curio all year, we put the whole creche out during Christmas.

We do not have holy water fonts, they get knocked down too much in our house.
 
PetiteFoi said:
I am what you would call a “lapsed catholic” and seem to be making my way slowly back to the Catholic church.
Growing up, my family was Nonpracticing Catholic, I was ignorant of the immense ‘culture’ the surrounded Catholicism.
As I’m doing my research I’m learning about things like
  • Family alters
  • Holy water fonts
  • Statues
  • Images of Christ/Saints
  • Merian Gardens
  • Etc.
    That Catholics use around the home.
So what I’m curious about is, how much does your Catholicism show when someone walks into your house?
Do most Catholics have an alter or font?
Are statues and crucifix’s normal to have in most rooms? 🤷

Thanks!
  • PetiteFoi
Click to expand...
Interesting topic. I just read a book called The Catholic Home by Meredith Gould, which I highly recommend. She talks about how to make a home Catholic.
 
Thank you all for your responses! 😃
If any of you have a area or item you love, I’d love to see a picture of it! I find it inspiring to see how people make their faith such a centered part of their home.
Lisa1967 said:
Interesting topic. I just read a book called The Catholic Home by Meredith Gould, which I highly recommend. She talks about how to make a home Catholic.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I will be looking that book up for some more ideas.
I just purchased a wooden crucifix for our wall that has John 3:16 written on it, and a crib medal.
I found a beautiful piece of artwork of Christ as a shepherd with a poem about protecting our home; that I found at a second hand shop. 👍

The Crib medal:
catholicgiftscanada.com/Admin/ProductImages/10279.jpg

My new Cross:
catholicgiftscanada.com/Pages/Gift.aspx?item=60023

Now because we went from the Catholic church to the RP church, to have any images of Christ/Mary/Saints was called idolatry. So we never had anything like that in our home.
I however find the images and icons important and encouraging - I want my home to be visibly centered around Christ; as a SAHM, I need my home to be encouraging and comfortable to me.
And if my faith really is the most important aspect of my life, I feel like I should be able to “Hang it on my wall” if I wish. 🙂
So call me a noob, but is a cross only called a Crucifix if Christ is nailed to it?? 😊

Peace,
  • PetiteFoi
 
We have stuff everywhere!
Crucifixes in almost every room…
Pictures of past and present Popes…
Icons…
Statues of Mary and other saints…
Paintings (Last Supper in the kitchen)…
Holy Water fonts…

We don’t have a dedicated “family altar” because everything is just scattered around the house.
 
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