All Souls Banner

Today I wanted to talk about my All Souls Banner.

I absolutely love having hands on traditions that allow us to live out our faith and share with each other in the family every year! In addition to going to the cemetery which I talked about here I wanted to create something for in the home.


The idea for our banner actually originated from a couple different resources. It started with suggestions made in a book we have really grown to love around here called A Year with God: Celebrating the Liturgical Year, then with all the talk about the Advent calenders and gifts at the 4 Real Learning Forums I became inspired to combine some ideas from both of these resources.

The materials used to make the banner included: 2 yards of green felt (green for ordinary time), 1 yard of batting (optional - I wanted a quilt look), 1 square of yellow felt (for the sun), 1 sheet of 8x10 white felt with a sticky backing (clouds), 1 sheet of 8x10 black, yellow or red felt (the headstones), 1 yard of clear vinyl (pockets), thread and some paper holy cards of Mary, Joseph, guardian angels and or some household name day saints, then one picture with God, Son and Holy Spirit.

The first step was to cut out all the pieces as shown in the picture above. Then on the machine I sewed the two yards of green felt and batting together so that they made a quilt like blanket.

Then I set the scene for how I wanted my banner to look, see picture above. The sun with the Holy Trinity represent the direct rays of God's love reigning on all the saints, angels etc. in heaven. In our banner we chose to have Mary our mother, St. Joseph, a guardian angel, St. Michael the Archangel and a couple family name day saints in heaven.

The line of clouds separate the direct burning rays of God's love in heaven from the souls in purgatory. These souls are represented by headstones, as seen in the final picture below. We are currently working on finding pictures of beloved family members that have passed on that we will cut and glue or stick onto the head stones. As each week goes by the kids will be able to use their good prayers and sacrifices to help these souls move to the Church Triumphant in heaven.

I really wanted something durable and hands on that I could use every year with the kids on this important feast day! I personally chose to sew on all my pieces, including the saint cards but I imagine this can just as easily be done with a glue gun. I can't say this was a quick craft project for it took two days to complete but it was fairly simple. If one chooses to make it with a glue gun instead of sewing the pieces on it shouldn't take more than a day to make.

I think it has already begun to help the kids understand their important role in the Communion of Saints here on earth, and the importance of offering up sacrifices and prayers for the Church Suffering. The younger kids were going out of their way today to do good deeds and prayers for those precious souls in purgatory.


I can't wait to display this banner every year for the whole month of November.