Collection: The Catholic All Year Marketplace

Pray the Divine Mercy Novena with your family! The church prays this novena together beginning on Good Friday leading up to the feast of Divine Mercy on the first Sunday of Easter each year.

This delicious British treat combines caramelly apple filling and a toasty oaty topping, crowned with a festive strawberry St. George’s cross. I like to use a mix of grammy smith and fuji apples, but any apple or combination will work. Serve it with vanilla bean ice cream for a dessert that’s sure to slay.

Perfect for Lent, homemade pretzels are a great way to jump into bread making. Pretzels are historically associated with Lent, as their traditional shape is meant to look like arms folded in prayer ( with a twist!). This easy recipe makes chewy, yeasty homemade soft pretzels in only 40 minutes. My kids love to make the Lenten pretzels, even if the ones they make don’t necessarily end up looking pretzel-like. Don’t be scared of the baking soda bath. That’s what gives the pretzels their dark brown color and distinctive chewy texture. You can do it!

On (or around) the feast of Epiphany we like to throw one last Christmas party, because it’s still Christmas! We encourage novelty Christmas accessories for the occasion. Because the Three Wise Men are traditionally understood to have come from different continents: Europe (Melchior), Asia (Caspar) and Africa (Balthasar), I like to serve various international “parcel”-type finger foods, so that our dinner spread is as universal as our Catholic/catholic faith.

Venerate the cross together as a family for the feast of the Veneration of the Cross, or on St. Helen's feast day on August 18th!

Between Epiphany and Lent we celebrate Carnival, a little season of Ordinary Time. One popular tradition from this medieval European celebration is the King Cake, named for the Three Wise Men, and decorated with colored sprinkles: purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. Save time without compromising flavor with this cheater recipe. Serve warm for breakfast—and make sure someone finds baby Jesus!

Saint Catherine was the daughter of a third century Egyptian governor, and she converted to Christianity during a time of persecution. She publicly rebuked the anti Christian government and bested all of the pagan scholars who opposed her (and converted many of them, too)! She was sentenced to death for her beliefs by torture on the breaking wheel, but it shattered at her touch, and she was instead beheaded. The wheel is now known as “Saint Catherine's wheel,” so on her feast day we like to make wheel cookies as we remember her strength and cleverness—an early example of the feminine genius!

When you eat these sour gummies with your family, we recommend handing out seven to each person and then eating one gummy as you read about each of Mary’s seven sorrows from the bible.

Saint Isidore’s guardian angel used to lend him a hand with his farm work so Isidore could go to morning Mass. Perhaps it won’t look quite so dramatic in our own lives, but when we are willing to give God our time, we often notice we are a little extra productive in return!

On this day we remember many important events from Jesus’ life, recorded in the New Testament, but also the Ten Plagues and the first Passover from the Old Testament. Color this page to learn each of the plagues.

St. John of the Cross lived in Spain in the sixteenth century. As we can tell by his name, he had a love for austerity and a great devotion to the crucifixion. While praying one day, he was granted a vision of Christ crucified, in which St. John saw Jesus from above, as God the father would have seen him. For the feast day, I like to add to our Advent cookie stash by making peanut butter kisses. The brown peanut butter cookie reminds us of the wooden cross, and the chocolate kiss on the top is for the particular love St. John of the Cross had for it. I always make at least two batches. We eat a couple each on the day, then the rest go into the freezer to make cookie plates for teachers, friends, and neighbors.

Growing up in Southern California, Our Lady of Guadalupe has always been familiar to me, as are many other Mexican foods and traditions. As a sweet treat on her feast day, we like to have cookies and champurrada or Mexican hot chocolate (see the CAY July recipe packet). I always make a big batch of these Mexican wedding cookies. My midwestern mother-in-law is the one who first introduced me to them. But she called them snowballs. They are a fun, powdered-sugary treat, and make a great addition to our freezer stash of Christmas goodies that gets saved for 12-days-of-Christmas treats and cookie-plate-gifts.

To celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, we like to make an edible rosary! This can be accomplished with just about anything: mini muffins or donuts or cereal pieces at breakfast time, nuts or goldfish crackers or dried fruit at snack time, cupcakes or candies for dessert.

Meditate on the generous guidance of Our Lady in times of trouble while coloring this beautiful image of Stella Maris!

Michaelmas is another of our “featured” family feast days. There’s just so much fun, food, and conversation to be had around the archangels, and specifically about St. Michael’s defeat of the devil.

Find St. Helen and the sacred items she brought back from the Holy Land!

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Holy Family!

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Holy Name!

Irish cream is a liqueur that features whiskey, cocoa, espresso, and vanilla. It makes the perfect addition to your coffee, cocktails, or desserts, and takes a St. Patrick’s Day celebration over the top!

We don’t have any special foods or activities we traditionally use to celebrate today, just a normal dinner, a dessert to celebrate, and a conversation about how much people can change, if they are willing to be open to God’s grace. And how God wants to use us, with all our flaws and imperfections. But, if you’re a planner and want to make something intentional, why not Middle Eastern food, like falafel and a side of hummus!

Use the scripture references on the banner cards to find the stories of Mary’s sorrows in the Bible; read each story with your family throughout the month! The banner artwork is inspired by the nineteenth-century terracotta sculptures by artist Joris Dunstheimer, a sculptor from Ghent, Belgium.

Saint Jerome was responsible for translating the bible from Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek into Latin, the common language at the time. Celebrate his feast day by making these ridiculously easy (and delicious) bible bars!

Celebrate Our Lady’s birthday with these delicious and naturally dyed chocolate chip cookies!

Enjoy this traditional Swedish dessert soup for Saint Bridget’s feast day! It can be served chilled in the summer and warm in the winter and is especially delightful when topped with whipped cream and a cookie.

Traditional Catholic prayers to use in your home on Candlemas and the feast of Saint Blaise.

Saint Lucy was a fourth-century virgin martyr, denounced as a Christian by a disappointed suitor. Her tortures are said to have included having her eyes gouged out, and in images she is often shown holding her eyes on a plate. Saint Lucy saffron buns (also known as lussekatter) are traditionally enjoyed on her feast day. If this isn’t the year for from-scratch bread-making, try this simple cheater version using canned cinnamon roll dough!

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Blessed Virgin!

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Precious Blood!

The word Agnes means “lamb” in Latin, so she’s usually pictured holding a lamb. To celebrate, you could make a lamb cake . . . but those turn out creepy, like, 90% of the time. That’s kind of their charm. But you can make a slightly-less-weird-looking Rice Krispie Lamb in a fraction of the time. Everyone wins! Let a kid do the sculpting and then you won’t have to take credit for your lamb’s looks. #momhack

Today we celebrate that Mary was miraculously preserved from the stain of Original Sin! And what better way to reflect on the purity of our Blessed Mother than with all white foods! This dish is the perfect way to remember her Immaculate Conception, and enjoy added chicken–instead of fish–for the solemnity, too!

Make cupcakes that are fit for a queen’s birthday with these cute toppers and wrappers!

Wondering how to incorporate the prayers of the Catholic faith into your own day? Inside this Catholic All Day booklet you'll find traditional Catholic daily prayers and devotions from morning until night, at home, at church, or on the go!

Saint Blaise is the patron saint against throat ailments. What better way to remember this saint all year long than with this tasty and effective, all-natural throat soothing concoction? It’s time-tested, simple, and convenient. The jars are so pretty, they make great gifts for teachers and co-workers.

Print these outlines to accommodate extra painters for the St. Luke icon painting activity in the October 2023 liturgical box.

I don’t know if Carlo ever combined his favorite treats (Nutella and ice cream) into a sundae, but I decided to try it, and it’s . . . amazing. But only for special occasions.

Meditate on the Sorrows the Virgin Mary endured in the suffering and death of Jesus with this illustrated Servite rosary.

Our family's favorite activity for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is to read the passages of the Bible that relate to the seven sorrows of Our Lady, while eating sour fruit or candies, and trying NOT to make sour faces!

Traditional Catholic prayers, Bible passages, songs, and devotions for the month of the Blessed Sacrament!

You can go out for Japanese food, but today’s also a great day to try making it yourself at home! Homemade sushi can feel intimidating, but this easy sheet pan recipe is foolproof. Plus, it’s a fun activity for kids! Don’t like imitation crab? Feel free to substitute with cooked fish, shrimp, or even beef (as long as it’s not a Friday)!

Luke 8:1-3 tells us that Mary Magdalene was healed by Jesus of seven evil spirits. As a reminder of that, we like to include 7UP on our feast day table. And, because my mom was raised in the South, I know that an excellent way to include more 7UP at a party is with a traditional Southern 7UP pound cake. This recipe is adapted from a 7UP company promotional recipe pamphlet, published in 1953.