Blessed feast day of St. Simon Stock!
In this issue:
- Who is St. Simon Stock and why is he important?
- Latest book release: Sacred Heart Book of Devotions: Transform Your Life with Jesus' Promises of Graces, Peace, and Mercy
- Rebellion receives Catholic Writer's Guild seal of approval
- Rosary roundup: a gallery of some recent repairs and custom work
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We'll get to St. Simon Stock in a second. First, let's go back to Pentecost. On Pentecost, the first to accept the message of Christianity and be baptized by the Apostles were descendants of the prophet Elias who came down from Mount Carmel. After their baptism and meeting the Blessed Mother, they returned to Mount Carmel and constructed the first chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and began what would be known as the Carmelite Order.
In 1251, St. Simon Stock was the Superior General of the Carmelite Order. On July 16th of that year he was praying to Mary and he asked for Her intercession to help him and all Carmelites, who were beset by persecutions and internal division. Our Blessed Mother appeared to him, holding in her hands the Brown Scapular of the Order, and said: “This shall be to you and to all Carmelites a privilege that anyone who dies clothed in this shall not suffer eternal fire.” Saint Simon Stock established the Confraternity of Mount Carmel shortly thereafter, which extended the promise of eternal salvation to members of the Carmelite Confraternity who died wearing the Brown Scapular. Catholic theologians explain the promise to mean that they will receive from Her, at the hour of death, either the grace of perseverance in the state of grace or the grace of final contrition. Many miracles over the centuries have come to light surrounding those invested in the Brown Scapular. (You can read a few stories here, although one of the most amazing accounts I've ever read was featured on the National Catholic Register last year.)
The good news is that you don't have to be a Carmelite to enjoy the privileges of the Brown Scapular. Any priest can perform the enrollment on any Catholic in good standing. You can find out more on the Sisters of Carmel website.
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I was introduced to Emily Jaminet last year by her brother. Emily is the Executive director of the Sacred Heart Enthronement Network, and her passion for spreading the Sacred Heart devotion is undeniable. After brainstorming, I immediately began work on a devotional that pulls together the rich resources of the history of this devotion, and Emily provided the editing assistance in selecting the best of what I found. This is the result:
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This is perhaps the most comprehensive Sacred Heart devotional available, with everything from the history of the devotion to prayers, novenas, and meditations. In addition to meditations by Fr. John Croiset S.J. it also has the Papal Encyclical from Pope Leo XIII on consecration to the Sacred Heart and several other pieces that have been out of print for over a century. It normally sells for $14.99, but to celebrate the month of the Sacred Heart, use the promo code STSIMONSTOCK to save 15% through the end of June. Click here to order.
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Anyone who's spent more than five minutes with me can tell you that I'm a history buff. With all of the current social turmoil going on, I set out to answer the seemingly simple question of "When did the attack on marriage and the family start and who started it?" Before I knew it, I wound up going down the rabbit hole of history, as I often do. Rebellion is the result, and it combines history with scripture to tell the story, which I kept to the main points. This is not a dry history book but a fast-moving account that covers thousands of years in just under 200 pages.
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After two years of research, seven drafts, and over 200 citations, it was finished and first published in January. Since history books are not something that bishops typically review for an imprimatur (a bishop's seal of approval that a work does not contain heresy), I submitted it to the Catholic Writer's Guild for their Seal of Approval, which is the next best thing to an imprimatur, and Rebellion received this honor just a short time ago. (Book cover redesign is in progress!)
If you've ever looked at the news and wondered, "How the heck did we get here?" then Rebellion is the book you need to read. Order your copy today, just $14.99.
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I love making Rosaries, I really do. Most important to me is to make them something that people want to hold. As I tell my kids: "An unprayed Rosary is just a bunch of beads in a drawer, and the first step to praying the Rosary is to hold it." There's something great about the feel and the sound of a good Rosary, and I aim to deliver that in every Rosary I make.
I also enjoy repairing and rebuilding Rosaries. It's an honor and privilege to be entrusted with someone's Rosary that holds special sentimental value, and to be able to breathe new life into it. It's important to preserve and pass on the faith, and Rosaries have a special place in that passing on the tradition from generation to generation.
Here are a few recent ones:
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A gentleman came up to me at my table at the 2022 Columbus Catholic Men's Conference and asked if I could repair this, his grandmother's Rosary. It was missing a bead and in generally poor condition. I rebuilt the entire Rosary with new pins and chain. While I couldn't find an identical match for the missing bead, I sourced one that was complementary. I used that bead for the first Pater and moved that Pater into the missing spot so there would be five complete decades.
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I received a phone call from a gentleman who had a Rosary that his aunt—a nun—had purchased for him in Vatican City some 40 years ago. He had been looking everywhere for something even remotely similar so that he could give one to each of his five sons. I was able to source components that were as close as possible to the original and made him five of these Heritage Rosaries. He was thrilled!
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A friend from my parish asked if I could make a special Rosary for his niece's Confirmation. Of course! After a few rounds of Q&A and texted images of what I found, I sourced fire opal, genuine garnet, and opal-colored Czech fire-polished glass beads, and pewter center and Crucifix to create this stunning Heirloom Rosary. Certainly his niece will always remember who gave her this special sacramental.
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Spring is also the time for First Communion, and I'm never surprised when I get asked to do a custom Rosary for this occasion. Friends from my parish—who already owned two other Catholic Treehouse Rosaries—were interested in one for their daughter. I had the Preciosa Czech fire-polished blue and white beads in stock, as well as the silver rosebuds, but I sourced the pewter center and Crucifix on request.
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One more thing...
There's much more planned for Catholic Treehouse in the coming months. Help us get the word out! Send this email to a friend, like us on Facebook, and most of all: please pray for us.
Christus Vincit!
- Mike
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