For nyj - icon questions

[Avila]

We have lots of different icons, and love many, many more.

Our first was "Our Lady of Perpetual Help". DH got it because when he went out to see the Pope in Denver (WYD), they stopped somewhere in KS and he bought a neat pro-life shirt with her on it (has a cool quote by the Pope on the back). Since the shirt is forever old and very fragile, he had to buy the icon!

Our more recent additions include several more icons of the BVM and the Child Jesus, as well as others.

We have a beautiful antique tile of the Virgin Mary that came from DH's grandfather. He got it in Frankfort, and as far as we can tell, it is about 150 yrs old.

We have a Greek icon of Christ - he looks kinda severe, but I don't know which specific icon it is.

We have a lovely Last Supper icon which is located near an icon of the 3 archangels. Could somebody please tell me why one of them is standing on a fish? The one who is supposed to be standing on Lucifer is standing on him...

We also have some prints - an icon of Our Lady - it's more of a Renaissance, western style icon. Also, a pencil drawing of the last supper. Drawn by a lady from DH's home parish - she has MS, and to complete a drawing of any scale, takes her many months of hard work. It is amazing, simply because she is amazing and put much prayer, tears, and hard work into this piece - all for my confirmation!

I want to get the God the Father icon (you can see it on http://www.theworkofgod.org ). I also like this one icon of Our Lady nursing Jesus. I'd love to have a "Breastfeeding" gallery of icons and religious art works.

What about you?

 

[nyj]

I didn't buy my first icon until I attended my first Eastern Rite Divine Liturgy, but since then... whenever I can free up some money, I make a trek down to the St. Thomas More bookstore and pick one up. I'm there so often (for books and icons mostly) that they know me by name... my wife doesn't know whether to be happy or concerned about that.

At any rate, my first icon was one of the Assumption. Mary is sitting on a cloud and being escorted by an archangel (Gabriel I believe) up to heaven. Below is the empty tomb and St. Thomas is there by the tomb. Mary is extending a red ribbon down to St. Thomas who is reaching up to grasp it. The story goes that when Mary died, all the Apostles traveled back to witness the Assumption. All except St. Thomas, who (late as usual) upon finding out of Our Lady's death, rushed back just in time to see her be assumed into heaven.

My second icon is one of the Trinity. It has God the Father sitting next to God the Son, and between but slightly above them is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. This is one of my favorite icons to look at, and I should scan it in and post it for people to take a look at.

When I grew up, my first stint in school was at PS 108 (NYC - Queens) but shortly thereafter my parents moved me into a Catholic school. That school was Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which also happened to be the parish we attended every weekend. So it was natural for me to get an icon of O.L.P.H. The icon is surrounded by a gold frame (it's not really gold, but gold in color) and it is positioned right underneath my crucifix which faces our bed.

For my wife's birthday, I bought her an icon of St. Katherine Drexel. My wife's confirmation name was Katherine. That icon is on my wife's desk at home that she uses to prepare her school work (she is a spanish teacher).

I also have some prints as well. By my kneeler I have a small framed copy of Our Lady of the Rosary which can be found at the following link: http://www.catholic-forum.com/members/thechristianconscience/home.html

That is possibly the most beautiful picture I have ever seen. I hope to be able to buy a real copy of that print sometime in the future. I also have a print of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which I have had since birth. I have lost a lot of stuff in my lifetime, but amazingly enough I have not lost this picture, the small crucifix that hung on my crib (along with a guardian angel medallion), and a book that belonged to my Uncle Joe (who died when I was in second grade ) entitled "The Life of Christ", printed by the now defunct Catholic Press.

Lastly, I just acquired the Holy Family icon at the Men's Conference this past weekend. It's a really beautiful icon as well, and I had a hard time deciding if I wanted that one or the Pantocrator, but decided since I was at a conference stressing the importance of a man's responsibility for his family, that the Holy Family icon seemed a more suitable choice. Besides, St. Thomas More has the others that I can get at any time.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, so if I am, I'll just post it later.

 

[Avila]

Our new icon might be a Pantocrator one too. I can't remember. We get our icons from this tiny little Russian Orthodox bookstore, not far from DH's new job (should I be scared or happy? )

When I went home, I found out that our print is of the Enthronement of the Virgin Mary. It is really quite lovely.

You should see how uncomfortable my mom is when she walks into our place now. ::gasps:: Not only do we put crucifices on our walls, but now there's even more Mary pictures!!! ::gasps and passes out:: The idolatry! ::Amy grins and winks satirically::

I also forgot that we have the Immaculate and Sacred Hearts, a ceramic "crown of thorns" image, and at least 1 icon of Our Lady of Guadelupe.

And I have a statue of St. Therese of Lisieux (I took her as my st at my confirmation) at the base of the Mary tile.

If you ever want to share more icons/statues/religious art, feel free! I loooove them!

 

[nyj]

... another icon I have is the Pantocrator. I picked that one up in a fit of ecumenism while at the State Fair of Oklahoma. At the fair every year, the Archdiocese has a booth and my wife and I usually volunteer three or four hours there every year (if you volunteer you get free admission into the fair so we save 10 bucks as well... it's a win-win situation). Also at the fair is a booth for the Orthodox faith, and though they didn't have especially nice things to say about the Catholic Church (still resentful over the Crusades and the Filoque) I bought an icon that they were selling as a fundraiser for the Orthodox faith parishes in Oklahoma.

Another icon I have is the San Damiano crucifix. I bought that one from Ebay for, I believe three dollars. Both the crucifix and the Pantocrator are on the wall in front of my kneeler, about eye level (when kneeling).

 

[nyj]

Follow the link:

http://www.printeryhouse.org/mall/Icons/Mary/a16.htm

 

[nyj]

Follow this link too:

http://www.printeryhouse.org/mall/Icons/Child_Jesus/m02.htm

 

[Avila]

Those are gorgeous!!!

 

[Wolseley]

Actually, we only have one icon in the house, which is one of the Blessed Virgin and Child that I bought years ago before I was married. It came from the Conciliar Press and you can view it here:

http://store.yahoo.com/conciliarpress/virginandchild.html

They simply call it "Virgin and Child", but I have seen this same icon from other sources, and it was called "Our Lady of Vladimir"; it appears to be based on a Byzantine icon that made its way to Russia. You can read a bit more about it here:

http://www.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/vladimir.html