The blog of Catholic Extension magazine has posted links to a whole series of reproductions of pages from an edition of the magazine printed in 1943. Each of them contains a series of paper-dolls, including a priest, an altar boy, and everything necessary for Mass and Benediction; there is even an altar, with the candlesticks and monstrance, a Missal and a tabernacle, right down to the purificator. The vestments are left uncolored, so children can choose for themselves the liturgical color they like. Along with the paper-dolls themselves are explanations in some detail of the history, meaning and use of various aspects of the liturgical tradition. I found these interesting also because they show the high level of education back in the day; the author of these explanations can write things on the order of, “The altar must be of stone, and in this it also represents Christ, for St Paul tells of the Israelites drinking water from the rock, and says that the rock was Christ,” without fear of going over his readers’ little heads. Children are instructed to keep the left-hand part of each page as a little liturgical textbook. Depending on your age, you can also use these to show your children or grandchildren, what your parents, or you yourself, played with, back when there were no video games, and dinosaurs and saber-toothed tigers roamed the Earth... (h/t to our friend Roseanne Sullivan.)
