Women's History Month: Heirloom Spotlight - First Communion Prayer Book

March is Women's History Month, so I'm looking at items owned, used, or made by some of my female ancestors, as well as my memories connected with them.

Another of my treasured possessions is this book of prayers titled God's Child: A Prayer Book for Children, which my mother Anna Margaret Kozlina Gilbride (1937-2010) received on her First Communion day, 6 May 1945, when she was seven years old. Mom is shown with this book in her hand in photos marking the occasion, below.

 

Mom's First Communion portraits from 1945.

First Communion is the third sacrament of seven Catholic sacraments, following Baptism and First Confession (now known as Reconciliation). When a child receives their First Communion at a special Mass, they are receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ according to Catholic teaching. 

First Communion is a momentous occasion in a Catholic child's life, with dozens of children participating. Girl communicants would wear white dresses and veils, and boys would wear suits and ties. Families would gather to witness the event, usually held in the spring. Mass was usually followed by a family gathering when gifts are given to the communicant. Mom made her First Communion at St. Jerome Church in the Collinwood neighborhood in Cleveland.

St. Jerome Catholic Church in Cleveland, where Mom made her First Communion.

I think that Mom received this book from her mother Margaret Simonik Kozlina (1913-1988). Grandma's handwriting inside notes the date of Mom's Communion and her later Confirmation—another Catholic sacrament—on 8 December 1948. Inside, instructions were written in Grandma's hand that if the book was lost it was to be returned to Mom or her elementary school, St. Jerome's Catholic School, in Cleveland, Ohio.

This book includes various prayers and lessons geared to a child about the Catholic faith and the sacraments. It has a shiny, hard cover made of celluloid according to some online sources I found for the same book. These were popular keepsake books for religious occasions. The outside cover shows a young Jesus being adored by five praying children. The inside of the book includes a beautiful gold crucifix, outlined in gold on a white background in a shadowbox-type setting. Above the crucifix is the chalice and communion host, symbolizing Holy Communion. I'm amazed that the crucifix has not fallen out of the book after all these years. 

 

The inside front cover includes a gold crucifix.

The 14 Stations of the Cross are illustrated in color in the prayer book.

Mom had a large collection of prayer books, gathered from her childhood onward. Her faith was a large part of her life and something that sustained her in her darkest times. I'm glad that I have this well-worn heirloom to remind me of her faith.

Until next time...

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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.

Church image: Thomas Lewis, St. Jerome Catholic Church, no date; digital image, Cleveland Memory (https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/sacred/id/29/rec/2 : accessed 12 March 2024); citing Cleveland Sacred Landmarks Collection, Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections.