Sunday, September 7, 2008

My Ex Voto



Just a few weeks ago I purchased a beautiful antique Italian ex voto to mark the entrance of my house. I thought it would be the perfect thing to remind me of answered prayers and life's many blessings. Many times you might have noticed these items on blogs, in decorative magazines and in other places. They are often pictured as hearts sometimes with small religious markings, adornments in silver, gold, enamel or sometimes even jeweled. I have seen some that were made into lockets for holding a prayer inside. Some of the ex votos were designed with a small flame attached to illustrate the Sacred Heart, such as the one that I purchased. Here is a picture of the one that I bought and hung in my entrance hall. To me the Sacred Heart ex votos are some of the most beautiful.

For those of you not familiar with an ex voto, Wikipedia says: An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or divinity. It is given in fulfillment of a vow (hence the Latin term, short for ex voto suscepto, "from the vow made") or in gratitude or devotion. Ex-votos are placed in a church or chapel where the worshipper seeks grace or wishes to give thanks. The destinations of pilgrimages often include shrines decorated with ex-votos. Ex-votos can take a wide variety of forms. They are not only intended for the helping figure, but also as a testimony to later visitors of the receieved help.

8 comments:

  1. How beautiful! I want one so bad! Where can I get one? Yours is so lovely. Funny, I've been thinking about making milagros out of salt clay and painting them. Recently, I made a "flaming heart" ATC card and this really reminds me of the ex voto. I take this as a heavenly gesture pointing me in in a specific direction, if that makes any sense!

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  2. Hi again,
    Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I'm going to give the paper flowers a try!
    Just wanted to let you know about the pizza in case you want to try it...I've been on Weight Watchers since June and still going strong! The pita bread replaces the dough, the chicken is poached and shredded and the cheese was low-fat mozzarella. It's deceivingly low calorie, actually. You could sprinkle as little cheese as possible! Hope you'll try it out. You could just do veggie pizza, too.
    Enjoy the week. This weekend went by so quickly...

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  3. Jojo, we are meant to be friends. I love ex votos. And they're even in the book I'm writing right now. I think they are so beautiful, and I'm excited to know that you love them too!
    BEcky

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  4. Jojo, I love the idea of ex-votos...
    yours is truly beautiful. Everytime you'll look at it, it will give you comfort, I'm sure...

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  5. Postagem emocionante neste espaço, tópicos deste modo dão motivação ao indivíduo que observar aqui :/
    Escreve mais de este blogue, aos teus cybernautas.

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  6. Questa è la mia prima visita ho tempo qui. Ho trovato tante cose interessanti nel tuo blog in particolare la sua discussione. Dal tonnellate di commenti sui vostri articoli, credo di non essere l'unico ad avere tutto il divertimento qui! mantenere il buon lavoro.

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  7. Merci d'avoir un blog interessant

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