The Healing Journey

June 1, 2025

One of Brian’s favorite pastimes, to his family’s dismay, was wandering through antiquarian book stores.

Even if he lived to 100, he’d never finish reading all the books he owned, stacked on book shelves, in bins in the basement, in the barn, and just about anywhere else he could store them.

The treasures of his library, acquired after tireless searching in dusty barns and shops, were vintage prayer books and Bibles. One was a 175-year-old leather-bound edition of the Douay-Rheims Bible that belonged to the family of Andrew and Catharine McCann, whose names were embossed in gold on the cover. The Bible was in their family for several generations, back in an era when people recorded all the sacramental celebrations in its pages, along with the names of their descendants. So many lives, so many deaths, all chronicled in the Good Book for posterity, although somewhere along the way a descendant decided to sell it, or the family tree came to an end.

He also had a copy of St. John’s Manual, a prayer book and missal published in 1856 with a brass clasp and leather binding. At the time, it was touted as “the most complete and accurate prayer-book ever offered to the Catholic community of the United States.” His copy contained the birth certificate of its owner, Ellen Sheehan, born March 18, 1875, in Fitchburg, Mass., along with her prayer cards to St. Joseph, St. Anthony and the Blessed Mother, which were part of the woman’s daily devotions.

It seemed like a sacred ritual every time he opened the book and read the traditional prayers, now long forgotten. He felt a spiritual affinity to this woman who lived more than 100 years ago, and whenever he looked at her prayer cards, he said a Hail Mary for her and hoped she might be praying for him too.
©J Pisani

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