How much "Catholic" is in your home?

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I have 3 crucifixes in the house. One by the front and back doors and one inside our bedroom door. I also have another cross decoration with a motivational saying on it, but it doesn’t scream Catholic, just Christian.

My parents home has a sword hanging on the wall, a picture of the diocesan bishop, the prodigal son, a large cross hanging in the window, the Lord’s Supper hanging I think in the master bedroom. Um, there’s more, but it’s escaping me. Not “Catholic” but they wrote scriptures on the timbers that support the home as they built them. Most of those are covered up now though, so you don’t notice them.
 
Oh, just looking around where I’m sitting. I have a Holy Family statue and a single decade rosary hanging from the shelf below (that actually wasn’t planned, the rosary was there first and I didn’t think much about where I put the statue when I received it).
 
I am not sure what is normal or common, but here is what my wife and I have in our house:
  • Two crucifixes – a small one in the kitchen and a medium-sized one on the wall over our bed
  • A poster of the ten commandments and a poster of Bible stories in the kids’ bedroom
  • Two framed copies of religious-themed paintings in our living room
  • A statue of Jesus and the apostles at the Last Supper in an alcove in our kitchen
  • A large ceramic statue of Jesus and several saint statues on top of a bookshelf in our living room. (These are up high so that the little kids don’t break them.)
  • A picture of Pope John Paul II in our living room
  • Several small religious pictures and prayer cards on our refrigerator (e.g., the Divine Mercy image of Jesus, an Our Lady of Guadalupe prayer card, a picture of Pope Benedict, etc.)
  • Many religious books, for kids and for adults, displayed on our bookshelves. (But these aren’t just for display of course; the books are there because we have read them, or are reading them, or at least use them as reference.)
I would like to have a small altar or table as part of a special prayer area, with a crucifix and other religious artwork on or around the altar. But for now we have not done this, mostly because our two youngest children would not leave it alone.
 
PetiteFoi said:
So call me a noob, but is a cross only called a Crucifix if Christ is nailed to it?? 😊
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Yes, that is correct. If Jesus is on the cross, it is a crucifix. If it is just a cross without Jesus, then it is a cross but not a crucifix.
 
In my bedroom I have a kneeler which is in front of a crucifix on the wall, another crucifix by my bed, a picture of Jesus, several Bibles, many religious books, and things such as Rosaries hanging around. In the house we have statues of Saints, in the front yard we have a statue of Jesus and Mary, and in the living room we have an altar rail.
 
From one revert to another: Welcome back!

Ite in pace,
Joshua C.
 
Oh boy…we have at least ten crosses hung around the house. Some were gifts, others we purchased, and each of our kids has their own. I have a rosary, and we have a photo of us kneeling in front of the Blessed Mother statue from our wedding ceremony.

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mommy_k said:
We do not have holy water fonts, they get knocked down too much in our house.
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I caught our 2-year-old hanging on our font by the front door one day. It’s not a big font and I didn’t use the sturdiest hangar when I put it up so I’m guessing I caught her in the nick of time. Thankfully, she hasn’t done that since. We did have one in our older daughters’ room but took it down because I put it on the wrong side of the light switch and it kept getting knocked down or spilled.

In addition to the font, we have statues of Jesus and Mary on the mantle, a crucifix in the kitchen, a picture of Pope Benedict and several religious magnets on the fridge, a cross with the Irish blessing on it, various icons and saint pictures/paintings scattered around the house, a handful of saint statues that we use as seasonal decorations, a statue of Mary by my desk and rosaries all over the place. You can also usually find church bulletins, religious books and the latest issue of Catholic Digest sitting out somewhere in the house.

I bought a gorgeous crucifix several months ago. My wife & I both love it but after we got it home we found it doesn’t really fit the decor in any of the rooms. One of my Lenten resolutions is to get it hung before Easter. I also want to get a crucifix for each bedroom and one for my desk.
 
We have several crucifixes and crosses, an apostolic blessing from Pope John Paul II received on the occasion of our 25th anniversary, numerous icons (my husband is Byzantine Catholic), a photo of our family’s audience with Pope John Paul II and rosaries given to us by him.
 
In my bedroom
Sacred Heart of Jesus picture
Picture of the Holy Family
Picture of St Patrick
Picture of Our Lady of Assumption
Plate of Our Lady of Lourdes
Plate of the Holy Family
Picture of St Therese of the Little Flower
Statue of Praying Mary
Statue of Our Lady of Fatima
Bottle of Lourdes water
Candle of Our Lady of Lourdes
Candle of Our Lady of Grace
Statue of Pope John Paul II
Crucifix above my door
Crucifix on my nightstand
Holy Family Statue on my nightstand
Plate of Our Lord’s prayer
Holy water stoup with bottle.
Children’s missal
Picture of Guardian Angel with 2 children on a bridge

I keep my rosary over my bedpost, I wear a crucifix and chain around my neck and I also have a St Christopher on a chain.

Living Room
A crucifix on a plaque that says “God bless this house” on it.
A bottle of Holy water blessed by Pope Benedict XVI
My parents wedding blessing from Pope John Paul II

Parent’s bedroom
Crucifix on chest of draws
My father’s missal.
My mother’s prayer book

There are 3 Bibles in the house. A Douay–Rheims Bible on my bedside table and a Jerusalem Bible and CTS Bible.
 
We have many of the same things others have noted.

A crucifix over the front door and one in each bedroom and in the kitchen. When we had our picture of the Sacred Heart enthroned we brought it down to the iving room (it had been in our bedroom) and it is there still.

I had pictures of stained glass windows from various cathedrals framed and they are in the dining room - where we also have a lovely status of the Flight to Egypt (Mary and baby Jesus on a donkey).

We have a holy water font by the front door (and my daughter has one in her room at college).

We even have a little plastic statue of St Clare of Assisi by the TV (she is the patron Saint of television! :D)
 
I never thought about it before…but I guess a lot! The kitchen only has a small statue of the Infant of Prague on the windowsill. Was going to say the bathroom is “Catholic free”…but just remembered, I have a little framed prayer on the counter so I’ll remember to say it each morning. Living areas and bedrooms…crucifix, several pictures, a beautiful holy water font, my grandchildren’s First Communion portraits…yes, you definitely know a Catholic family lives here. And my Mary statue sits outside in the summer, and anyone driving by my house will inevitably see EWTN on the tv screen if they look in the window 🙂
 
We have a big Bible, of course, a few smaller ones, since I travel a lot, several diffrent Cathecisms. Also a crucifix and rosaries. We also have some blessed candles, the one from my husbands baptism and Ash Wednesday.
But our home is new, we’ve only been married for three months, so there will be more with time. 🙂
 
We have a lot, crucifixes, pictures, etc. Lots of Holy Mother and Virgen of Guadalupe stuff. The surprising part is, most of it is due to my non-catholic wife. She loves all that stuff, and keeps buying more of it. I pray it helps bring her into the fold.
 
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? 🤷
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I started taking account of what I have for this thread, and it’s more than would interesting to write. Here’s some: Crucifix in living room and both bedrooms. Several small statues of the Blessed Mother in my bedroom. Some of them are old and belonged to family members, so I don’t want them where I will easily knock them over. I have several pictures and figures of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and shepherds in general. Those images always give me a feeling of peace. I often try to intersperse religious items with other things. I guess for me that symbolizes that I don’t want my faith to be compartmentalized in my life, but to be a part of everything.

I periodically change around the items on a living room shelf (similar to a mantle). Today, I put out a vase with an image of the Last supper. I’ll leave that up until Easter, when I’ll probably put a Sacred Heart Statue in this most prominent position. For me, creating these tiny shrines in my home is often a nice mediation.

Even though I have all this stuff, I don’t have an alter or holy water font. I have to add those things to my “list.” :rolleyes:

If you are looking for advice, PetiteFoi, I recommend starting with devotions you are naturally attracted to. Sometimes a devotion or item just seems to touch us spiritually. And we Catholics have so much to choose from. What do you have so far?
 
hannajomar said:
If you are looking for advice, PetiteFoi, I recommend starting with devotions you are naturally attracted to. Sometimes a devotion or item just seems to touch us spiritually. And we Catholics have so much to choose from. What do you have so far?
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Since starting this thread I have acquired some Catholic items to my home.
I have a small crucifix in my daughters room, and a cradle medallion with the Guardian angel’s prayer on it.
I now have a crucifix hanging above our bed in the master bedroom.

I have a picture on the wall of Christ as a Shepherd with a poem blessing our home, and a large cross with John 3:16 written on it with the image of the risen Christ.
I have a small Lent centerpiece I made:
http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com/originals/a7/8e/82/a78e82836284c7a2cc8a5f6b502b256a.jpg

And a small holy water font I want to hang in my daughters room so I can bless her before bed and when she wakes up. 🙂

My biggest crutch is Holy Prayer Cards - I LOVE them, the artwork and prayers are so beautiful!! I have to really restrain myself from getting too many! 😊

Peace,
~ PetiteFoi
 
It’s great to read about the devotionals people have in their home! 🙂

I did a quick look downstairs to start:

Starting at the front of the house:
Living room. Framed picture of Mary setting on an end table. A coffee table book with artwork of Madonna and Child through history. Both my husband and my Sunday missals so we don’t forget them on the way out the door. 🙂

Dining room. Triptich of the holy family. A framed portrait of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the wall leading upstairs.

Kitchen/family room: A statue of St. Florian. A two picture laminated portrait of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Two rosaries for easy use. On the mantel of the fireplace is a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a crucifix that was made in the holy lands.

Backyard: A resin statue set of the holy family.

Upstairs: An incense burner for use while praying the rosary. Cross with the gifts of the holy spirit, our bibles, catechism, and a large number of books on Catholicism, life of the saints, biographies of the saints, etc. Candles of saints including Mary, St. Michael, the Holy Spirit and Jesus.

Each of the kids have a prayer center in their room on their bookshelves with statues of favorite saints, their rosaries, missals, bibles, and my oldest also has a catechism for reference.

Hard to believe, but there isn’t a lot of religious artwork in our bedroom. We’ve recently moved, and it’s the last room to be decorated at all-- but we’re getting there. 🙂

My mom is looking through her stuff to see if she still has my grandmother’s Last Supper picture. It isn’t anything huge, and a lot of people might think it’s a bit tacky, it’s laminated on a piece of driftwood, but I would like to display it because it was my grandmother’s, and it is meaningful to me.
 
As a Catholic Revert I may have gone a little overboard once I let God back into my heart again.

I have a small table with a candle, statue of Our Lady of Loudes, bottle of holy water and rosary.
A larger statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe with flowers and candles around her.
A lovely large ornate wrough iron cross near the front door with a candle that sits in front of it.
A Jesus bobblehead (that makes me remember he has a good sense of humour!) 2x churches / ornaments with stained glass windows (candles inside it), picture of St.Mary Mackillop (Australia’s first Saint). Other plaques on walls and a cross in each of my childrens room.

Oh, and lastly, a stunning huge solid concrete statue of Virgin Mary in my yard. She sits among green plants and looks so gorgeous. I love sitting under my patio and looking over at her. She reminds me of the gentle side of nature.

Loved the picture of your altar by the way. 🙂
 
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