The Gaucho Priest: Free Coloring Page of Saint Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero

As my family tree is rooted in Argentina, I was elated to hear of Argentina's first saint to be canonized, Blessed Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero.

This remarkably humble priest was known for traveling extensively on his mule throughout Argentina to serve the poor and ill of his enormous parish. Always, he carried with him an image of the Virgin Mary, his Mass kit, and a prayer book.

Today, Pope Francis will officially canonize this "gaucho priest" ("gaucho" is Argentina's variation of the cowboy).

And so, of course, we must have a free coloring page for San Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero!

Here you go. Download it from this link.

Saint Therese of Lisieux Coloring Page [Free Printable]

Click image to download free coloring page PDF.

St. Therese of Lisieux (also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, and the Little Flower) is one of the most loved saints of the Catholic Church.

A discalced Carmelite nun, she developed (and lived by) the idea of living a sacrificial, prayer-filled life full of small acts of great love.

Her devotion to this "little way" of following Christ closely and spreading His love in small acts transformed her life... and the lives of all those who love her and long to grow closer to Jesus Christ.

Oct. 1 is her feast day. For her celebration, I've drawn a picture for you to download for free and color up.

You can also pick up some lovely Saint Therese's feast day ideas from:

• Catholic Icing
• Shower of Roses 
• Catholic Cuisine 

Free All Saints' Day Coloring Page [Downloadable PDF]

Ever since I was a little girl, the saint have been very dear to me. The idea of having heavenly friends, these companions in the faith journey, amazed me... and continues to do so.

As I thought about All Saints' Day this year, I wondered how whether Bl. Miguel Pro gets to play his guitar. Amid all his crazy adventures as an "undercover priest" in Mexico during the Catholic persecution, he once said, "I  see God’s hand so palpably in everything that almost—almost I fear they won’t kill me in these adventures. That will be a fiasco for me who sighs to go to heaven and start tossing off arpeggios on the guitar with my guardian angel."
 
So, I had to draw my favorite saint with a guitar in hand. And then, I imagined St. Therese flinging roses as promised: "After my death I shall let fall from heaven a shower of roses.  I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth."
 
After Bl. Miguel Pro and St. Therese showed up behind the celebratory cake, the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph (with the Child Jesus on his shoulders) showed up. Naturally, St. Michael the Archangel (or is that Gabriel? He seemed to hang around St. Joseph more) showed up. And then St. Maximilian Kolbe, who is always pictured so seriously, smiled in happiness when he saw the scene. St. Francis had a little birdy tell him about the party. And St. Peter had the keys to the church. Finally, St. Elizabeth of Hungary brought some freshly baked bread because, well, she's known for it.

The party hats and balloons are needed because it's a celebration! What's a feast day without some delicious eats, music, and balloons? (OK, the balloons may just be me...)

If you'd like to celebrate, too, feel free to print out my free All Saints' Day coloring page in this downloadable PDF.

(Also, you might want to check out this free feast day planning page for today and all upcoming holy days.)

xo
Vee

Free Saint Pope John Paul II Printable Triptych

Excited about tomorrow's feast day of Saint Pope John Paul II? (Say YES!)

To celebrate this hugely popular pope-now-saint, I created a Saint Pope John Paul II tripych (a fancy word for three-panel painting) craft activity.

Want to put yours together for the Saint JP2 feast day? It's easy-peasy.

You'll need my favorite tools for a crafting project:

• Markers and colored pencils
• Childproof scissors (because I'm a scissors amateur)
• A glue stick
• Manila folder (because card stock is spendy)

1. Download and print the free Saint Pope John Paul II triptych printable

Super-important: Make sure your printer settings are "landscape mode" and "fit to printable area." If you don't, you end up with a mini triptych.

2. Cut out the printable along the dark outer line

3. Color with your favorite markers, colored pencils, drawing pens, etc.

4. Add doodles, squiggles, and whatever you'd like to make it extra-special

5. Glue to the manila folder (or card stock)

6. Cut out the tripytch again and the fold the outside panels towards the middle like so:

7. Decorate the outside panels, then place your beautiful work of art in a thoughtful spot

A photo posted by Vee Jarski (@paper_dali) on Oct 21, 2015 at 4:15pm PDT

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Hope you had fun making your own Saint John Paul II triptych! If you do use it, feel free to share pics of your work. If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #paperdali or tag me (I'm @paper_dali), so I can see your triptych.

xo
Vee

October Is the Month of the Rosary [Free Rosary Coloring Page]

In honor of the Rosary, I'm sharing my free Rosary coloring page. Use it to help teach your children to pray the Rosary and to keep track of the prayers.

Or they can color each bead ("rose") as they say a prayer, or they can make copies of the little flowers at the bottom of the page and cut them and paste them onto the bead.



Inspired by my grandmother's Spanish prayers, I also created El Rosario coloring page (a coloring page in Spanish):

My earliest memory of the Rosary is wrapped in the scent of lavender, the whisper of beads passing through wrinkled fingers, the murmured Spanish of my abuelita Blanca.

We shared a room, and the Rosary filled my every evening. For the years that she lived with us, she'd pray the Rosary nightly, the repeated "Dios te salve Maria, llena eres de gracia..." embedded into my sleep.

The set prayers, rather than dulling with repetition, formed a cadence of sweetness, a litany of love. My grandmother often told me that she loved me, and I understood that the rosary was like her repeating to Jesus that she loved him.

One cannot say that enough.

Unfortunately, when I grew older and further from the Lord, I stopped praying the rosary nightly, stopped saying "I love you" to the One Who Loves Us Best.

“Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.” (St. Padre Pio)

Yet, whenever I was in trouble and needed Him, I turned to the  Rosary. Always. Sometimes, I prayed all the mysteries. Other times, just the set prayers. In great difficulties, I'd just clutch the rosary in my hand as tightly as if I were clutching Mama Mary's hand.

Thanks to the Holy Spirit's intervention, my husband's RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program, and the piles upon piles of books I read, I returned to the Catholic Church in 1995 and have remained in the family.

Since then, the Blessed Mother has truly become my mother. And through the Rosary, she teaches us, not to worship her, not to focus on her, but to turn to the main events in the life of Jesus and our relationship with Him.

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I also have the following free Rosary activity ideas:

• Rosary index-card ring (prayer helper)
• Pro-Life Novena activity page
• Roses for Mother Mary

Happy coloring and praying!
Vee