I thought I would tell you the history of my “Signature” nine-bead design for my “Novena Bracelets.”
First of all, it started with a perplexing pregnancy for my daughter. I wrote my book Prayerfully Expecting: A Nine Month Novena for Mothers To Be during my own precarious pregnancy in which I was placed on complete bed rest.
I had a huge hemorrhage in my uterus and a serious heart condition. My doctor didn’t think my baby would make it. I had lost three babies earlier on by miscarriage. It would be a trial of patience and commitment to bed rest.
Though it was a scary and difficult time, I feel God truly blessed me with much inspiration because very soon into my pregnancy, while on bedrest, I became deeply inspired to envision a pregnancy as a beautiful nine month novena of prayer as I awaited the birth of my unborn baby.
I prayed fervently and hoped for the very best. I even got word to my friend Mother Teresa to request her special prayers. She prayed for my baby and me and also sent to me a blessed Miraculous Medal which I wear to this day. She told me to count on our Blessed Mother and pray a simple prayer: “Mary, Mother of Jesus, be Mother to me now.”
As I prayed and waited…I also wanted to share my new inspiration of seeing a pregnancy as a nine-month novena of prayer and I desired to offer a kind of a prayer journal to other expectant mothers. I wanted to help them reflect upon their holy time of waiting, all the while as they prayed and grew in holiness.
So, I put pen to paper (literally, since I did not own a typewriter or computer at the time) and I continued to write down all of the inspiration that was stirring in my heart. These scraps of paper would be stored away in a cardboard box for “later on.”
Later on, in God’s Divine plan, I would put it all together in manuscript form and Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta would end up writing the Foreword to my book. She had also encouraged me to continue to write for mothers and expectant mothers.
Women all around the world are using my book Prayerfully Expecting to create a living novena of prayer throughout their pregnancies.
Here is an article written in 2007 about my book that you might find interesting.
Novena Prayer Bracelets!
“Prayerfully Expecting” Novena Bracelets!
During the season of Advent 2015, I felt very inspired to create Novena bracelets to celebrate the sanctity of human life, as well as to have a tangible means to pray for it.
A few examples below:
The Sanctity of Human Life
These novena prayer bracelets serve many purposes. I have made each bracelet with nine beads to symbolize nine months of pregnancy. The number nine is very significant in praying a novena of prayer. As well, there are nine choirs of Angels. With regard to the sanctity of human life, the bracelet will be a visual reminder to pray a novena for your own pregnancy, for your daughter, granddaughter, godchild, daughter-in-law, or niece’s pregnancy, to pray to conceive a child, to pray to adopt a child, to pray for your own children and grandchildren, and to pray for every pregnancy to result in a live birth and for the end to abortion.
I pray as I create each novena bracelet. Each bracelet is crafted with an attached crucifix, a Miraculous Medal, and most of them will also contain a pregnancy saint’s medal. It will be shipped to you in an attractive box with prayer cards inside. I encourage you to get your bracelet blessed so that it may serve as a blessed sacramental.
You will see some of the first “Prayerfully Expecting” Novena bracelets at my bracelet shop. I have added more over the years. More photos of the Novena bracelets will be regularly added to my “Prayerfully Expecting” shop as I create them. I will also be adding a variety of saint medals to the bracelets.
Other Kinds of Novena Bracelets
After awhile, I began designing and creating an assortment of Novena Prayer Bracelets, always with my signature “nine-bead” design to represent a Novena of Prayer, and not ten beads as are in a chaplet or decade. Each bracelet comes with a prayer card to use while praying a Novena of Prayer.
I also have designed some ten-bead Prayer Bracelets when it was most appropriate to use ten beads for the particular devotion. That said, I also have a seven-bead design which is for the “Seven Sorrows of Mary” devotion. You can see these designs at my Bracelet Shop. I started another website for my bracelets and creations but I need t have some time to finish it! 🙂
Just a few examples are below:
More Information and Many Designs Available
You can go to my Bracelet Shop on this website to learn more and see the various designs. You can also see other designs on other pages. For instance, my “Fatima Five First Saturday” Bracelets are here. And “Inspiring Word Bracelets” are here. I also do custom design bracelets and you can see information for that on my “Bracelet Shop” page.
In addition, I will mention that I have designed several Novena Bracelets for EWTN Religious Catalogue. You can see them on their website.
