A celebration of Father Michael Meehan's imagination, and the Little Ark of Kilbaha, in County Clare, Ireland.
Ten stone prayer beads in mottled-greens and grays, reminiscent of the colors along the shore in Kilbaha... These beads vary pleasantly in size and shape.
The beautifully designed bronze Eucharistic medal depicts a cross, wheat, wine, and a fish; on the reverse are the alpha and the omega, and the chi rho.
"Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another walking beside you...
... Who is that on the other side of you?"
-- T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land," (1922)
A chaplet for the journey.
The ten stone Ave beads are matte Picture Jasper; the old Pater bead is a vintage carved fruit pit. The cross is bronze, hand-cast from a 19th century Ethiopian antique.
"The fruit of the Spirit is love..."
-- Galatians 5: 22-23
The nine stone prayer beads of this chaplet are disks of jade -- semi-translucent, speckled, and striped -- in colors that remind us of melons and other wonderful fruits.
The wonderful Celtic cross is solid hand-cast bronze, and marvelously detailed in the manner of the 8th century Durrow High Cross...
A red egg has long symbolized the Resurrection, and icons of St. Mary Magdalene customarily show her holding a red egg. She was the first person to bear witness to the Resurrection, as the "Apostle to the Apostles." ...
The Pater bead of this chaplet is a splendid, heavy old red glass bead, from the Masai in southwest Kenya. This lovely bead has traveled some; its surface is worn, with tiny nicks and scratches. It's set between beautiful old vintage brass caps...
Bronze San Damiano crucifix... The blessing Saint Francis gave to Friar Leo, in Latin, is on the reverse:
"May the Lord bless thee and keep thee;
may he show His face to thee and be merciful to thee.
May He turn his countenance to thee and give thee peace."
Ten handcarved prayer beads of Burnt Horn, in beautifully varied shades of warm brown...
"...They went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them."
-- Matthew 2:9
Each of us is invited to follow the star... invited to travel by starlight.
These Aves are especially beautiful Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan -- deep cobalt-blue, with clouds and golden speckles of pyrite -- the starlit vault of heaven! We imagine the wise men traveling under such a sky.
The crucifix is absolutely wonderful. It's cast from a well-worn -- and clearly well-loved -- 18th century Latin American antique, in solid bronze.
Sap-running afternoon... spring sunlight on snow... steam billows in the sugar house... Maple syrup -- what a marvel.
Mottled topaz and amber Czech glass Aves suggest maple leaves -- and maple syrup. Among these, beads of wood, brass, and matte glass in various blue-grays...
Pater of burnt horn, with hand-cast bronze caps...
Beautifully shaped Coptic cross of solid bronze, cast by hand from an old, vintage original, worn smooth...
"Now with you is Wisdom, who knows your works
and was present when you made the world... Send her forth from your holy heavens... That she may be with me and work with me..."
-- Wisdom 9: 9-11
This little chaplet can be kept in a pocket, close at hand.
The ten stone prayer beads are Carnelian, the color of dark honey.
Beads so huge you could pray with your mittens on!
The colors of Blue Spruce trees in a light snowfall... The stone prayer beads of this chaplet are Aventurine, between beautiful old brass bead caps. Among these are smooth and ribbed beads of brass, and matte glass.
The large, angular Celtic cross is solid bronze, cast by hand from a vintage original.
"Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum." "Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."
Wonderful, sterling silver ICXC Cross, hand-cast from a vintage Russian original, smoothed by time...
Sterling silver ring, hand-cast from a Celtic antique...
Jasper rondelle prayer beads -- very unusual and difficult to find, interspersed with Poppy Jasper, Black Horn and glass...
"There is geometry in the humming of the strings...
There is music in the spacing of the spheres."
-- Pythagoras
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands..."
-- Psalm 19:1
An elegantly simple chaplet, with a wonderful weight, drape, and texture. The Aves are weighty spheres of solid warm brass, beautifully patinated.
The highly textured botonée cross is solid bronze, cast by hand from a 19th century Coptic antique. The ring is also hand-cast of solid bronze, from an ancient Celtic original.
"The whole world is a sacrament, a sacred thing, a gift."
-- Peter Kreeft
The varied tones and patterns of these stone beads suggest the colors of the Painted Desert. The beads are large enough to have presence -- without being huge!
The crucifix feels very pleasant in the hand. The corpus is raised, and the cross has a spiral pattern...
"Landscape is the first scripture. "
-- John O'Donohue
Landscape here is represented by beads carved in the shape of trees. These stone beads are earth-toned jasper, in variegated greens, browns, and ochre.
The pattern incised on the Coptic cross is remarkably akin to the pattern carved in the prayer beads. The cross is solid bronze, cast by hand from a 19th century Ethiopian original.
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
-- John 8:12
These gorgeous, antique silver African prayer beads have an exquisite soft shine. They're handmade. Tiny dings and splits are evidence of their long travels, and part of their beauty. It's nearly impossible to find beads like these; we've only been able to obtain a small handful -- enough to make, at most, two of these chaplets.
The lovely, large, openwork Coptic cross of the chaplet is solid sterling silver, and decorated on both sides. It's cast by hand from a 19th century Ethiopian antique.
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."
-- Book of Job, 1:21
The power of storms is beautifully suggested by the materials and colors of this chaplet.
Not black, but very deep blue-grays and browns, and chatoyant -- the stone Aves bring to mind thunderstorms at night. Among these are beads of matte glass in varied shades of bronze and gray...
The Pater is pocked Lavastone; its pits and hollows were formed as the molten rock cooled...
"In my beginning is my end.
...In my end is my beginning."
-- T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets
Volcanic ash from Mount St. Helen's, swirled into molten glass, creates free-form patterns on these handmade beads...
The beads are vitreous enamel over copper. Jim Clarke makes the beads in sets of ten, each unique in patterns and colors -- the beads of this set are predominantly blue-green.
The hand-cast bronze cross has an intertwined spiraling pattern...
The ten stone prayer beads of this chaplet are disks of jade -- semi-translucent, speckled, and striped -- in colors that remind us of melons and other wonderful fruits.
The wonderful Celtic cross is solid hand-cast bronze, and marvelously detailed in the manner of the 8th century Durrow High Cross...
"...Every knee should bow... because the Lord became obedient unto death..."
-- Sarum Missal, Philippians 2:8-10
This absolutely lovely Art Nouveau crucifix shows prayerful angels attending Jesus. The crucifix is quite large, and has a nice dimension and weightiness. It's solid bronze, hand-cast from a European original.
The Aves are Bloodstone, in very unusual soft tones -- dusty lilac, old rose, gray-greens. We have enough of these stones for just this one chaplet.
"Thus am I: a feather on the breath of God."
-- Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179
This delightful chaplet is -- surprisingly! -- prayable, with reasonable care for the delicate feathers. It's also quite nice on the wall -- the design is very well balanced.
Latin American bronze cross, arising from an open heart -- a warm, traditional motif...
Handmade pheasant feather tassles... Prayer beads of bayong wood, interspersed with Greek ceramic, hand-carved coconut, and matte olive glass...
Very limited! We have enough of these beads to make only two.
"...We ourselves are words of His. But we are words that are meant to respond to Him, to answer Him, to echo Him."
-- Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Ten large stone prayer beads of Picasso Jasper, in quiet colors, naturally striped and mottled... These are set between vintage brass caps shaped something like old fashioned bee hives. "We ourselves become His echo and His answer."
Solid bronze cross, with broad arms and an etched design, cast by hand from an old Coptic original...
We are the clay,
and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hands.
-- Isaiah 64:8
Meticulously hand-shaped beads, each individually formed of natural red, buff, or black German clays, and impressed with a variety of patterns. These Bulgarian beads are durable, high-fired stoneware -- quite beautifully made.
The Circles Cross is cast from an ancient, centuries-old original.
The prayer beads of this chaplet are rustic pebbles of Labradorite, with a natural luminescence. The beads are pleasant, pale grays... speckled and striped, somewhat translucent... the kind of pebbles you'd like to pick up on the beach.
When sunlight hits them a certain way, they seem lit from within. Inside the stone, you see vivid blue, green, gold, purple...
The charming bronze crucifix is cast from an 18th century Russian original...
Tranquility. Snow clouds, tree bark, twigs and pinecones... This chaplet brings to mind the pleasant, quiet colors we enjoy on a walk at evening in wintertime, alongside the woods, not long before snowfall.
Stone Ave beads of Natural Agate, in quiet blues, pale grays, and browns.
A gathering of five carved-wood beads forms each Pater.
"I believe... in the Communion of Saints."
-- from the Apostles' Creed
Exuberant celebration of el Dia de los Muertos -- the feasts of All Saints and All Souls --expresses joyful awareness of the "Communion of Saints" -- awareness that all of us, the living and the dead, are one mystical body.
Cheerfully whimsical "sugar skull" Pater bead, adorned with traditional flowers...
Among the Aves, vibrant beads recall marigolds and the bright papel picado flags on altars and graves...
"...and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion."
-- Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Windhover
The Pater bead is an odd, imperfect nugget of natural carnelian, streaked with fiery orange, that suggests a fallen ember's flare. We have only one carnelian bead of just the right color, size, and shape; so we can make only one of these.
Ten prayer beads of pocked lavastone, full of pits and hollows... These really feel wonderful in the hand.
Bronze cross, hand-cast from a 19th century Russian original...
Lech Walesa won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize for his personal sacrifice, courage, and leadership in the peaceful Polish rebellion against an oppressive government. He immediately took his prize to the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and left it there as a votive offering.
An exceptionally beautiful image of Our Lady of Czestochowa and the Infant Jesus...
Prayer beads of Czech glass, in which lovely blue and pale amber are swirled together, each unique. Tiny beads, handformed of bronze, between the Aves; the decorative beads around the Pater are hand-cast bronze...
The zany little sterling bird on this chaplet is for the crow in Robert Frost's poem, "A Dust of Snow" -- and for all our other unlikely assistants. They're everywhere.
Sterling bird and sterling cross -- both from contemporary American artists.
Ten pewter prayer beads made in Greece, handfinished here in our studio. Among these are beads of solid brass, copper, and matte glass...
"Praised be my Lord for our Brother Wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather..."
-- Saint Francis of Assisi, from "The Canticle of Brother Sun"
Ave beads of matte Picasso stone in many shades of gray...
Pater beads of beautiful, smooth, polished bone in combination with red and golden horn...
"We have to come to the end of a long journey and see that the stranger we meet there is no other than ourselves -- which is the same as saying that we find Christ in him."
-- Fr. Thomas Merton, Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani
The beautiful bronze openwork Coptic cross symbolizes open-heartedness, and the most profound depths of compassion...
Ten very large Bodhi seeds, traditional Buddhist prayer beads, are here intermingled with golden horn...
A Celtic ring, cast of bronze, completes the chaplet...
