Purpose of This Site
The Mystical Rose Catholic Page is dedicated to exploring and celebrating the joyful, holistic and mystical aspects of Catholicism. Perhaps some of you think that words such as "celebrate", "joyful" and "holistic" do not belong in the same sentence with "Catholic". This is understandable because for one reason or another (I haven't figured out why), these aspects of the Catholic faith are seldom if ever taught, so even the faithful are generally unaware of them.Perhaps you are a "cradle Catholic", who went to Catholic school or received some other official religious instruction (Catechism class, CCD, etc.). Believe it or not, there is still probably a lot you don't know about your own faith!
Yes, even if you attended Catholic schools from kindergarten through college, you were probably not taught about the facts you will find on this web site!
This is a terrible pity, one which I wish to rectify.If you are not Catholic, please don't leave; you are most welcome to browse here. If you want to know more about Catholicism this is an excellent site for you. You'll probably learn things here that your Catholic friends don't even know!
An Explanation of...
The Heraldic Rose
I have chosen the traditional heraldic symbol of the Rose as the "trademark" (so to speak) of this website.
Heraldic significance: Used in a coat-of-arms to designate a seventh son.For an example of a coat-of-arms bearing this symbol, see the Civic Arms of St Marylebone (UK).Catholic significance: Represents the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title Rosa Mystica ("Mystical Rose").
Like many other Catholic symbols, this one has been appropriated by esoteric groups such as the Rosicrucians. Yet it remains a traditional Catholic symbol.
(The Heraldic Rose "trademark" used on this web site comes from Badger's Medieval Clipart Page. I used that gif to design the Heraldic Rose Background on this page and the other main pages using Adobe Photoshop.)
