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Today marks the celebration of the birthday of Mary, mother of Jesus. Join us at Autom as we wish Mary a happy birthday! Visit Autom.com for a full line of Marian products including Marian rosaries, statues, books, and so much more!

Mary, mother of Jesus:

   Many years ago, there lived in Israel an elderly couple named Joachim and Anne. They had no children, which made them very sad. They trusted in God and devoted themselves to prayer and good works. At the appointed time, God heard their prayers. Anne conceived in her womb a daughter, Mary. Through God’s amazing favor and grace, Mary was conceived without Original Sin.

    Anne watched every movement of her little daughter Mary with reverent tenderness, and felt herself deeply blessed by the presence of her pure and lovely child. Anne and Joachim’s home was filled with peace and grace.

     Mary was a beautiful little girl. She loved to help others. She fed the birds and she cared for the little creatures that played in her yard. As she grew older, Mary helped her mother to cook and bake. Sometimes Mary and her mother and father would walk outside together to enjoy the beautiful warm sun and the cool breezes blowing across the hills of Nazareth.

We are really excited about our new complete line of 24 different hand-painted Icons imported from Greece. Using only the finest quality wood, each Icon is hand painted by a Greek Hagiographer using traditional tempera paints, and finished with 925 sterling silver and 22K gold. Ranging in sizes from just a few inches to several feet, each of our Greek Icons features museum quality artistry at a fraction of the price.

Working directly with the Greek Hagiographers we have been able to combine their skill with your wants and desires to create an entire line of Icons in many different styles with something for everyone. Choose from traditional Russian and Greek Icons, or go with a more modern Icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Holy Family.




These special one-of-a-kind pieces will not last long. We were only able to secure a one-time purchase at these low prices, so what is in stock is all that will ever be available. You don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for high-quality Catholic art, simply visit Autom.com and view our entire selection of handcrafted Greek Icons at bargain prices.

Free Shipping on All Orders Over $500!

For the entire month of July we are offering Free Shipping on all orders over $500! This is the time to stock up on your favorites, like our New American Bible Revised Edition, and any other big purchases that you have wanted to make like chalices, ciboria, and vestments. Many churches last year stocked up on Bibles to prepare for their school year starting in August. Others purchased all of their Advent and Christmas supplies early and at one time, so they didn’t have to worry about paying extra for rushed shipping or if items would be still have stock during November and December. My mom even participated in our Christmas in July promotion. She purchased a different Nativity Set for each of her siblings, Christmas gifts for my entire family and arts & crafts for the Sunday School class that she teaches. When I told her we were doing the promotion again, she got really excited and raved about “how much time she saved from conventional shopping” and “how less stressful the Christmas season is… and you don’t have to worry about last minute shopping, because you have been done for 5 months!” She also added, “When I shop on Autom.com, I know I am going to get quality, affordable, and inspirational gifts that glorify Jesus Christ.”

We have also included over 600 new items to the 2011 summer and fall catalogs. We have added a ton of new Christmas and Advent items including tote bags, lapel pins, Nativities, and so much more! In addition to the Christmas and Advent items, we have also added new hand-painted Greek Icons, jewelry, and many, many more entire lines.

Follow any of the links in this blog to enjoy the Christmas in July savings: Free Shipping on all orders over $500. Visit us online at Autom.com, your one stop shop for affordable Catholic Church supplies, clergy apparel, wholesale rosaries, New American Bibles, and everything else to help you grow in your Catholic faith!

*Also, a special thank you to my mom for the candid interview, and I hope you don’t mind I quoted you!

Happy feast day to St. Anthony of Padua! Visit Autom.com for a large selection of items devoted to St. Anthony. Choose from holy cards, medals, statues, and so much more.

Saint Anthony was born on August 15, in the year 1195, in Lisbon, Portugal, to a wealthy family. His given name is Fernando Martins de Bulhão. His parents wanted Fernando to become a noble, but Fernando had other plans. He did not want to attend the local Catholic school, as his family desired, and chose instead to enter the Augustinian Abbey of Saint Vincent near Lisbon, Portugal. Fernando was a member of the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, a group well known for their pursuit of education and all things scholarly. While attending the Augustinian Abbey, 15-year old Fernando studied the Holy Scriptures and Latin classics. However, because of the constant interruptions from friends and family who’d come to visit and bring him gifts that embarrassed him, Fernando’s schoolwork suffered, leaving him restless and without peace. To avoid this, he requested a transfer to the Abbey of the Holy Cross in Coimbra (the capital of Portugal at the time). Upon the approval of his superiors, Fernando transferred schools and continued his studies for the next nine years, away from suchbothers and interruptions.

In 1219, shortly after his ordination at the abbey, Fernando came in contact with five Franciscans who were on their way to preach to the Muslims in Morocco. As the head of hospitality at the abbey, Fernando found himself drawn to the simple, Gospel-focused lifestyle of the Franciscan friars. In February 1220, the five Franciscans were martyred by the Muslims in Morocco. When Fernando heard the news, he meditated on their heroism and found himself compelled by God to leave everything behind and follow the path God would lay before him. With the approval of his superiors, Fernando joined the Franciscan order and studied the ways and teachings of their founder, Saint Francis of Assisi. He changed his name from Fernando to Anthony after he joined the Order of Friars Minor because the Franciscan hermitage where he was living was dedicated to Saint Anthony. Accompanying another friar, he journeyed to Morocco, but soon became quite ill and was forced to return home to Portugal. On the way there, the ship he sailed in ran into fierce storms and was driven onto the coast of Sicily until it stopped finally at Messina. Anthony worked his way to Assisi and attempted to join a monastery in Italy, but his ill health and sick appearance caused him much difficulty. Out of compassion, the monks assigned him to the rural hospice of San Paolo (near Forlì, Romagna, Italy). For nine months, Anthony lived the life of a hermit where he served as a chaplain and worked in the kitchen.

In 1221, Saint Francis held a general chapter at Assisi and Anthony left the mountaintop where his hospice was located for an ordination in the town of Forli. Once there, a misunderstanding arose between the visiting Dominican monks and the Franciscans about who would do the preaching for that day. Everyone declined, at which point Anthony, the poor Portuguese friar, was asked by the head of the hermitage to speak whatever the Holy Spirit put into his mouth. Like the others, Anthony did not want to preach, but he was overruled and did as he was instructed. Though his speech was initially quite timid; though he faltered often, the sermon left a profound mark on the listeners; so much so that his amazed brethren rushed to tell Francis of Assisi of the impact Anthony’s rich voice, arresting manner and Gospel-inspired eloquence had had on them. In response, Francis of Assisi had Anthony moved from preaching the Gospel in the rural village to spreading the Gospel throughout the whole of Italy. It was at this time that Anthony became the first Franciscan in history to be appointed as lector in theology.

Anthony consistently attracted such large crowds during his preaching that no church in Italy could contain the crowd. Like Christ pushed back against a lake by large numbers of listeners, Anthony spoke outdoors in order to accommodate everyone. Such was the fervor of the crowd that a bodyguard was hired to protect Anthony from those who carried scissors in the hopes of cutting a piece of his habit to take home as a holy relic. Combined with Anthony’s understanding and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures was the binding of all his preaching upon all the words which he read there and meditated daily upon. One of his sermons had 187 references to Bible passages! He preached against usury (charging interest on a loan), a popular practice of the time, basing his words on the words he found in the Holy Scripture. Many preachers were prone to condemn heretics at that time, but rather than join the crowd, Anthony preached the Gospel of Christ and its saving message. Because of Anthony’s faithful and selfless sermons, many men and women were converted.

“The ones who preach correctly are those who conform by their actions to what they announce with their mouths,” said Anthony, who imitated our Lord Jesus Christ in his words, poverty, and actions. Anthony lived a life of grace-filled prayer and spent many a night in deep, soul-searching intimacy with the Almighty, irregardless of the states of weakness it left him in or the long day of preaching and teaching he’d conduct the following day.

In 1227, Anthony was elected Provincial of the Franciscans of Northern Italy. The following year, a sermon he preached to Pope Gregory IX was said by many that heard it to resemble a second coming of Pentecost. In 1230, Anthony asked to be released from his Provincial duties so that he could devote himself in full to preaching. He always felt his calling to preaching to be more important than his call of teaching. A short distance from Venice, in the town of Padua (hence, “Saint Anthony of Padua”), Anthony took up his residence, where he continued his daily regimen of preaching and prayer, typically with even more vigor than in the past. The toll on his physical life would drain him of so much strength that he’d become gravely ill within only a few months. As a quickly approaching death became eminent, Anthony celebrated his last rites of the Sacrament. With a smile on his face, he gazed upward and said, “I see my Lord.”

On June 13, 1231, Anthony passed from this life to the next. “Our father, Saint Anthony, is dead," echoed the voices of children along the streets of Padua. The following year, while the church bells of Lisbon rang without ringers, Pope Gregory IX declared Anthony, “Saint Anthony.” June 13 – the day of Saint Anthony’s death – was thereby established as his feast day and a magnificent basilica was built at Padua in his honor. His body was moved there in 1263. In 1946, Pope Pius XII declared Saint Anthony of Padua a Doctor of the Church.

Today, Saint Anthony is known as a patron of the poor (alms given for his intercessions are known as “Saint Anthony’s Bread”) and a patron of lost articles. Tradition tells us this is based on this story: a novice of Anthony’s once ran away with a Commentary of the Psalms which had belonged to Anthony. When Anthony prayed that the Commentary and the novice would return, it happened. This is why the following phrase is recited when something is lost: “Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come around. Something is lost and cannot be found.

Our Lady of Fatima

Today, May 13th, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Here is the story:

In a mountainous region near the town of Fatima, Portugal, the Mother of God appeared six times between May 13th and October 13th, 1917, to three shepherd children: Lucia Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. Mary told the children that she had been sent by God with a message for every man, woman, and child in our century. Coming at a time when civilization was torn asunder by war and violence, Mary promised that Heaven would grant peace to the entire world if her requests for prayer, reparation, and consecration were heard and obeyed.

Mary explained that war is a punishment for sin. She warned that if people continued to disobey God’s Will, they would suffer consequences of war, hunger, and persecution of the Church. She also prophesied that Russia would “spread her errors” of atheism and materialism across the earth. Our Lady of Fatima repeatedly emphasized the necessity of praying daily, especially the Rosary, of wearing the Brown Scapular, and of performing acts of reparation and sacrifice. She also promised a sign as proof of her messages.

On October 13, 1917, a crowd of 50,000 people at Fatima, including many noted skeptics, saw the sun rotating and spinning in the heavens; then, leaving its orbit, it plunged toward the earth. The “Miracle of the Sun” is fully documented. On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in the chest and in the abdomen at point blank range in St. Peter’s Square. He credited his miraculous escape from death to the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima. One year later he traveled to Fatima, and placed the bullet in the crown resting upon the statue of Mary. He said, “One finger fired the bullet, but another guided its path.”

Seven years later, the Berlin Wall fell without a bullet being fired, and Communism collapsed across the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Visit Autom.com for a great selection of Our Lady of Fatima holy cards, medals, statues, and books.