I attended St. John’s Catholic School in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, through the eighth grade, and one of my favorite activities was collecting holy cards. The nuns (Ursulines, who all wore habits) would give out holy cards as rewards for all kinds of things, so, even though I was an average student, I had quite a collection. The Blessed Virgin Mary was my favorite, but Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was a close second. This wall hanging design is exactly like my best Saint Thérèse holy card, with the crucifix and the roses.
I always loved the Infant of Prague because he’s like a little doll. The original statue is only 19″ tall, and because he had elaborate jeweled vestments for different occasions, people would often make clothing for their reproduction statues.
Clicking on the pattern image below will open a full-sized pdf file. Scroll to the bottom of the image, and click on the download button. Open the downloaded file in Acrobat Reader, and select “poster” in the print dialog box. This will allow you to tile print the original pattern size on multiple sheets of letter or legal sized paper, which you can then trim and tape or glue together. The transfers are not reversed, as I assumed you would be tracing them directly onto fabric. If you are going to go over the printout with a transfer pencil, you will need to reverse the image first. The instruction sheet for both patterns is available here.
Thank you for sharing the picture of your mother and sister and baby self! How exceptionally precious to see your mom in a dress, just as you described!
These have a lot of meaning to me! I had a holy card collection too. I think my stepmom threw it away when I went to college. Anyway, my confirmation name is Teresa after Teresa of Avila and my grandmother had an Infant of Prague statue in the living room on the bookshelf. I was always fascinated by it. Now I’m wondering what happened to it and who has it along with the ginger jar I just loved.
That is not Teresa of Avila but Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Roses are Therese’s signature. As she was dying in the convent infirmary, Therese could look out and see the rose bushes blossoming. She loved roses. She had thrown rose petals as a Child before the Blessed Sacrament. As she reflected on her quiet, hidden, and gentle life ending, she believed in faith that God had great things in store for her. She believed that her mission was only beginning as she entered the fullness of life with God. She explained: “After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I will raise up a mighty host of little saints. My mission is to make God loved…”
Thank you mamamaria for your comment and the information about Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. I will make the correction on this post.
I love these patterns! Anyone who went to Catholic school in the fifties will recognize them immediately. Therese’s “incorruptible” body can still be seen in a glass casket in France. She was a model for young girls since she advocated doing every small task (like washing the dishes) for the love of Jesus (The Little Flower’s “Little Way,” which many girls discovered was a lot harder than it sounds). And, of course, she died young, virginal, and uncomplaining.