Looking for a new home? A spouse? A job? A miracle?
There’s a novena for that.
The nine-day prayer usually is invoked for a specific intention, be it safe travels, healing from illness or a peaceful death, and is prayed to God or a saint associated with that intention. Kristin Bryant, a parishioner of St. Lawrence Church in Alexandria, was looking to share her love for novenas. Specifically, she wanted to let her friends and family know when she had prayed for them. “I love praying for people,” said Kristin. “I just love the idea that you can offer hope to people in praying for them and reminding them of God’s promise.”
She and her husband, Darren, created Novena Cards to do just that. Today, the couple sells thousands of novena cards, rosary cards, Mass cards, holy hour cards and prayer cards each year. The cards depict a colorful watercolor painting of a saint or sacred image framed as if within a stained-glass window or side chapel. Inside is a quote or prayer and space to write in the novena dates and intention. The back of the card explains more about the saint or devotion. Popular cards include St. Jude, patron of impossible causes; St. Peregrine, patron of those with cancer; and St. Anne, patron of those looking to find a holy spouse, heal a marriage or conceive a child.
Though Kristin had created Christian art before, there was something special about making unapologetically Catholic cards with a contemporary aesthetic. While some images of the saints might seem idealized and formal, Novena Cards show realistic illustrations of holy men and women imbued with approachable warmth and hand-painted personality.
“Whenever we talked about the idea of Novena Cards, I always felt a lot of energy and lightness — it had this possibility to it,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be Renaissance-looking, I didn’t want to use old paintings — the brand I was hoping to create was modern yet traditional.”
Looking back over her life, she sees how God prepared her for Novena Cards through her varied life experiences. Kristin worked as a dental hygienist, briefly attended art school, ran a handmade greeting card company with her family and discerned consecrated life with the religious order Miles Christi. She spent much of her life around San Diego until moving to Northern Virginia to be closer to her future husband and stepson. She was raised Catholic, but after joining the vibrant Protestant campus ministry in college, she fell away from the church for 10 years. “This may sound strange, but I feel very fortunate that I walked away from the church (because now) I appreciate the liturgy and the saints and the Eucharist and all of the beauty of our church (and) I don’t know if I would have had I not been away from it for so long,” she said.
Though some sort of creative business had been on their minds for years, Kristin and Darren officially launched Novena Cards at the start of the pandemic. “I remember the day we were let out of work, and it was like, OK, let’s go for it,” said Kristin. Novena Cards opened on Pentecost in recognition of the first novena, the nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost when Mary and the apostles “joined together constantly in prayer,” as described in Acts 1:14. Her first painting was of St. John Paul II, whom she had seen at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993. “That’s where my love of the Catholic faith started,” she said.
While Kristin works on the art and graphic design elements of the business, Darren works on production, fulfillment and coordinating with wholesalers, including the Paschal Lamb in Fairfax, Trinity House Café in Leesburg, Rex Rappahannock in Fredericksburg, and several diocesan parish gift stores. This year, he quit his corporate job to work full time for Novena Cards. “That’s another miracle — I could never have done this business without being married,” said Kristin. “I feel like God knew that and brought us together for that reason.”
As card makers, the couple believes strongly in the power of tangible reminders of faith, in paper and ink that lingers much longer than a digital like. But they have quite an online presence too, with more than 68,000 followers on the Novena Cards Instagram account. There, Kristin posts prayers and reminders of the start dates of various novenas, which typically conclude on a feast day. It’s a joy to receive messages about all the answered prayers, said Kristin, and a pleasant surprise to learn how many people the account is educating about the traditions of the church. “There are people who are really hungry to learn about the faith,” said Darren. “There are (so many) questions that people ask, like do I have to pray it that way or what if I missed a day, does it still count?”
“I always just tell people to keep praying,” said Kristin with a laugh.
Maraist is a freelancer from Reston.
