Extremely rare Wicked Bible goes on sale

One of 10 remaining copies of 1631’s Sinners Bible, with its infamous typo imploring readers to commit adultery, is to be auctioned on November 11^th

A section of a page from the Wicked Bible of 1631. The section highlights a contemporary typographical error insofar as it omits the word not from the commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. Via Wikipedia

The Wicked Bible, sometimes called Adulterous Bible or Sinners’ Bible, is the Bible published in 1631 by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London, which was meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible. The name is derived from a mistake made by the compositors: in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14), the word not in the sentence “Thou shalt not commit adultery” was omitted, thus changing the sentence into “Thou shalt commit adultery”. This blunder was spread in a number of copies. About a year later, the publishers of the Wicked Bible were called to the Star Chamber and fined £300 (£44,614 as of 2015) and deprived of their printing license. The fact that this edition of the Bible contained such a flagrant mistake outraged Charles I and George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Over the centuries, many have speculated what went wrong. Traditionally, it was accepted that the mishap was a mere typographical error. But later, some suggested it may have been sabotage from Barker’s rival, Bonhom Norton. In 1632 Barker had a tainted reputation and no printing license. No doubt it became difficult for him to find work. By 1635, he started slipping in and out of debtors’ prison. He died behind bars in 1645.

Home-grown devotions

The growth of home businesses supplying Catholic devotional objects suggests the demand for these items may be growing.  Tracy L. Christianson’s artwork is delightful. I particularly like her print, God Bless Our Home: Grace Before & After Meals, with its vintage look.

Elise Faurote provides a modern flavor for traditional prayer cards. Her devotional images have a contemporary flare I find very appealing.

And Ann Beckemeyer, Mary Diehl & Charlene Ryan show us where we can put it all.  Prayer Pockets remind me of those small pocket shrines, wallets, and hand-made devotional objects my parents and grandparents carried.  Being hand-crafted gives them extra meaning and value.

A handful of new Catholic home businesses have cropped up lately that allow their owners to create products that promote prayer and devotion to the saints. Here is a look at three businesses that give their owners a creative outlet while spreading the Good News.

Read the full article from Our Sunday Visitor here

Mastodon tooth found in donation box

Mastodon tooth as a sacred object?  Maybe not, yet the tooth went to a good cause, donated to a charity that passed it on to a local museum.  Interestingly, the charity has found other unusual items in its donation box, including an urn filled with someone’s ashes, framed divorce papers, a painting worth $5,000 and drugs.

A Michigan charity that typically receives donated clothing and other used items for low-income residents recently received something really old — a mastodon tooth.  The remains of the extinct relative of the elephant were found in a donation box during a July pickup in Grand Rapids.  The tooth fragments and tusk are believed to be anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 years old and will be given by the Christian charity, In The Image, to the Grand Rapid Public Museum to add to its collection.

Read the full story here: Mastodon tooth found in donation box at Michigan charity

Projecting the Catholic Brand

Spiritus supplies retailers with this Jesus action figure at the 17th annual trade show of the Catholic Marketing Network (August 2013) in Somerset, N.J. RNS photo by David Gibson.

Growing up 50 years ago in a Catholic household, I recall regular visits to the Catholic store whenever we celebrated a baptism, communion, confirmation, or birthday. Recently my wife observed that most of the Catholic stores we knew are gone, you must turn to the Internet to purchase medals, rosaries, scapulars and prayer books.

Apparently this trend in Catholic marketing may be reversing even as the nature of Catholic devotional objects evolves.

According to the Religion News Service:

Centuries ago, Roman Catholics helped kick-start the market for religious articles with their insatiable demand for rosaries, icons, prayer cards and all manner of devotional objects and spiritual souvenirs.

But in recent decades, evangelical Protestants have dominated the art of religious retailing, building a national network of bookstores and stamping the Christian message on almost any item that an American consumer might want, from perfume to golf balls to flip-flops.

Now, Catholic entrepreneurs are looking to catch up […]  [T]here was a sense that the Catholic sector has a new opportunity to expand — if businesses can update their approach and broaden their inventory beyond the usual catalog of sacred objects.

There was also a clear effort and willingness to move beyond viewing Catholic merchandise as purely devotional and instead to offer items that piggyback on the consumer culture in order to project the Catholic brand.

Hence the proliferation of Catholic-themed children’s games, license plate frames, coffee mugs, papal key chains and a host of other products that were higher on whimsy than tradition — a bit of “Catholic kitsch,” perhaps, to answer the “Jesus junk” that some use to describe many CBA items.

Click here to view a photo slideshow of the Catholic trade show

Click here to find a Catholic bookstore near you