"Did You Know?" Archive

Cat Plays a Trick 

There are two kinds of calendars. The one we use today is a linear concept of time and is based on the rotation of the sun. We count the years from the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Traditionally in Asian countries a lunar calendar, a cyclical computation of time, was used since 2600 BC when the emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the Chinese zodiac. Since 1911, the Chinese adopted the Western calendar, but the lunar calendar is still used to mark festive occasions.

This year, the Asian New Year falls on February 7, 2008. On the Chinese calendar, the year is Lunar Year 4705-4706.

A set of twelve animals are a popular method used to mark the years of the lunar calendar. These are the same in most Asian countries: Rat, Ox (or Water Buffalo), Tiger, Rabbit (Hare), Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep (or Goat), Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar (Pig). There is one exception: in Vietnam, the cat occupies the fourth place instead of the rabbit.

There are many legends to explain how the animals were chosen for the Chinese zodiac. The most common is about a race held by the Jade Emperor.

Our new story, Cat Plays a Trick, tells how cat took rabbit’s place.

Sushi isn’t just raw fish!

This Asian delicacy makes a great summer dish, cool and attractive. No, there isn’t anything particularly “Catholic” or “religious” about sushi. However, learning to value and appreciate the culture of other people throughout the world is something we certainly should try and encourage.

Ann’s great-niece Courtney just got married, and the Ball family decided to send her a special sushi set. Ann, Austin and Brenden had a great time making some special sushi, and taking photos to go in a little recipe book to go with Courtney’s present. You can read more about this Asian treat and learn how to make it as a family project.

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In 1840, in the Conceptionist convent of San Jose in Mexico City, there was a humble lay sister named Sister Magdalenita of St. Joseph. On Janury 6, she was praying in front of a nativity scene, adoring the Infant Jesus. She began to wonder why Mary was not also honored with songs and devotions to celebrate her childhood. Just at that moment, she saw a beautiful little girl, dressed like a queen, reclining and floating through the air. The vision seemed to say “I will give those who honor me in my infancy the things that they ask me for, because this is something they have forgotten to do.” 

Eventually a sculptor made an image of the apparition, using the head of a small angel which had broken off a monstrance. The devotion began to grow and was approved and enriched with indulgences by Pope Gregory XVI. After the death of Sister Magdalenita, the devotion languished through periods of political turmoil and misunderstanding. It began to resurge through the efforts of a young Mexican mystic, Rosario Arrevillaga, and a Spanish priest, Father Federico y Ramon. Together, they founded the Servants of the Immaculate Child Mary in 1901. In 1907, Father Federico went to Spain to begin the order there. He was on his way to Los Angeles to establish a men’s branch of the order when he died unexpectedly in 1931. It was left to Father Vicente Echarri Gil to finish the organization of a masculine group dedicated to the little Virgin. The Missionaries of the Nativity of Mary count 1944 as their year of foundation. Today, both groups have members working in the United States. The Sisters are in Los Angeles, California, and the Missionaries are in Del Rio, Texas. 

Ann is currently researching for a book on the devotion to the Virgin Mary as a baby and young girl. Ann would like help from any of her readers who may know of other devotions to Mary as an infant or girl anywhere in the world.

The Holy Infant Jesus

Click here to print the fifth in our series of printable prayer cards: Niño de Belen

In 1945, this miraculous little image of the Christ Child washed up on a beach in El Salvador. Just see how the creatures of the sea cared for the infant, dressing him in clothing of their making. Only about the size of our little finger, the image visited in Los Angeles, California in 2005.

Proud Pig Steps Out

The people of the village were happy in anticipation of the coming of the lunar new year, Tet Nguyen Dan, the ceremony which marks the coming of spring in Vietnam. They were ready to usher in the Year of the Pig.

Click here to read Ann's latest Tet story!

Baby Jesus Works in Cuba

In November of 2004, the Cuban Bishops proposed a unique initiative in preparation for the 2005 Mission Year in Cuba. They wanted to contact Cuban families, reaching not only those who attend the churches, chapels and mission houses (where people gather to pray even when there’s no priest available), but also through a concerted effort to meet people through a home visit with a figure of the Child Jesus.

With the little image, they wanted to celebrate the end of the Mission Year, while strengthening the Catholic sense of Christmas. Although most Cuban families usually had a Christmas tree, they did not have a nativity scene. Thousands of volunteers distributed figurines of the Baby Jesus across the island, giving one to each family they visited before Christmas in order to point out the real message and Christian character of Christmas. Some of these volunteers walked up to 12 miles, knocking on doors and inviting people to receive the little statue complete with a leaflet explaining the initiative and the importance of Jesus and the Nativity. (Continued...)

The Holy Infant Jesus

We all know the images of the child Jesus in the manger scenes at Christmas, but throughout the world there is also a strong devotion to the incarnate man-God as a child. Devotion to the infancy has existed since the early years of Christianity. From the late Middle Ages to our own times, the Divine Child has been represented in visual images, each with its own particular history and popular religiosity.

Childhood contains a promise of growth. Like the Wise men who followed a star to find him, by meditating and reflecting on the Holy Child Jesus we can grow in love and understanding of the God Incarnate.

The new book, The Holy Infant Jesus, will be available Fall 2006 from Crossroads Publishing. Father Damian Hinojosa and Ann had a wonderful time searching for, and writing about, the images of the Holy Child throughout the world. Their friend susan Kerr helped, too.

Click here to print the fourth in our series of printable prayer cards: Divine Missionary. In 2005, this little figurine of Jesus worked for conversions in Cuba; He will continue His work this year.Truly, the Holy Child moves hearts.

Click here to print a card of the Holy Child of Filzmoos. Since about the middle of the fifteenth century, this little image of the Christ child has been loved and honored in the Salzberg area of Austria. Found hanging in a tree by some shepherds who heard the tinkling of a tiny bell, the Filzmoos Kindle is affectionately known as The Holy Bellringer. 

Click here to print the card of the Holy Child known as Santo Niño of Cebu. He is the beloved patron of the Filipino people. They consider him the prime missionary to their country, the only Catholic country of the Orient, and believe that Magellan brought the statue to the Philippines in 1521. He looks a lot like the Infant of Prague, doesn’t he? That may be because both statues were probably made in Flanders in the 1400s. 

Or here to print our first card, the Santo Niño de Atocha from Mexico, with a mother’s prayer for our children and those who are serving us in the military.

How Did This Man's Life Affect You?


This man’s life and works affected all American Catholics of today, although many people outside the diocese of Ft. Wayne Indiana don’t recognize him by name. Affectionately called “The Bish” by friends and family, Archbishop John Francis Noll stands as one of the most outstanding American Catholics of the 20th century. His influence imprinted many of our nation’s Catholic institutions which still serve the Church today.

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The Year the Kitchen God Was Angry

The Kitchen God was angry. It was nearly time for his report to the Jade Emperor and the entire village was misbehaving. His report must be bad, bad, bad! No one had thought to prepare his farewell dinner, or secure a ride to Heaven for him. What a mess. Angrily, Ong Tao jumped up from the hearth and strode through the town until he reached the city gates.

Click here to read the rest of this story for Tet.

Back to School with Chocolate Pizza!

Our friend Sheri McMahan’s mom shared her recipe for chocolate pizza, a truly decadently delicious dessert! Click here for this recipe and some ideas to help "spark" a bit of creativity with your child's school lunch!

Brewing Something New for the Missions:  What One Family Can Do

With their business background, the Boyles family worked to set up a non-profit organization called Saint Basil Coffee, in honor of the patron saint of the Basilian Fathers. All who work with the organization are volunteers; there are no paid salaries and all profit goes to the Basilian missions. One of the mottos of their company is that “There are few things so powerful or productive as collaboration.” The Boyles family put that motto into play and designed marketing materials and a website for Saint Basil Coffee.

Read more about St. Basil Coffee by clicking here.

"The Crying Dragon"

The people of the little town were happy in anticipation of the coming of the lunar new year, Tet Nguyen Dan, the ceremony which marks the coming of spring in Vietnam. They were ready to usher in the Year of the Rooster. The houses were all swept clean, and decorated with plants, and flowers. The yellow flowers and red Li Xi envelopes of the cay mai made the branches in their pots look lovely. A beautiful new kumquat tree full of deep orange fruits decorated many of the houses The women had cooked and cooked and there were platters heaped with special banh chung rice cakes, egg rolls, and sweets.

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The Joy is in the Giving

Giving is the spirit of Christmas. Beautiful packages are heaped under the tree. Won’t the children be delighted and surprised when they see what Santa has brought them? Sure. But have you cheated your children out of the happiness they can have by giving gifts themselves? If all they do is "get" at Christmas, how do we teach our children the giving spirit? 

Older children with allowances or ways to earn some money may choose to buy small gifts. For the younger ones, however, it is up to us as parents and grandparents to help them make presents which, even if they aren’t perfect come with the effort and love in those little hands and hearts.

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New Mexican Martyrs

The Vatican recently announced that thirteen more of the Mexican martyrs from the persecutions of the Church in the 1920s have had their martyrdom officially recognized and will be Beatified. Here are thumbnail sketches to introduce you to nine of them. You can read more about these heroes of the Faith, and see more photos of them, in Ann’s books Faces of Holiness II and Young Faces of Holiness.

Historical Background: The government of Mexico under the dictatorship of Plutarco Elias Calles (1924-1928) was anti-clerical and Calles himself aimed to eradicate the Catholic Church from the country. In 1925 he attempted to establish a national church, kicked foreign clergy out of the country and closed and confiscated the property of church schools and other charitable works. In 1926 the onerous “Ley Calles” was passed with 33 articles against the church. After consulting with Pope Pius XI, the bishops closed the churches and suspended the public cult in protest. A petition containing over two million signatures was ignored and the Catholics could stand no more. Numbers of the faithful took up arms to defend their religious liberty. With poor munitions and virtually no military experience; their main weapon was the belief that God was with them.

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Mary Gardens

In medieval times, a charming custom arose of planting "Mary Gardens," small gardens consisting of flowers and herbs ascribed by love and legend as special tributes to the Blessed Virgin. Around the middle of the past century, this custom was revived in many places in Europe and the United States. 

This spring, why not set aside a portion of your own garden as a Mary garden? Use your creativity to design your own special tribute to Our Lady. If you live in an apartment and have no place for an outdoor Mary Garden, directions for a miniature one are found at the end of this article. Make a complete plan for your garden before starting to plant. Don’t forget to check the hardiness and suitability of each plant to your area's climate. 

Mary gardens combine nature with folk tales to pay tribute to the Madonna and to illustrate what the Church and Scripture teach about her. A statue of the Virgin occupies the place of honor. Statues of concrete, molded plastic, or ceramic are suitable for use outside, and are generally available at your local garden or religious goods store.

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Maneki Neko

This cat is a Maneki Neko, a lucky cat. He sits with his paw raised in greeting, inviting you into my website, and happiness and good fortune into your home.

The lucky cat is one of the favorite good luck symbols from Japan. Cats were expensive and treasured pets in Japan from the seventeenth century and wealthy ladies pampered their pet with a red collar and a bell to keep up with him. Sometimes they even put a little apron on their pet. The Maneki Neko figurines of today usually show the cat wearing a collar and a bell and sometimes show him with a piece of money to represent the wealth he may bring. The cats are made in all colors, but the calico is the most popular. These little cats come in all materials and in all sizes. Many people like to collect them, and there are even Maneki Neko clubs. Try looking them up on the web to see some examples. On my recent trip to Japan, I had fun trying to see how many different Maneki Neko cats I could see.

My summer vacation was wonderful. First I went to Okinawa and Joanna, Austin and I had a great time visiting with her friends, and picking up seashells on the coral reefs. Austin picked up a seashell and got an unpleasant surprise – a bristle worm. Good thing he had on those heavy gloves – the worm only got a couple of spikes in him. Those critters are like a seagoing cactus...

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Carnival

In ancient times, the Church law of abstinence was much stricter and included many other foods besides meat. Since medieval times, in many parts of the world, carnival celebrations have been held to anticipate with "one last fling" the coming privations of Lent. The very word carnival comes from the Latin words for withdrawal from meat. On Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French), the carnival revelers ate the last of the rich foods, which could not be eaten, nor even kept in the house, during Lent.

The best known celebration of carnival in America is the famous Mardi Gras in New Orleans -- although Galveston, Texas, and several other Southern cities host these celebrations. Parties, parades, masks, and revels are the order of the day. A special cake made in New Orleans is called a king's cake. People serve the cake at private parties. The guest who receives the slice containing a tiny figure of a baby, perhaps Baby Jesus, is the one who will host the party the next year.

Celebrate Fall!

Autumn has arrived and in many areas of our country there is a little snap of cold in the air. Leaves are turning glorious yellows, reds, and shades of brown, and God, through nature, has provided bounteous gifts for those who seek them. For those of you who are city bound, try and plan an escape with your children if only for a few hours on the weekend. Your closest woods may be full of wonderful surprises!

Max and I found a wild persimmon tree the other day. We shook it, and down rained an orange shower of the plump ripe fruit, just ready to make spicy persimmon bread (be sure to read the rest of this article for our recipe!).

Save the seed to craft a lovely necklace for yourself or as a gift. Click the link below to see how.

Click HERE to continue...

Bring Flowers of the Fairest

By Ann and Sam Ball

The May crowning of the Virgin Mary is a custom familiar to many American Catholics. Few, however, are aware of the history of this, and other, May devotions in honor of Our Lady.

The month of May was probably named for Maia Majesta, the Roman goddess of grain. The people of ancient Rome celebrated the first day of May by honoring Flora, the goddess of flowers. She was represented by a small statue wreathed in garlands and a procession of singers and dancers carried the statue past a sacred blossom-decked tree. Later, festivals of this kind spread to other parts of Europe, reaching their height of popularity in England during the Middle Ages. Dances around a flower-bedecked May pole were common, and the festivities often blossomed into riotous and wild occasions. Often a May queen was chosen as part of the festivities. 

Devotions to Our Lady on the first days of May date from medieval times when St. Philip Neri began the custom of decorating the statue of the Virgin with spring flowers. Annibale Dionisi, an Italian Jesuit, proposed devotions to Mary throughout the entire month. Just as with other pre-Christian customs and festivals, the church incorporated the pre-Christian May celebrations and gave them a Christian dimension. May began to be celebrated in honor of Our Lady with much the same type of festivities, including floral tributes and processions. In 1815, Pope Pius VII enriched the public May devotions with indulgences. Our current Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has always cultivated a strong devotion to Mary and she has played a prominent role in his writings and teachings.

(This article is excerpted from the May issue of Catholic Parent magazine. The magazine has on-line directions for making a tissue paper flower crown for your home celebration.)

¡Santo Nino, Ayudanos!
Holy Child, Help Us.

One patronage of the Holy Child Jesus, under the title Santo Nino de Atocha, is that of the military. In 1946, a large group of veterans and their families went on pilgrimage to his shrine in Chimayo, New Mexico. Twenty-three of the veterans had been captured and survived the horrors of Bataan, and made the pilgrimage in thanksgiving. 

After my daughter returned safe from the Gulf War, we stopped at the shrine in New Mexico, and I was later privileged to visit the original image at the shrine in Fresnillo, Mexico. You can read about the miracle he granted my family, and my pilgrimage to Mexico, in the article entitled “Thank You Little Jesus” in the article section of this site. 

This fall, while my daughter was deployed to Saudi Arabia, her son Austin and I went to San Antonio to visit the little pilgrim image of Santo Nino who had traveled up from the shrine in Mexico. Each night thereafter, he prayed “Santo Nino, bring my Mama home safe.” One morning in mid December, I was overjoyed to receive an email that read: “You can breathe again, Mom, I am writing this from Germany. But I have a question, were you and Bubba praying to Santo Nino for me? When I got on the plane to leave Saudi, I was really scared because it was a civilian, not a military plane. To calm my mind, I grabbed that travel magazine the airlines give you, and you aren’t going to believe this but it fell open to an article about Chimayo! I know you have been asking that “Little Boy” to keep me safe.” Needless to say, I have kept that travel magazine as a previous relic.

We continue to pray to Santo Nino to bless all the members of the American military and their families. Join us. And if you have someone you would like us to post on our Hometown Heroes page, just email me.

It's summertime and the living is easy. Or is it?

Here are some suggestions for activities and crafts to shorten those long dog days of summer...

An old song begins "It's summertime, and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high." Sadly, with today's frenetic work schedules and the children's scheduled activities, many parents find that an entire summer has passed without their really taking some time to relax with their children.

It is time to MAKE time to be with your children. Children are a treasure from God and deserve to be treated as such. So what if the house isn't perfectly straight - the mess will wait for you. Treasure the minutes - they fly by too fast.

We just returned from a visit to my sister's house in the country where I grew up. My four oldest grandchildren had a wonderful time exploring the same nooks and crannies their parents explored so many years ago. They played with their cousins and ate watermelon, cream peas and the fabulous East Texas tomatoes. They fished for crawdads, chased frogs. rolled in hay bale hoops and ran with the dogs. What happiness for me to see their wonder and delight; how many sweet memories it brought back! On our return, we stopped for a "Kodak moment" as they posed on top of the Indian burial ground near Alto. Some day I will have to dig out the photo of their parents in the same pose.

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Why is May Mary’s Month?

"O Mary we crown you with blossoms today - Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May."

Remember the beautiful May crownings? Today, parishes across the U.S. are reinstituting this beautiful custom. But why is May traditionally Mary’s month?

Although May is a contraction of the name Mary, the month was probably named after Maia Maiesta, the Roman goddess of grain. Annually on the first of the month the ancient Romans honored Flora, the goddess of flowers by wreathing her statue with garlands of flowers. These festivals spread through Europe and in the middle ages the maypole dances became riotous occasions.

In the 16th century, St. Philip Neri began the custom of decorating the statue of the virgin with spring flowers. Annibale Dionisi, an Italian Jesuit, proposed devotions to Mary throughout the entire month. The Church incorporated the re-Christian celebrations and gave them a Christian dimension.

In the early part of the 19th century, devotions to Mary during this month received its greatest impetus. In 1814, Pope Pius VII returned from exile and instituted the feast of Mary, Help of Christians in gratitude for the virgin’s help. From the 1850s to the 1960s, there was a prolific doctrinal development in Mariology, and devotion to Mary also grew as the role of women became more prominent in private and professional life.

 

 I have always been an avid student of Texas history, my home state. The following tale fascinated me even years before I became a Catholic and realized that it was true. In Texas, the Indians she appeared to were called the Jumanos (Spanish for Humans). The early Franciscans named them that because they seemed "human," as opposed to the vicious Karankawas who lived near Houston where I live now and who were cannibals.

THE MYSTERIOUS LADY IN BLUE (MARIA AGREDA)

Sister Marie de Jesus Agreda was born April 2, 1602, in Agreda, Spain, and was christened Maria Fernandez Coronel. Eventually, she became a nun of the Franciscan order, at the Agreda monastery. In 1627 she became abbess, an office she held until her death in 1665. These nuns, known as the Conceptionists, wore a brown Franciscan habit with a rough blue cloak over it.

Her best known work is The Mystical City of God (1670), a life of the Virgin Mary ostensibly based on divine revelations granted to Maria. It was placed on the list of forbidden books in 1681, but the ban was lifted in 1747. Her virtues and holy life were universally acknowledged, but controversy arose over her mystical writings, her political influence, and her bilocation.

In 1620, when the young nun was only eighteen, teenaged Sister Maria of Agreda began having visions, or raptures. After long meditation, she would sometimes tell the other nuns that she had spiritually traveled to a farway land, meeting dark skinned people to whom she told the story of Christ. Convinced of the reality of her experiences, she wrote a book in which she described, in great detail, her missionary work in the New World. Word spread and people began to talk about the strange young nun. Before long the Inquisition heard of her controversial claims. Although she insisted that she was bi-locating and doing God’s work, a public trial ensued in 1635.

During the trial, a newly returned expedition of conquistadors and friars arrived in Spain with an amazing story. These explorers had entered the unexplored region north of Mexico and had encountered numerous Native American tribes in what is now New Mexico, Arizona and Texas who already knew of Jesus Christ the Savior, and who requested to be baptized. The Indians claimed to have been visited by a light skinned woman dressed in blue who appeared drifting in a haze while she spoke of the Lord in their own language. They, naturally, assumed that the Indians had seen the Blessed Mother, until they heard of the claims of Maria Agreda. She was acquitted by the Inquisition.

Sister Maria is buried in a secluded crypt on the grounds of the Conceptionist Convent, the same monastery where she had lived. Her body is incorrupt. Her casket was opened in 1909 and the body seemed in peaceful repost. It was exhumed again in 1989, and respectfully re-buried in a glass fronted casket. She has been declared Venerable by the Catholic Church.

 

HOT CROSS BUNS

A famous Good Friday feature in England, Ireland, and later in the New World are the hot cross buns said to have originated in St. Alban’s Abbey in England. From medieval times onward, it was the custom in many places to mark a new loaf of bread with the sign of the cross before cutting it. Sometimes the cross was imprinted on the loaf either by indentation or with sugar frosting. In the mid-fourteenth century, the monks of St. Albans distributed these buns to the poor on Good Friday in place of the ordinary ones. They are round and made of a spiced dough with a cross of sugar icing on the top. It was said that the buns did not mold as regular bread did, and that eating them on Good Friday would protect the home from fire. They were kept through the year to be used as medicine or to ward off disease, lightning, and shipwreck.

Most recipes for hot cross buns are for yeast buns which take several hours to rise. This is a "hurry up" recipe for cooks in a hurry:

1 pkg. Rapidrise yeast
Warm water to soften yeast
2 tbsp. honey
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
2 tbsp. grated orange peel
1/2 c. raisins
2 c. Bisquick

Soften yeast in a small amount of warm water. Mix all ingredients and turn out on a lightly floured surface, kneading for two or three minutes until dough is elastic and shiny. Shape into six to eight balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, flattening tops slightly. Cut a deep cross on the top of buns with a sharp knife. Cover and let buns rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Yields 6 to 8 buns.

Mix powdered sugar with a few drops of milk to make a sugar icing to drizzle into the cross on the buns if you like.

 

It doesn't take long to notice that Mexico, her people and her beautiful images are things near and dear to my heart. When I first saw the Child of Good Luck I was startled -- but never have I ever seen such a peaceful expression on the child Jesus. I have visited this shrine and the sisters there are truly joy-filled women. As I left the shrine, one of the sisters walked up and slipped something in my pocket, saying "Just a little present from the Little Guy in there," as she pointed back to the chapel. When I got in the cab, I looked and she had slipped me a little toy truck! - Ann

Child of Good Luck - Promise of the Resurrection

The first sight of the tiny image of the Child of Good Luck in Tacubaya, Mexico, is shocking! The Christ Child’s tiny head rests on a human skull for a pillow. But look again and see the peaceful expression on the face of the sleeping infant. It is a beautiful and graphic reminder of our faith in the Resurrection.

The pious tradition of the Holy Child of Good Fortune tells that in the early part of this century, two missionary priests were crossing a large field in Tacubaya, a suburb of Mexico City, when they heard a baby crying piteously. There were no houses in the deserted area, so they began searching for the mysterious child.

At last, they found a beautiful little statue of the Holy Child, sleeping peacefully on a skull. As they picked it up, a spring gushed forth which still flows today. They took the statue to the Archbishop, Francisco de Lizana Beaumont, and he received it with great devotion, exclaiming, "How merciful is God. In such way he demonstrates to man how great is his grace. In his Divinity, he became man; by means of this grace he has overcome sin."

The saintly and mystic Archbishop saw in the fortunate gift a reminder of the resurrection. He wanted to give the statue into the keeping of the Bernardine sisters at the convent of the Immaculate Conception in Tacubaya, but his Cabildo (advisors) convinced him to raffle it among all the convents of the city.

They put the names in a box and drew a slip of paper. By good fortune, the Bernardines won. The Cabildo, however, seeing that this was the poorest convent in the city, convinced him to draw again. A second time, the Bernardines won. Telling him that the statue should go to a convent where the nuns didn't have to work so hard to make their living, the Cabildo convinced the holy Archbishop to draw a third time.

This time, before he could shake the box, a paper with the name of the Bernardines written in gold letters came up from the box. The Archbishop understood that the image wanted to go to the poor convent, so he enriched the devotion with indulgences and gave the little treasure to the Bernardines. Full of gratitude, the sisters have kept the cult with great zeal. They say that from the moment the image entered their convent, happiness reigned there.

Today, the devotees of the "Child of Good Fortune" enter the little chapel attached to the ancient convent, asking for favors and help in their daily life and leaving presents of golden hearts and tiny toys for the Christ child. Although the convent in Tacubaya is still poor, all of the sisters seem to radiate a divine happiness. These cloistered sisters sew altar linens and vestments and make sweets to earn their living. Every spare peso is saved for the building fund. They hope soon to build a new convent and chapel in which to honor their beloved Child of Good Fortune.