Holy cards see resurgence in popularity

Published: 2004-04-19

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (CNS) -- Ursuline Sister Marcella Schrant is a card-carrying Catholic, and proud of it, too. She got her first holy card in 1935; she got her latest March 19. That old St. Anthony card she received as a child will share a binder with the new one of Kansas City Coadjutor Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, distributed during his recent welcoming Mass. These two cards are part of a collection of more than 400 owned by Sister Marcella, who works at the St. Lawrence Campus Center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. If you've grown up Catholic, it's almost a given that at one time or another you've received a holy card. You might have started your collection with one you received for your first Communion, and built it up with cards earned with correct answers in religious education class. Like scapulars, miraculous medals and little bottles of holy water, holy cards were standard equipment for the pre-Second Vatican Council Catholic.

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