Those Prayer Cards From Wakes

At a wake recently, the supply of prayer cards ran out before I’d gotten one.  A friend gave me hers, mentioning that her husband and daughter had each gotten one.

We got talking about all those prayer cards gathered over the years and the tendency to save them.  Most don’t even have a photo of the person who died, yet we hold on to them, adding to the collection each time we go to another wake.

What is it about prayer cards that so many of us keep them?

I have probably 75 prayer cards.  Some are for people I knew only a few years; others are for those I’d known for decades.  I asked a few friends about their “collections.”

One friend Liz has prayer cards of favorite relatives surrounding a bureau mirror. She notices when their anniversary or birthday is coming up and prays for them especially on those days.  Another friend Joann has dozens stored in a beautiful box along with the pall that is lain over the casket.  “I save them because I don’t want the  people to be forgotten.” Joann’s family has placed prayer cards of passed relatives around their annual St. Joseph’s table….what a nice way to honor them!

Kathy generally saves prayer cards for a few months; unless it’s a family member or other special person…then they’re added to a permanent collection. She says her husband is very sentimental, and saves every prayer card.

My Irish friend Maura says these cards are called, “memorial cards” where she’s from, and aren’t given out at wakes.  Rather, they’re mailed to those who brought or sent a Mass card. Typically the person is pictured on the card, and often there’s an image of a favorite place of theirs.

Janis says her family has always referred to the cards as, “holy pictures,” and hers are stashed in a drawer. Now and then when she needs a book mark, she grabs one, and feels that she’s meant to pray for the person whose card she picked.

Another friend, Mary, said she has dozens that include many her parents saved over the years. They’re all stored in the same metal box they used. She and her husband go through them once in a while to pray for each person. “We have all the Mass cards from when each of our parents or siblings died, too.”

Diane shared an idea I hadn’t heard of before for all those prayer cards…all the older ones that are usually on thin cardboard she has laminated. ..”to protect them for when the grandkids get them.” She appreciates these cards that are generally only part of the Catholic tradition as a reminder to pray for souls who may be in purgatory, rather than the Protestant tendency to not believe in purgatory and to view the funeral as merely a “celebration of life.”

There’s something almost sacred about these tangible reminders of people who were important to us in their lifetime.

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