Link To: Selection of holy cards left in Ireland Library books. Enjoy!
Since time immemorial – well, at least since the invention of the codex/book – library patrons have been leaving things that belong to them in books that do not.
Visit our online exhibit of a selection of these cards from the 18th to the 20th century: Holy Cards as Objets Trouves.
For many decades staff here at Ireland Library have set aside hundreds of holy cards (tossed into a box of course).
Some are beautiful (handmade paper lace cards, art nouveau, art deco, Italian and German chromolithographs), some have local associations (ordinations, funerals, anniversaries), some are rather odd, many are touching. All have a wonderful immediacy, embodying popular piety in the very best sense of the word.

Something of a handicap is that photo sharing web sites do not support a “two up” view of the card, the recto is often an illustration and the verso often a prayer, petition, or occasion notice. In our web exhibit, the two sides of the same card display as two side by side items. If the card has content on the back side, the front is labelled Recto and the back Verso.