Ora Pro Nobis Candy Boxes

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. As a reminder of our duty to pray for the suffering faithful in Purgatory, the Church has dedicated the month of November to the Holy Souls. The Holy Souls are those who have died in the state of grace but who are not yet free from all punishment due to their unforgiven venial sins and all other sins already forgiven for which satisfaction is still to be made. They are certain of entering Heaven, but first they must suffer in Purgatory. The Holy Souls cannot help themselves because for them the night has come, when no man can work (John 9:4). It is our great privilege of brotherhood that we can shorten their time of separation from God by our prayers, good works, and, especially, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. (source)

Ora Pro Nobis Candy Boxes make a sweet and prayerful activity for the Holy Souls in the month of November, the month dedicated to the Church Suffering.  This idea was shared by one of my blog visitors (Thank you, Kim!) and I created the printable box or bag labels, calendar, and directions to share. If you have any trouble downloading the printable documents just send me an email and I will do my best to forward them to you directly. I ended up creating boxes to send home with all the children who attended our annual All Hallows' Eve party last night and my own children are so excited to begin today!

Supplies:

+ 30 pieces of candy per box (leftover All Saints candy is great for this!)

+ black treat boxes or bags

+ white foam sticker crosses or “Ora Pro Nobis” box/bag labels

+ color pencils, crayons, or another media of their choice

+ calendar (create your own or use free printable)

+ list of departed family, friends, religious

+ particular prayer(s) to be offered

Directions:

Place a cross or label on the front of each box (or bag)

Fill each box or bag with 30 pieces of candy. 

Have the children prepare and decorate their calendars. Write the name of a departed soul on the calendar for each day of the month. Perhaps even include a day for the “Most Forgotten Soul.” 

Each day of the month, after the child has offered a prayer for the departed soul listed, they may take one (1) piece of candy, or they may leave it in the box as an additional sacrifice for the departed soul!

The intention is to encourage prayers and sacrifices for the Church Suffering in a sweet and tangible way!

Printable Directions

Printable Ora Pro Nobis Box/Bag Labels

Printable Calendar for the Month of November

May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace!

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12 More Saint Themed Guessing Jars

I originally shared this post over at Shower of Roses, but thought I would add it here as well for anyone who is looking for All Saints' party game ideas!

The All Saints Guessing Jars were such a hit at our annual All Saints Party last year that we will be including them again this year with 12 MORE Saint Themed Guessing Jars!

I always have so much fun looking through the aisles at the grocery store and trying to connect some of the goodies to saints and their symbols!



"Bit-O-Honey" candies for St. Ambrose (the "Honey-Tongued Doctor") and Polish Candy for St. John Paul II are a couple of my favorite additions for this year. Once again I used my Wide Mouth Mason Jars with White Storage Lids for each jar.

Here are some pictures of this year's All Saints Guessing Jars all filled and ready for the party:    

 

St. Ambrose ::  St. Ambrose is also known as the "Honey Tongued Doctor." Any type of honey candy would work for this saint. I picked up three 4.2 oz bags of Bit-O-Honey at a local store to fill the jar. You can also purchase 16 oz. over at Amazon.



St. Bernadette of Lourdes :: Pretzel Sticks are perfect for St. Bernadette, since she was out collecting firewood when Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to her at the Grotto. Twix candy bars would also work!

St. Gertrude the Great :: Saint Gertrude the Great had a deep empathy for the Church suffering, the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Our Lord shared a special prayer with St. Gertrude the Great and told her that the prayer would release 1,000 Souls from Purgatory each time it is prayed.  The GhostMallows in the jar represent the "Holy Souls."  I used one 8 oz bag to fill the jar and had a few left over.



St. John Paul II :: I had to find a way to incorporate the newly canonized St. John Paul II! Polish candy works, right? :)  Ours came directly from a Polish friend, but it can also be found on Amazon if you aren't able to find any locally.

 

St. Kateri Tekakwitha :: This saint, who belonged to a Native American Indian Tribe, is also known as the "Lily of the Mohawks." We have made Indian Corn Cookies in honor of St. Kateri in the past, but for the jar I just filled it with one 21 oz bag of Candy Corn. (Though it probably could have used just a little bit more.) Lily candies would also work. If you have a mold you can make your own!



St. Marianne Cope :: HI-Chews are actually a Japanese Candy, but since my family was first introduced to them when my sister brought us some from Hawaii (along with the fact that they have "HI" in the name, the abbreviation for Hawaii) I thought we could get away with using them for St. Marianne Cope, who cared for the sick in Hawaii for 35 years.  I bought a big bag at Costco when they were on special for less than $5.00 and only used about 2/3's of the bag. You can also find them on Amazon.

 

St. Matthew :: My husband thought it might be a little offensive to St. Matthew to fill his jar with "Payday" candy bars, but after I told him that St. Matthew is the patron of accountants he agreed that it was okay. :) I probably should have purchased "fun size" candy bars, but I ended up using about 2/3's of a 20.3 oz bag of the "snack size."

 

St. Nicholas of Myra :: It's a little difficult to find candy canes quite yet, but JoAnn's just put out their Christmas supplies this week so I picked up a box of miniature candy canes. Be super careful not to drop them when you take them out of the box… They don't just break, they shatter! ;) 

  

St. Patrick of Ireland :: Pious legend credits St. Patrick with banishing snakes from the island of Ireland, chasing them into the sea. Regardless of whether or not this legend is true, St. Patrick is the patron saint against snakes, fear of snakes, and snake bites. Gummy Worms look like snakes.

St. Peter :: Butter Snaps Pretzels make yummy little Fisherman's Nets for St. Peter, the patron saint of Fisherman.  Fish also would have worked, but I saved those for the next saint on the list. 

 

St. Raphael ::  There are so many saints that are symbolized in some way with a fish. This year I decided to focus on St. Raphael, the healer, who is recorded as having helped Tobias make balms and ointments from fish to cure Tobit's (Tobias's father) blindness.

St. Thomas Aquinas :: Even though St. Thomas Aquinas' classmates called him "The Dumb Ox" he became a great Doctor of the Church and Patron of Academics. I filled a jar with a 12 oz. bag of Smarties in his honor!  (After I made my jars for this year I clicked back over to Catholic Inspired, since I couldn't remember what she included in her jars last year, and she used Smarties for all the Doctors of the Church and "Dum-Dums" for St. Thomas. They would have worked too.) 

To keep each person's guesses secret I also created little sheets of paper for each contestant to write their name and guess, before folding it in half and dropping it into an empty jar or bag with a matching label.

It's all ready to go and I can check this off the to-do list…
Now to start working on the rest of the party plans!

Printable Guessing Jar Labels
Printable Guess Slips

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Festive Fall Pumpkin Cobbler for St. Crispin

October 25: Feast of Saints Crispin and Crispinian

These brother saints from the 3rd century are the patrons of shoemakers and cobblers, which has lead to the lighthearted suggestion of a cobbler style dessert for the memorial feast day.  See Charlotte's wonderful St. Crispin's Apple Crisp from several years back.

I wanted to share this excerpt from the Feast Day Cookbook by Katherine Burton and Helmut Ripperger, which provides some additional background about the connection to shoemakers or cobblers. The authors also share a basic fruit cobbler recipe following their narrative.

This is the feast of two brothers, whose names are oddly alike. Both were bootmakers and cobblers. In France, their native land (though "The Golden Legend" tells us that they were Romans who had migrated to Soissons), many useful objects bear their name. A shoeshine kit is called a "Saint-Crispin"; an awl is "Saint Crispin's lance"; and if your shoes are too tight, you are "in Saint Crispin's prison."  

Because of their refusal to sacrifice to idols, Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian were pierced with shoemaker's awls and suffered other tortures. They were in popular veneration throughout the Middle Ages, and we read in Shakespeare's "Henry the Fifth":  

    

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian:        
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,        
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,        
And rouse him at the name of Crispian. 

For many years there was a special Mass for the cobblers of France on this feast and it was followed by a huge banquet. Legend says the first celebration of this Mass so pleased the saints that they allowed cobblers to have as reward a little preview of heaven. 

In England, the same custom of a special feast on Saint Crispin's day was observed by the shoemakers. Afterwards they burned torches on the sand, probably as substitutes for the altar lights provided by the shoemakers' guild in pre-Reformation times for their chantry chapel. 

Just as, some months back, on Saint Anthony's Day we allowed a recipe having as its title a pun, so we give you another for the day of the shoemaking saints.

Fruit Cobbler

 3 cups fruit                                                      
1 tablespoon flour          
1/2 cup sugar                                                   
1 egg  

biscuit dough

A cobbler may be made with the fruit on top of a biscuit dough or with fruit under the dough. Prepare the fruit and add sugar (the amount will vary with the sweetness of the fruit) mixed with flour or with a well-beaten egg. Make a rich biscuit dough (or use prepared mix) and place in the bottom of a greased baking tin; cover with fruit dotted with bits of butter and bake at 425 degrees F. for about half an hour. Or, cover the fruit with the dough and brush the dough with a little milk or the beaten yolk of an egg diluted with a little water. Apples, peaches, plums, or other fruits may be used.

~ From Feast Day Cookbook by Katherine Burton & Helmut Ripperger, 1951

Pumpkin Cobbler

Taking some elements of Burton and Ripperger's basic recipe and combining with internet recipes for a distinctly fall option of pumpkin cobblers, came up with a recipe to honor the cobbler saints of October. Topped with whipped cream, it makes a warm and hearty treat for a cool October evening. 

INGREDIENTS

Filling:

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:
3/4 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter softened
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons brown sugar

DIRECTIONS: 

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 2-3 quart baking dish with non-stick spray or grease with butter. 

Combine the pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, and eggs in a bowl. Add in both sugars, the flour, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In another bowl combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in the butter. Cut with pastry fork until crumbly. Stir in the buttermilk, adding slowly until the mixture comes together. Don't over stir.

Drop the topping mixture by dollops onto the custard. Sprinkle with the brown sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 35-40 minutes.

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A Polish Feast for Saint John Paul II

This post was written by Catholic Cuisine contributor, Charlotte from Waltzing Matilda. 

Today is the feast day of the newly canonized Pope Saint John Paul II and my youngest daughter's baptismal anniversary so we want to celebrate in a big way with a Polish feast. I plan on making Polish Meat and Potatoes for dinner, a combination of cabbage and kielbasa served over garlic mashed potatoes and Piernik for dessert. I will post pictures when I take them later, but for now, here are the recipes to get you started: (Updated… pictures of our feast!)

Polish Meat and Potatoes
1 Tbl. olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
4-5 cups of cabbage leaves, chopped
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional… I leave it out or let people add it to their serving)
1 pkg. kielbasa, cut into rounds
3-4 green onions (opt.)
And supplies to make your usual mashed potatoes...

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add kielbasa slices and cook for about 10-15 minutes. I like to see a little crust show up in the sides of the sausage. Add garlic and cook for just another 30 seconds until the garlic is fragrant, but not burned. Add cabbage and green onions and stir frequently for the next 10 minutes until cooked. We like our cabbage lightly sautéed but if you like yours more well done, cook it longer, just keep stirring so the garlic doesn't  burn. Add pepper (and salt) to taste.

I serve this over regular mashed potatoes seasoned with garlic salt.

For dessert, I am making Piernik (Polish Honey Bread). It's baking in the oven right now and smells amazing! In fact, my 10 year old son just walked into the kitchen saying, "Mmmmmmm…. what is that smell?"

Piernik

1 C. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves (I substituted nutmeg)
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
4 eggs
1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 C. honey
4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 C. raisins (optional… my kids don't like them)
1/2 C. walnuts (optional… my husband can't eat them so I didn't add them)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a bunt pan. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, spices and eggs. Add in the milk, oil, baking powder and baking soda. In a small pot, heat the honey to boiling and then add to mixture. Mix in the flour and stir until blended well. Fold in the raisins and walnuts if you'd like them. Pour into pan and bake for about an hour until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack and turn out after 20 minutes. Dust top with powdered sugar.

I only had a little honey so I made a half batch, that's why my bread is shorter.

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St. Luke's Artist Palette Cookies

There is a great article, which was shared over at Catholic Culture today, about St. Luke, Evangelist and Artist written by Jennifer Gregory Miller. She begins by saying that "the month of October is filled with many memorials and optional memorials of saints, but the only two feasts during the month are for St. Luke, Evangelist on October 18, and ten days later Saints Simon and Jude, apostles." She goes on to say that in her family she likes to "emphasize the various "levels" of feast days, and since feasts are higher than memorials and optional memorials, St. Luke will be honored in a special way."

Jenn's article inspired me to plan something extra for the feast of St. Luke this year. I was just telling a friend yesterday that I really need to get started on Tract B of our Art Program for this school year. What better day to kickoff art than on the feast of the patron saint of artists?!  So we are going to get started with "A Little Art Study" as suggested by Jenn, after reading about St. Luke in Lives and Legends of the Saints from our October Book Basket.

I'm especially looking forward to learning a little more about Our Lady of Czestochowa, the "Black Madonna,"which my girls and I were blessed to see and venerate (the pilgrim icon) at my brother-in-law's parish during our recent road trip.

To go along with our art study I looked through my cupboards to see if I could come up with a special treat with the supplies I had on hand. In less than ten minutes I had a little platter of "St. Luke's Artist Palette" cookies all ready for the feast. They are far from perfect, but they were quick, easy, and still turned out cute. My children are going to love them!

St. Luke's Artist Palette Cookies

Supplies:

• Sandwich Cookies (I used Trader Joe's Joe-Joe's, Oreos would work great too.)
• M&M's in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue (I used what I had in my cupboard: a mix of regular red, orange, blue M&M's, yellow Reese's Pieces, and green Pumpkin Spice M&M's…) 
• Pretzel Sticks
• White Heart Shaped Sprinkles (like these)
• White Icing 

Directions: 

Twist open cookie. Place an M&M of each color on the white filling. Break a Pretzel Stick in half and attach the Heart Sprinkle to the broken end with a dab of white icing. (Note: If you don't have icing you can use a little of the cookie filling.) Place the pretzel "paintbrush" on the cookie. All done!

St. Luke, Patron of Artists, Pray for Us! 

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