Patronage: Youth, against sexual temptation, penitent women
Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa was a Portuguese mystic and “victim soul.” At 14, she jumped out of a window to save herself from being raped and was paralyzed by it. She was bedridden for 31 years and existed on the Eucharist alone, for 13 of them. Suffering for love of God, conversion of sinners and reparation for offenses was her vocation. She had visions of Jesus and of the devil (who tormented her). She died in conformity to the will of God and abandonment to her sufferings and is known as the “fourth seer of Fatima.”
Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)
An elaborately decorated early medieval double-sided bone comb, found in a warrior’s grave in Fridingen, Germany. To protect the delicate tines, the comb was kept in a case. Early 7th century CE, now housed at the Landesmuseum Württemberg
Late Bronze Age baby bottles from Austria, dated to around 1200-800 BC. Similar pint-sized vessels were found across the European continent, with some of them still having ruminant milk residue inside suggesting that it could have been used as a supplementary food during weaning
