The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 243

SI "But Why The Candles, Holy Water And Beads?" Antique museum pieces are part of an English Rockingham porcelain set. "It looks like hokus-pocus to me," Dave Smith said to Father Crane. Dave was expressing a quite common view held by many non-Catholics that the Catholic use of such articles as beads, crucifixes, medals and holy water is unnecessary in religion and even smacks of pagan superstition. "What good does it do," Dave asked, "to light a candle or burn incense? And how can a little medal around my neck protect me from accidents?" Unfortunately, too many people outside the Catholic Faith have a complete misunderstanding of these religious articles and the use to which they are put. There is nothing pagan or superstitious about them, and they do have a very real religious meaning and value.

"Actually," Father Crane told Dave, "religious articles used by Chessmen: continued ample, could you be sure that your mother loved you if she gave no sign that she did?" Our Lord, Father Qane added, could have cured the blind man (John 9:6) merely by willing it. Instead, he first made a salve of clay and anointed the man's eyes. In blessing little children, He did not have to lay his Hands on them but He did. Many people, Father Crane added, think the Catholic practice of kneeling to pray is unnecessary yet Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, "kneeling down began to pray" (Luke We will gladly send you without cost or obligation, in a plain wrapper, a highly interesting pamphlet explaining such things as the Catholic use of crucifixes, medals, incense, holy water, candles, and special Catholic prayers and practices such as the Rosary, Devotion to the Sacred Heart, and Lent. It costs you nothing to learn the truth, and the truth will be most interesting.

Nobody will call on you. Write today for Pamphlet PI-38. down to one period, one composition or some other classification. Thus, as a piece of Americana could be more desirable than the interesting wooden set carved by a Civil War prisoner confined about 1865 in a Confederate prison. This set has a very modern feeling, surprising in an age that went in for Victorian gimcrackery.

The Revolutionary set of Marco, all known in the field of art. It is interesting to note, says Harbeson, that in these modern sets, which are more or less geometrical, the movement is determined by the shape, not by the representation. While Harbeson is catholic in his tastes, which include primitives from Mexico, Portugal and the Pacific islands, other collectors many find it wise to narrow 0 mi Catholics are meant to be helps to their religious life nothing more. The value of such articles is not in the metal, wood or wax of which they are made, nor in the form they may but in the prayer of the Church and of Christ, in whose name the Church prays in blessing them well as the fervor of the user's own prayer and his good disposition." But Dave was still not con vinced. He argued that religion is a spiritual thing that it re quires no external manifestations.

Yes, the priest agreed, it is spiritual. But isn't it the natural thing for a human being to give outward expression to the things within his heart? How, for ex- SUPREME wooden chessmen painted in color, with Washington and Miss Liberty opposing George III and Britannia, though made in the 1900's and scarcely antique as yet, has appeal for the collector of American pieces. Thus, there are chessmen for everyone. Whether you go in for history and age or only for oddities, collecting chessmen is a highly rewarding objective. A Civil War prisoner.

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