Saturday, April 19, 2008

Pious Men

Of course, one of the chief joys of Pious Women is to spot signs of piety in the men they meet. Perhaps that's why I find these holy cards so charming. I came across them in a box of give-away stuff at our church along with several other old prayer cards and holy cards and I'm pretty sure a new collection has begun!
(The actual cards have more green tones - they look a lot more yellow on my screen.)

They were made in Belgium and are labeled "Alleluia N' 240" and "Alleluia N' 237." Both copyrighted by A. M. Ermeton S/Biert, and apparently for an English-speaking audience judging from the inscription "I Engage Myself" on the right one.

I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about them. Was the intended audience American Boy Scouts? Did American Boy Scouts ever really engage in activities like this? Do the two different colored uniforms denote different levels of scouts, or something else? The numbering hints that there are more in the series and I'd love to see more!

I found something similar here (an impressive collection of holy cards, btw) which looks like the same artist, but the text is in French. Any enlightenment on the topic would be welcome.
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4 comments:

  1. CskaarenApril 19, 2008 at 2:20 PM

    First: I love your blog. Then: I don't really know anything about the picture, but apparently scoutism is very big in France.

    A picture from Acatholic life:

    http://bp2.blogger.com/_GK9vk5xxaSs/RsXAyT3GcKI/AAAAAAAABZk/6rxehxPVMEI/s1600-h/Traditional+Catholic+Youth.jpg

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  2. Margaret MaryApril 19, 2008 at 6:23 PM

    What an incredible picture! How could you not worship in a "cathedral" that beautiful?
    Thanks for visiting.

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  3. AnonymousApril 21, 2008 at 7:17 AM

    Boy Scouts did indeed engage in these activities (at least in the U.S.). Even today, Mass is still said at our local scout camp on Saturday night (which is "family day" each week at the camp). I know this tradition (but on Sunday, of course) goes back a long time. There is also a Catholic scouting award: Ad Altare Dei. It is based on the sacraments. Hope this helps. Those cards are cool.

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  4. ignorant redneckApril 28, 2008 at 4:39 PM

    The hats are the give away: American Scouts. The first boy scout uniform in the US were old army uniforms, shrunk. the hat that went with them were the old campain hats, now only seen on Drill Sergeants in the Army and Drill instructors in the Marines.

    Multi coloured uniforms were found on new boy scout Troops, as they earned money for each item of uniform, and dressed in unison.

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