Saint John Vianney and “The Year for Priests”

St. John Vianney, universal patron of the priesthoodAS A PART of Pope Benedict XVI’s declaration of June 2009 through June 2010 as “the Year for Priests,” His Holiness named Saint John Marie Vianney as the Universal Patron of Priests. This humble French priest was assigned to the rural and spiritually dying town of Ars in central France in 1818. Through his example of personal holiness and attention to the sacraments, he was able to radically transform his parish, eventually attracting pilgrims from all over the world.

Monastery Icons’ icon of Saint John Marie Vianney is available in a wide variety of formats, offering you many ways in which to inspire devotion to Saint John’s priestly example and to honor and inspire parish priests.

Visit the St. John Vianney page at MonasteryIcons.com

Exquisite Religious Jewelry–the Perfect Easter Gift

Religious Jewelry from Monastery IconsMonastery Icons has a wide range of exquisite religious jewelry, and this week, until midnight, Saturday, March 4th, many items are ON SALE, as our gift to you for the coming Easter season. Visit our Religious Jewelry page on the Monastery Icons Website to see the full range of elegant jewelry.

In this unique piece offered by Monastery Icons, beautiful gold-plated ornamentation and Swarovski crystal stones shine out from a deep blue enamelled silver egg. Handmade in Russia, 20” chain and presentation box included. $119.95 $99.95 This week only!

Be sure and check out the full range on icons, incense, books and sacred art available at MonasteryIcons.com!

Christmas Gifts Abound at Monastery Icons

Monastery Icons special icons of Our Lady of PochaevWith the Christmas season fast approaching, what is the best place to find beautiful, traditional, and economical gifts for friends and loved ones? Monastery Icons, of course! Monastery Icons selection of icons, religious gifts, jewelery, crucifixes, banners, Monastery incense and other sacred art of unsurpassed beauty and affordability makes it easy to find something unique for everyone on your shopping list.

For instance, our new line of embossed icons from Russia combines beauty, ornamentation, and religious inspiration in the perfect manner to grace your home for the coming holy season, or for that matter, at any time!

Explore the Monastery Icons Website to discover new icons and sacred gifts, as well as ever-popular favorites. Now is the time to order your Christmas icons and more to avoid the Christmas rush. And subscribe to the Monastery Icons Newsletter to receive news about unique product offers, special discounts and reduced postage rates. Visit the Monastery Icons Homepage, and add your email address in the subscribe box in the right hand column.

All of us from Monastery Icons wish you a Joyous Christmas!

New Catalog and New Items at Monastery Icons

Our Lady of Vladimir Wooden EggThose of you who are on our MonasteryIcons.com mailing list have already received our newest free catalog with an impressive selection of new icons and sacred gifts. With over fifty new items of unique beauty, this is one of our best selections of icons and sacred art ever.

For instance, we now offer this stunning Our Lady of Vladimir Wooden Egg, the perfect gift for the Christmas season. The Divine Child and the Holy Mother tenderly embrace each other in the radiantly colorful icon that adorns this large wooden egg.
Handmade in Russia. 4″ x 5 1/2″ with stand 7 1/2″for only
$49.95

Visit our new items page at MonasteryIcons.com to see this and over 50 more new icons and sacred art.

Monastery Icons Summer Shipping Savings!

summer savingsMonastery Icons is offering a FREE SHIPPING special for the week of August 3rd through the 9th, 2008. Free UPS ground rate shipping applies to most of the items available from Monastery Icons, with the exception of custom items such as cathedral size icons, outdoor shrines and icon banners.

Visit the Monastery Icons Website to participate in this valuable offer.

Monastery Icons on the Web

Monastery Icons has icons in sizes from 4 inches to over four feet tall!Monastery Icons has an increasing presence on the web in an attempt to make it easier to find our unique collection of sacred icons – each truly a “window into heaven” that will bring inspiration and light to your home, your church, and whomever you present them to.

Monastery Icons Adds Earliest Guadalupe Story

Monastery Icons icon of Our Lady of GuadlupeMonastery Icons has added pages devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe to its website. Included is one of the earliest accounts of the apparition of Our Lady to Juan Diego by Antonio Valeriano.

Don Antonio Valeriano wrote one of the most important accounts of the appearance of Our Lady to Juan Diego in Mexico. He was a descendant of the royal house of Tacuba that stemmed from the Emperor Moctezuma II,and was a figure of great importance in the middle of the XVIth. century.

Born about 1520, he received education and enlightenment from the Franciscan friars in the College of the Holy Cross at Tlaltelolco.

He later became Governor of the Indians in Mexico city for thirty six years. He was remarkable for his understanding of men’s minds, thanks to which he became famous as an arbitrator between the two races. He had the aristocratic spirit of the high-class, intelligent Indian.

He had a profound knowledge of Latin and of spiritual and ecclesiastical matters. He inherited from his ancestors numerous hieroglyphs and documents on the Guadalupe tradition, referring to the appearances of the Most Holy Virgin in Tepeyac. Having known and had dealings with Juan Diego, Juan Bernardino, and Bishop Zumirraga as well, he was the first to write down the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Read his account of Our Lady’s appearance here.