Not too long ago I visited Loome’s Theological Booksellers in Stillwater, MN. What a place.
While I was there I saw many framed sacramental certificates from yesteryear… beautiful things, colored and pious and important.
It occurred to me then that those certificates look as if the people valued the sacrament they received.
I occurred to me that many people today would love to have beautiful certificates like that.
Today I an email from a reader about the same question.
So… to the readers….
Where do you get beautiful sacramental certificates?
You know the kind I’m talking about.
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Mother of Our Savior has a few nice ones.
http://www.moscompany.com/catalogs/search.asp?catid=2709&fileID=1230
A bookstore where I used to work had these from TradeMark Catholic Stationery & Gifts:
http://www.catholicstationery.com/page13.html
As my three Godchildren receive the various sacraments, I always give them a nice sacramental certificate as a remembrance, which I get from TradeMark Catholic Stationery and Gifts. I put the certificates in a nice (but inexpensive) gold frame, which I feel adds a nice touch. It seems everyone in the family enjoys looking at these certificates. The certificates are really well-done and are quite traditional looking.
http://www.catholicstationery.com/page13.html
Yes– what the people above said. I used the First Communion one from Catholic Stationery the last two years in our parish… Many of the families have loved them, and the fact that they are framable is a good reminder for the child as they grow up!
Sacrament certificates are very important. Were they not a big deal decades ago? I am working on my genealogy and it has been such a chore to track down sacrament information. No family member seemed to have saved such important information. I recently had the honour to tell my grandmother the dates locations of her First Holy Communion and Confirmation!
You know…it would also be great if there were suitable illuminated and tasteful certs for ADULT reception of the sacraments of initiation for catechumens and candidates in RCIA…the ones I’ve been able to find for Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation are most definitely geared towards the ‘younger set’, and, while one could make the argument that adult converts are ‘infants’ in the Faith…I have always thought it just a little tacky that after all the work they put into joining us…what we give them is a laser-printed form on parish letterhead with a raised seal and the pastor’s signature. Kind of mechanical and too ‘nobly simple’ for what should be a joyous and life-changing event.
Just my thought…
The ones from Catholic Stationery are really nice. I’m giving one to my sister to give to my baby nephew when he is baptized.
I always feel very sad when I see these old, beautiful framed sacrament certificates at estate sales and thrift stores. You’d think someone in the family would have at least pulled them out of the frames, folded them up, and put them in a folder or Bible somewhere.
I just thought that someone should point out that, military etiquette aside, there are many occasions when a man may wear his hat indoors: banks, hotel and office lobbies and hallways, stations and their transportation (buses and rail), and elevators. Of course, when speaking to any lady (regardless of age) a man should always remove his hat.
And, to get back on topic: Unless a man is actively engaged in an activity in which it is obvious that the cap’s brim would be a burden, he should stop all failed attempts at “hipness” and turn that sucker brim forward.
And, while we’re at it: Please remove all New Era stickers from those caps!
Sorry, wrong thread. Please excuse me. I will re-post accordingly.
I wonder if any artists have been commissioned in recent years to do a traditional certificate design.
Here are some “blessing cards” made by the All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor, the nuns in Catonsville, Maryland who recently became Catholic nuns. http://www.asspconvent.org/Milestones.html
I wonder if somebody were to contact them through their website, if perhaps they might be interested in designing sacrament certificates. They have a great deal of experience designing Holy Cards, Christmas and Easter Cards, and the like. I have seen their work and it is exquisite.
As a small-business Catholic graphic designer, I’ve always wanted to design a whole set of dignified (if simple) sacramental certificates.
I recently had the opportunity to complete a Confirmation certificate, and it is available on my website: http://impressusart.com/?page=catalog&id=certificates
I’m really pleased with how it turned out, and I’d love to complete the set, but it’s not easy as a small business to drum up enough customers for this sort of thing. If you’re big, you probably do a lot of pop art type junk, and if you’re in a more traditional niche, you’ve got too few buyers to justify an affordable run of certificates. (Though I see that Trademark has done well enough.)
This is only partly self-promotion; it’s also partly discussion. Part of the ability for a good small business designer to make these things available comes from how well they sell; much of this abilit to sell is based on word-of-mouth advertising. So please keep promoting the good products that are available from smaller designers like Trademark, etc (especially if you can get, e.g., a parish to buy them in larger quantities)!