Any consultation requests received between noon and midnight Mountain Standard Time today, Cyber Monday (Nov. 29), will cost only $20 each (original price: $50 for an Ordinary Consultation and $25 for a Mini Consultation. See their descriptions here).
To redeem, email Theresa directly at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com requesting the Cyber Monday Special, and she will send you an invoice for $20. Once she receives your payment, she’ll put you in the queue! First come, first served.
You can use this special for a consultation for yourself for now or bank it for future use, and you can also buy one for someone else and Theresa can email you a gift certificate to present to that person (it would make a great St. Nicholas Day or Christmas gift!).
Speaking of St. Nicholas Day and Christmas gifts, I also want to let you know that Theresa has recently written a book! It’s called A Catholic Field Guide to Fairy Tale Princesses: Modern Virtues in Tales As Old As Time and is described thusly:
“What do fairytale princesses and Catholicism have to do with each other? As it turns out, a lot. Though not written from a faith perspective, looking a little deeper, the basics of virtues and faith can be seen. This book demonstrates how each beloved classic fairytale princess (and modern, invented ones) can be inspirations of the Catholic faith, for those willing to see.”
Happy Monday everyone! Today’s the feast of St. Andrew — his powerful novena starts today, I highly recommend it! It places your intentions at the feet of the Baby Jesus in the hour He was born, amazing. ❤
I got a lot of interest in my Black Friday special — I’m excited to work with you all! I’m all booked up for December, but if you’re due in 2021 and would like a consultation, or if you’d like to purchase a gift certificate to give as a St. Nicholas Day or Christmas gift (as long as it won’t be redeemed until January or later), I’m again offering my $10 deal for Cyber Monday! (Usual cost: Ordinary Consultations are $50, Mini Consultations are $25; read their descriptions here.)
To redeem: Email me today (sanctanomina at gmail dot com) between now and midnight tonight eastern time noting that you’d like the Cyber Monday special, and I’ll send you an invoice for $10. Once I receive your payment, I’ll put you in the queue! First come, first served (except that, as mentioned, I can’t work on them until after New Year’s).
The Marian Fathers — publishers of my book of Marian names — are having a great sale today as well! Head over to their web site and watch the scrolling banner on the front page — it details all the great deals!
Have a wonderful day!
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!
Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
Black Friday Consultation Deal — today only!
For Black Friday this year, I’m offering baby name consultations for $10 a piece! (Usual cost: Ordinary Consultations are $50, Mini Consultations are $25; read their descriptions here.)
You can buy one for yourself for now or bank it for future use, or you can buy it for someone else and I can email you a gift certificate to present to that person. Because this has been a popular item in the past when I’ve done this for Black Friday, I can’t guarantee my usual three-week-or-less turnaround, but I will work as fast as I can and give priority to due dates. I can’t wait to hear from you!
To redeem: Email me today (sanctanomina at gmail dot com) between now and midnight tonight eastern time noting that you’d like the Black Friday special, and I’ll send you an invoice for $10. Once I receive your payment, I’ll put you in the queue! First come, first served (except that, as mentioned, if you have a due date coming soon, I’ll bump you up).
A second thing I’m offering, starting today but continuing indefinitely, is that with every purchase of my book of Marian baby names, you’ll receive a discount on a consultation: $25 for an Ordinary Consultation (value: $50), and no cost for a Mini Consultation (value: $25).
To redeem: Simply email me a copy of your receipt (screen shot for online orders; regular photo for in-store purchases), dated today or later (one consultation per book). You can order it from ShopMercy.org (the Marian Fathers) or Amazon (which is offering a discounted price today for the book), and may find it in your local Catholic book store.
Have a great Friday!!
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links) — perfect for the expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady in your life!
Be sure to head on over to Rafflecopter to enter! The giveaway closes tonight at midnight Eastern time, so you have about twelve more hours! A refresher on the details:
The giveaway is live until midnight tonight (Eastern time)
Tomorrow I’ll have Rafflecopter randomly select five (5) winners, whom I’ll notify by email
That’s it! And don’t forget that Rebecca has generously added a $2.00 off coupon code for any order over $2.00 for all Sancta Nomina readers, which you can use for any coloring page of your choosing (they’re $2.00 each) — they’re all gorgeous! Lots of our favorite Saints, including one of the Immaculate Conception (St. Anne and the child Mary)! The coupon code is sanctanomina, and it’s valid through August 7. (Rebecca is also running a Summer Coloring Contest for all ages, starting today! Go check it out!)
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!
Today is the feast of the wonderful St. Anne, patroness of Sancta Nomina, and her husband St. Joachim — grandparents of Jesus! As I’ve noted before, not only do they have amazing names themselves, but they named Mother Mary. That’s some serious business for a Catholic name blog!
Two St. Anne tidbits: I read in an obituary recently that the deceased was “Born Anne MiddleName LastName on July 26, 1936, the Feast Day of St. Anne, her mother, being extremely religious, named her after the Saint,” though she went by her middle name her whole life. You know I loved reading that! (May she rest in peace.) And my mom sent me this funny piece today written by a friend of hers that has to do with a St. Anne pilgrimage he went on with his family when he was a little boy. Hilarious! (Maybe my boys will write about their St. Anne pilgrimages when they grow up!)
In anticipation of today’s feast, I prayed a St. Anne Novena for the past nine days, finishing last night, which I offered for all of you and your intentions. And I have a giveaway for you! 🎉🎉🎉
I know many of you follow the so-talented Rebecca Górzyńska on Instagram (@delphinaroseart) — her artwork is absolutely stunning, and I’ve learned so much about her process and techniques through her posts. And she has a book coming out! She illustrated the book Marian Consecration for Families With Young Children by Colleen Pressprich, available now for preorder, and each illustration is simply perfection.
The giveaway is live from now until midnight on Thursday, July 30
On Thursday I’ll have Rafflecopter randomly select five (5) winners, whom I’ll notify by email
That’s it! As always, please know how grateful I am to all of you for your presence in our lovely little community! Thanks to you all, thanks to Rebecca, and happy feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim! 💕💙💕💙💕💙💕💙
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that my family and I are away for the week. The last week away that we did was three years ago, when we shared a beach house with my parents and siblings and their kids (there were twenty two of us) — Luke wasn’t even on the way yet, and my next boy up was three, and there were lots of family members to help out. Being away for a week on our own hasn’t been attempted at all since my nearly-sixteen-year-old was the same age Luke is now (22 months) and we cut our week short because he wasn’t sleeping and then threw up and I was eight months pregnant with our second and DONE WITH VACATIONS AND TRIPS AWAY.
Since then, other than going away with my extended family for a week (which we’ve only done twice), we haven’t gone away for longer than four days, and even then it was only when most of the kids were old enough to sleep well and enjoy themselves.
I was laughing remembering all this because Luke is at that same age when my oldest caused us to cut our vacation short and oh boy, I am so totally remembering why I insisted we go home early and why our vacations since then have been nearly nonexistent. What a terror! (The cutest ever and we all love him more than life itself but still: a terror.)
I was also laughing that my plans for this year’s St. Anne’s pilgrimage had to be adjusted because of Luke. That kid.
If you’ve followed the blog for a while, you’ll know that, not long after I started the blog, I was wondering about a patron saint for it and I felt like St. Anne was waving from heaven asking for the job (or, more likely, letting me know she’d already taken it). She’s been our patroness since almost the very beginning, and I’ve often felt her care for all of us as we enjoy naming our own babies or looking forward to when we can, and helping to name those of others, poking around the nooks and crannies of our faith for the perfect monikers that will help both the babies and their parents keep their eyes on heaven.
I’ve been so grateful to St. Anne that as my first blogiversary approached (June 27, 2015) and I was trying to figure out how to properly celebrate it, the idea of thanking St. Anne for her intercession for our little community and all the blessings that I personally have received through Sancta Nomina by taking a pilgrimage with my family to one of her shrines seemed the perfect idea — difficult enough for it to feel like a real gift of thanks, and so appropriate for a Catholic blogger.
Screenshot of the post about my family’s very first St. Anne pilgrimage. Hilarious to read about how hard traveling was for us back then — and how hard it currently is again!
I admit my impending sixth blogiversary — last Saturday, June 27, 2020 — was not on my mind at all this past spring because of the all the pandemic stuff, nor was a St. Anne pilgrimage. But when we were planning this week away to my parents’ lake cabin, and I realized that my blogiversary was the day before we left, I thought I’d look to see if there might be a St. Anne church close by-ish that maybe we could drive to one day while we’re here. Because of social distancing and reduced space in our local churches, I wasn’t expecting there to be a Mass we could attend or anything like that — my hopes were very modest, I just wanted to visit a St. Anne church, even just the outside. Simply an effort to thank her.
Are you at all surprised that I discovered a St. Ann (that spelling) church less than an hour from our lake? And that it had a 6pm Mass on Wednesday evenings? And that, while I was sure the 6pm Mass wasn’t currently happening, since churches have only just barely begun opening in my diocese for Sunday Masses, when I inquired I discovered that, indeed, the Wednesday evening Masses have resumed? Of course you’re not surprised, and I wasn’t either. That St. Ann(e).
My plan was for us all to go — part of the gift and the gratitude, in my mind, is to offer something back, a suffering, to be used as God sees fit, through the hands of His grandmother. As much as I’d like it to be different, traveling to go to Mass with the kids qualifies as the kind of suffering I have in mind. (You can read more about my tips and tricks for taking pilgrimages with little ones in this piece I wrote for CatholicMom last year (they just redesigned the site and it’s hard to find the archived articles, so please excuse the state of this link).)
But I ended up having to drive home with Luke that morning to bring him to a doctor’s appointment, and he screamed in the car the whole way back (an hour), and I didn’t feel like I could subject him or the rest of us to a repeat of that again that evening. So my oldest and I went instead and it turned out to be perfect, exactly what I’d hoped for.
This church of St. Ann is in a town called Fort Ann, named after Queen Anne of England (the Wiki entry notes that it’s unknown why the original spelling of Fort Anne was later changed to Fort Ann). It was so cool to see “Ann” used in the names of various businesses and on street signs — and not just “Fort Ann” but “St. Ann” too!
The church itself is a sweet, small country church. It wasn’t overflowing with St. Ann(e) statues and windows, as so many of the other shrines I’ve visited, but what it had was beautiful.
A small, country church
Founded in 1891
Beautiful entrance
St. Anne with Our Lady; St. Joseph; a bigger statue of Our Lady. If there weren’t roped-off sections, I would have tried to light a candle for my intentions
I know for sure the picture on the right is St. Anne with Mary — does anyone know the one on the left? It looks like it could be an older lady — is that St. Anne?
This parish has a great devotion to the Divine Mercy — you can see the image here on the right of the altar, and on the front door in the picture above, and they said the Divine Mercy chaplet after Mass. I love the stained glass windows of Our Lady on the left and St. Ann on the right. Also, the quote above Jesus from the Magnificat: “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” 💙
The Mass was beautiful as well — Father started with the Angelus, then said Mass, then led us in the chaplet of Divine Mercy. My son and I said the rosary together on the way home. Perfect.
There were eleven people there besides us, which nearly brought the church to full capacity. It was lovely and peaceful, and I offered the pilgrimage in thanksgiving for this wonderful community and for all the blessings that have come through Sancta Nomina, including the ministry of naming and my book and the unending intercession of St. Anne for all of us. I also offered it for:
All of you and your intentions; for your children, both living and deceased; for those of you who long to be parents but aren’t yet; for those of you who have children but long for more; for those of you who have children and are struggling to stay afloat
For the intentions our Holy Father asked us to pray for earlier in the spring: the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted by it, and eternal salvation for those the Lord has called to Himself
For our country and our church
In addition to St. Anne, I want to thank you all for a wonderful six years! It’s been such an unexpected and wonderful gift! Thank you for teaching me more about the names of our faith and sharing your families with me. ❤️❤️❤️
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers (both physical and spiritual) who read this blog, and to all the mothers in the lives of all you readers! I hope you all had a wonderful day!
As a Mother’s Day gift for you all, I’m starting a novena to St. Anne tonight for you and your intentions. It will end on May 18, which is St. John Paul II’s birthday, so I’m going to add to the novena an extra prayer that he will intercede for all of you. I hope you always know how grateful I am for all of you! ❤ ❤ ❤
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!
Good morning everyone! Our reader Charlotte, for whom I’ve asked for help in the past, is in need again — not only does she continue to deal with her own health issues, but she lives with and cares for her elderly grandparents, and needs some financial help to get over the next few days, especially in regards to paying for food and medicine. Any little bit helps! And prayers, always! Her Go Fund Me is here, and her Etsy shop is here.
One of you wonderful readers told me about St. Corona, who is an actual patron against epidemics! And her relics are buried in Anzù, Northern Italy — right in the middle of “the hotbed of the coronavirus in Europe”! Read more about her here and here.
I hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well!
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!
A few things I’ve seen regarding the coronavirus that I thought would be helpful to you all, in case you haven’t seen them already:
— Self-described “Catholic speaker, blogger, and hobo for Christ,” Meg Hunter-Kilmer (sister of Rosie!), posted on Instagram the great idea to say the Memorare while washing your hands — it takes about twenty seconds to say, which is the recommended amount of time to wash your hands for, and you can offer it for those affected by the coronavirus while doing it. Here’s the Memorare:
Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
— In the same vein, the Diocese of Dallas put together printable pdfs for saying the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be in both English and Spanish while washing your hands, as well as one for saying the Apostle’s Creed (English only), and a Vietnamese version as well (though I don’t know which prayers are used).
— Meg included in her post the note that “St. Rosalia was an amazing Sicilian Saint in the Middle Ages whose intercession has been known to stop plagues in their tracks.” St. Rosalia, pray for us!
— I saw somewhere else (I don’t remember where!) that St. Rocco (also known as St. Roch) is also a patron against epidemics. St. Rocco, pray for us!
— The quarantines and recommendations are affecting quite a lot of St. Patrick’s Day festivities around the world — St. Patrick, pray for us!
— Finally, Corona is actually an entry in my book of Marian names, for this reason:
“Coronameans ‘crown’ in Latin, and refers to the Crowning of Our Lady, also known as the Coronation (Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary).”
(I also included a warning that “As lovely and meaningful as this name is, it’s good to be aware of the fact that there’s a brand of Mexican beer called Corona, which is well known in the U.S.”; I will definitely have to include a mention of the coronavirus in any future editions!)
In fact, the family of coronaviruses was so named because of “the crown-like spikes on their surface.” In light of this, I thought it would be a good idea to pray for intercession especially from Our Lady, Crowned (she has many titles referring to this, including Queen of Peace, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the World, and Queen of Heaven) for all those affected by the coronavirus, and for the repose of the souls of those who have died from it.
I hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well! God is always with us! ❤ ❤ ❤
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers!! I hope you all had a wonderful day!!
I’m offering three Black Friday Specials!! Specials No. 1 and No. 3 are for today only; Special No. 2 is for MONDAY.
FIRST
I’m offering ten Ordinary Consultations for $10 each! (Regular price: $50; consultation description here.) The first ten people who email me today with their consultation request will receive an invoice from me via email for $10 by midnight on Monday, Dec. 1.
*** Please note we’re going out of town for a family funeral super early tomorrow morning, so I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to respond to everyone who emails me today. I will let you know by Sunday night if you’re one of the first ten people. If you’re not, consider Black Friday Special No. 2 (below). ***
I can guarantee these $10 Special Consultations will be completed by New Year’s Day if you need them done by then, barring unforeseen circumstances (but I can’t promise they’ll be done before that); if yours can wait until after New Year’s, please note that. There’s no expiration date on these consultation requests.
SECOND
I’m offering ten Christmas Gift Certificates for Ordinary Consultations for $25 each! (Regular price: $50.) The first ten people who email me on ***MONDAY*** for a gift certificate will receive an invoice from me via email for $25 by midnight on Tuesday, Dec. 2. These gift certificates can be redeemed starting December 26th. I will work on them in the same way I do all consultation requests — first come, first served, and completed within three weeks of receiving the request (barring unforeseen circumstances). I will email you a gift certificate that you can print out and present to the person receiving it as a gift (I can send it to by Dec. 5 in case you want to give it as a St. Nicholas gift!). There’s no expiration date on the gift certificates.
THIRD
Anyone who buys my book today will receive a free Ordinary Consultation! (Limit one consultation per person.) My book (which, as you all know, is a book of Marian names, and is the result of nearly ten years of research, including invaluable input from all of you! Read more about it, including its amazing endorsements, here) is available at ShopMercy.org (every purchase supports the Marian Fathers) and for a reduced price at Amazon — it’s the perfect gift for anyone expecting a baby, and/or anyone who loves names (especially the names of our faith)! Please send me a screen shot of the confirmation email (I need to receive it from you today), with today’s date visible in the screen shot. These consultation requests can be redeemed starting on the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus: January 3. They’ll be done first come, first served, and completed within three weeks of receiving the request (barring unforeseen circumstances).
(Please note that I’m still accepting regular requests for consultations, which will continue to be done on a first come, first served basis; my Black Friday specials are being offered in addition to these.)
I really wanted these Sancta Nomina Black Friday Specials to bless those in need, so I’m pleased to tell you:
Half of today’s proceeds will go to our reader Charlotte, who I’ve posted about before — she continues to suffer from serious medical issues (she was hospitalized this past week with sepsis) and always needs help with her medical bills. (If you’d like to contribute to her directly, you can do so here; she’s grateful for any amount, no matter how small.)
The other half of today’s proceeds will go to my local Birthright, which does an amazing job providing needed care to moms and babies. ❤ ❤ ❤
Thank you all for helping to make this community as wonderful as it is!! I’m so grateful for you all!!
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!
Sancta Nomina 