Book of Hours

As I've talked about before, I am fascinated with the medieval period of history and have decided to make my own 'book of hours' excluding some things, adding in others, really just making a companion piece to a Book of Common Prayer. This will be more individualized, as in:

1. I did research today and chose at least 1 saint for each month to put in my 'book of hours'. I'm not going to pray to them, they'll simply go on a Saints' Calendar and I'll have interesting facts about them and try to emulate their good qualities. (Inspiration) I might also celebrate their feast days (St. Lucia's Day, Dec. 13, is a holiday in Sweden and they celebrate it wonderfully!).

2. I picked 4 Psalms to put in, instead of the Fifteen Psalms of Degrees and I have yet to pick my four portions of Gospel. I'm thinking of putting in some of my other favorite NT readings instead, as in something from James, Philippians, I John, and Hebrews.

3. I have included several different types of prayers - some to pray on the Anglican rosary, some from the Book of Common Prayer, and some from famous people (Jane Austen, for one). If I find a prayer-like section in a piece of literature that I love, I'm not opposed to adding that as well.

I'm not including an Office of the Dead or prayers to Mary or Saints, but I absolutely adore the idea of having a personalized, illustrated (as far as my capabilities allow) devotional that I can use with The Book of Common Prayer and my rosary (which I have yet to make), or use by itself.

I will be illustrating it in the medieval method (large capital letters, miniatures, portraits of saints, etc.), but I will be using materials like gold paint for the 'illumination' part of the script. It will still look beautiful!

I've been reading about how to make your own and I think I can do it. Some creme colored paper, a nice thick cardstock for the cover (folded around cardboard), some pretty marbled or patterned scrapbook paper for the endpapers, a ribbon for a bookmark, and my felt tip pens will be used to illustrate (after sketching). I can't wait to get started!

Now if only I had a prayer bench.