This month, I was super excited to be able to team up with the fabulous folks at SaintMail again for the August Saint. Did you sign up with them yet? If you haven’t, check out my review of SaintMail and the cool packet we received to go with St. Helen!

st helen feast day book recipes and activities - august 18

 

Book About St. Helen

For the Saint Picture Book Club for August, I picked The Queen and the Cross.  Like all Saint Picture Book Club picks, it needs to be easily and quickly available from Amazon to cater to the needs of busy families.  Of course, if you are on the ball, you should absolutely order it from your local Catholic bookstore if you are lucky enough to have one!

IMG_9378

Saint Helen was the mother of Constantine the Great and she decided to look for the cross that Jesus himself was crucified on it.  Despite her age, she undertook the long journey and told the men where they should dig. They found 3 crosses next to each other. An ill woman was cured after touching one of the crosses.  St. Helena took the pieces of the cross back to her son.  The Queen and the Cross is a lovely little book (literally — it’s about 8 inches by about 6-1/2 inches) retelling her story as well as a brief biography.  The illustrations are colorful and engaging and the story is very well told.  A very enjoyable little book intended for ages 5-8, but I’m sure the story would be enjoyed by all.

 

Saint Helena Food & Fun

If you have a little extra time this month and want to branch out beyond just a book, here are a few ideas for themed food & fun!

Food

 

Fun

  • paint wooden crosses (like these) for your home altar
  • a cross hunt — if you have a sandbox, buy a package of cross beads or small wooden crosses and have them hunt for them like St. Helen did!
  • make a Saint Helena liturgical year ornament @ Catholic Inspired.  Get your craft on with felt and glitter glue!

 

IMG_9379

And here is the awesome packet of goodies we got in our SaintMail package for this Saint (includes an extra kid — you can email her for a custom invoice!). Your kids will love this and you will be able to live the liturgical year with literally no extra work on your part.  How can you go wrong?  Plus, I think we will be joining forces again on the October saint so join SaintMail now so you can get in on that!

Do you have any special traditions for Saint Helen?  

Jen S.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment *






CommentLuv badge