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I am sorry for no new post today — lots of loose ends to tie up here at home. See you soon, I hope!
Do you know someone who will be baptized soon? Let me recommend Gina Switzer's baptismal candles! And allow me to offer you the chance to win one!
I can attest that these candles are well made and add dignity and beauty to the baptismal rite. You can bring your own candle, you know (and it's personalized!) and your own baptismal gown (which already is a white garment, when you think about it).
This baptismal candle makes a great godparent gift! Also — think of your RCIA candidates…
More:
Gina Switzer, artist and owner of Regina Candles, designs and hand decorates artisanal Paschal and Baptismal candles. She uses 51% beeswax, liturgical grade candles made by Root Candle Co. in Medina, OH. Gina is a Lay Dominican with a degree in Theology from Ohio Dominican University. She has studied and practiced art in many forms her entire life. Gina's candle designs are reproductions of her own original paintings. The images are printed on a special film then metal leaf is hand applied before each section is carefully affixed to the candle. Each design features gilded Christocentric pictures to ignite the sacramental imagination of the viewer.
To have a chance to win, please leave a comment here.
For another chance to win, if you are on Instagram, please follow Gina's account over there! Then leave a second comment here.
Thank you!
bits & pieces
- The story of Franz Jägerstätter is so moving. The movie A Hidden Life is well worth seeing, and I appreciated this article about Franz and his wife, Franziska, as well.
- Requiescat in Pace, Christopher Plummer. As I was watching this clip of the Captain and Maria dancing the traditional Viennese waltz called the Ländler, I was thinking about dance and its meaning in culture and in the relations between the sexes. Rock music has rendered dancing an analogue for sex — and as such, rather dangerous to the inner life. But folk and classical (traditional) dances are an analogue for conversation. Watch them: she is the picture of modesty; he is the model of restraint. But they are communicating! You (and your young people) can learn this dance too (look up tutorials)!
- I happened upon this site that offers vintage dress patterns — and the owner danced this dance at her wedding!
from the archives
liturgical living
St. Paul Miki and Companions, St. Titus in the Traditional calendar.
follow us everywhere!
Rosie’s “photo a day” project on IG continues! Follow her there “if you’re not a creeper” (her account is set to private but you can go ahead and request).
Stay abreast of the posts when they happen:
We share pretty pictures: Auntie Leila’s Instagram, Rosie’s Instagram. Sukie’s Instagram. Deirdre’s Instagram. Bridget’s Instagram.
Auntie Leila’s Facebook (you can just follow — my posts are public — sometimes I share articles here that don’t make it into {bits & pieces})
The boards of the others: Rosie’s Pinterest. Sukie’s Pinterest. Deirdre’s Pinterest. Habou’s Pinterest. Bridget’s Pinterest.
Melissa Cannon says
Oh, my friends and I are all having babies, and there’s always that last minute scramble as we realize “A baptismal candle! A baptismal candle! What shall we do?” These are so beautiful.
Pamela Urdiales says
How beautiful and uplifting! In our big family there are two new babies who will be getting baptized soon and what a wonderful blessing it would be to give these candles as a keepsake gift!
Sarah Abreu says
My baby is coming soon!! Like I might be in labor right now, what a beautiful gift to give our new little girl, thanks for sharing!
Monica says
Would love this candle for my Goddaughter getting baptized soon! Eighth grandchild in the family but first girl!
Heather says
Those candles are gorgeous! I’d love to have one for my father’s RCIA baptism! Thank you for the giveaway.
Anne Ryland says
Beautiful candles! Would love to give this to my first godchild, due in April!
Hannah says
I have a little one on the way, arriving this summer. Would love such a beautiful baptismal candle!
Hannah says
Following on Instagram!
Meg says
Thank you for sharing that gorgeous clip of the waltz dance! And what a sad contrast it is to the latest Harry Styles’ music video the millions are oogling over. You can’t even tell who is the man, who is the woman, but spoiler…the woman is doing all the leading and dipping of the man. 🙄 May we return to the days of Julie and Christopher! And may his memory be eternal.
I appreciate the beauty you bring to your posts, from dances to baptismal candles. It would be a treasure to win!
Kristi says
Gorgeous candle! Great observation about dancing. (Reminds me: when we were newly married and took dancing lessons, the teacher reprimanded me for doing the “right” step rather than following my husband’s lead all the time. It was an important lesson for me, as it applies to marriage.)
BridgetAnn says
Pick me!
Tami says
Oh how beautiful. We have a new grand baby coming in April. This would be such a precious gift.
Toni Graham says
I would love to win the baptismal candle! So very beautiful.
Elizabeth Gorman says
I would so appreciate winning a candle!
Elizabeth Gorman says
I also followed on Instagram.
Mignon says
I love the size of these candles! I just want to say— by way of suggestion to your readers, that every year on the anniversary of our child’s baptism, we light their candle and they process around the dining room table three times during dinner while we sing. In the Byzantine rite, we have an actual baptismal troparia (“All you who have been baptized into Christ…”) but I am sure there is some equivalent in the west that might be sung. It’s a great way for each child to commemorate his baptismal day without having to do any fancy cooking, preparation, etc. Yet they all look forward to it.
Sarah Mason says
Wow, what a beautiful baptismal candle. I’m due at the end of May and would love to use this candle for his baptism. Thanks for the chance to win!
Christina A says
These candles are so lovely! I’d love to win one. 🙂
Shelly Heckman says
My daughter loves your blog! Since leaving Colorado😞 she had faithfully read and executed much of your motherly advise. She
recently (1/25) gave birth to her third child at home (Raphael Joseph). She asked me to be his godmother. 💕😋 She would be honored to receive a candle from you. God bless you for your ministry to young mothers. 🕯
Christina A says
I was reading her Instagram post about the Pelican candle, and remembered a piece my oldest son sang with his youth choir a few years ago. Have you heard Randall Thompson’s Place of the Blest? The second section is called The Pelican. Here it is sung by the Texas Boys Choir: https://youtu.be/Avx4L5qdTJo
Natasha LeBlanc says
We’ll be having our newborn, Jonathan Mark, baptized very soon. I’d love the chance to win such a beautiful baptismal candle!
Sarah says
What lovely baptismal candles! I have a newborn here who could use one of his own. 🙂 Thanks for the chance to win one!
Sarah says
Following on Instagram now too. 🙂
Susan says
Thank you for this beautiful post, and for the link to Gina’s IG account (I’m heading over there tout de suite to give her a follow). Our 11th grandbaby is due on Ash Wednesday (first baby for my youngest son and his sweet bride), and what a lovely and uniquely special gift idea you’ve put forth here! Thank you for offering a chance to win (and also a path to purchase).
Bridget Holt says
What a beautiful work of art!
Katie says
Would love to win! Baby girl coming in late March (hoping she arrives in time for a Palm Sunday weekend baptism).
Katie says
And I followed on Instagram (@thinkoflovelythings)
Cate says
So beautiful! I know so many Catholic families who are pregnant and having babies this year (including us!) and it is a such a moving sign of contradiction in the face of rampant pandemic hysteria.
Cait says
What beautiful candles!! And what about if you have Godchildren who have already been baptized? And, of course, they received the usual simple, skinny baptismal candle….does it make any sense to still gift this? Or, is that overkill?
Leila says
Cait, I think it’s up to you. If you think the baptismal candle will be part of their prayer life at home (keeping it in the home altar, for instance, or bringing it out for birthdays and baptism anniversaries), I think it would be totally appropriate to go back and get one for the already baptized godchild.
You could have it blessed and let your godchild (or his parents) know that it has been blessed. As it has the date and place of the baptism, it will be a blessed memento/sacramental that can replace the original, I would think!
Why not?? 🙂
Margaret P says
My first grandchild was recently baptized but I hope he’s the first of many! These are beautiful candles. We need to support beauty and Catholic businesses.
Rebecca says
This is exquisitely beautiful. It never occurred to me: of course! I can bring a pretty candle! One day, when I have little chickies of my own, I’m totally doing this.
Claire says
Beautiful! Thanks for the giveaway!
Cary says
I’m so glad to see Gina Switzer’s work here. She has made our parish’s Paschal candle for the past several years. The designs are always so beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Donna L. says
How lovely! Thank you for letting us have a chance to win this candle~
Adele says
Such beautiful candles. We were inspired to make our own easter candle this year. I look forward to a second try this year. Your suggestion of learning the landler inspired me to teach all the kids to polka.
Valerie says
Thank you for the clip of the beautiful dance: consummate actors, saying so much with just a glance. Grace and refinement, very moving and sweet.
Helena says
The candles are lovely, but I really wanted to comment on That Dance. Our society has lost so much eros as well in loosing restraint and modesty! That is such a spectacular scene: they learn so much about each other, and speak and act with such truth. The eye-contact and the fear lest one’s gaze say too much; the formality that gives boundaries to the uncertainty of falling in love. Who can doubt but that the dance really caused Maria not to “remember any more”? When there are no veils and no boundaries, desire itself is enervated along with dignity and freedom.
Maddie Z says
These are so lovely! A wonderful way to commemorate our second birth into life.
Christi says
I was blessed to meet Gina in person and her work is truly beautiful; an extension of her prayers.
Christine K. says
Wow I never thought about bringing my own baptismal candle. Would love this for our fourth little one arriving this summer, although I’m sure her older siblings will envy her prettier candle 😂
Jana says
For a movie about Franz Jagerstatter’s life, I highly recommend the old German version, called The Refusal,
. It’s b&w, and it has annoying too-high subtitles, but all of the dialogue is taken from his letters and trial. I have heard that the Hidden Life movie is visually spectacular, but doesn’t reveal his motives very well, unless you already know his history, how he thought, how he determined in his conscience that he would lose his soul if he were to join up, and something of his deep faith, and his love for God above all things. The Refusal movie is remarkable in that it shows interviews at the end with people of his village later, after the war, after his cause had been accepted by Rome. You can see that even then, his neighbors and fellow townspeople thought he was sort of odd, too idealistic, cruel even, to leave his wife and daughters to struggle, and it’s more than implied that he wasn’t quite the patriot they would have hoped. A man must fight for his country right or wrong and all that. A prophet in his own land. . . When F.J. was asked in his trial why he was refusing to join up when the Bishops all said it was fine, he replied, “They have not been given the grace.”